Energy justice is an important concept drawing attention to fairness and equity in the transition to clean energy. Recently, a theme that highlights procedural and distributive injustices of energy transition in authoritarian regimes, particularly China, has emerged in the literature. This study challenges this perspective with an examination of China’s photovoltaic poverty alleviation initiative (PVPA)—a policy that aims to ease poverty through a clean energy transition in rural areas. The evidence collected from interviews and surveys shows that a just energy transition has been achieved by the PVPA in two ways. First, from a just procedure perspective, there are institutionalized mechanisms ensuring procedural justice, including public consultation conducted at the village level and the disclosure of information regarding the distribution of benefits. Second, from a just outcome perspective, the PVPA has made a positive material impact on poor rural households, and more broadly, village collectives. These findings show that just energy transitions in authoritarian regimes are possible, but they assume a path in which top-down politics, rather than bottom-up pressure, is the key driving force.

Can authoritarian regimes achieve just energy transition? Evidence from China’s solar photovoltaic poverty alleviation initiative

This paper adopts a political economy perspective to examines the transition management of China's coal mine closure policy and explores how and to what extent a just transition has been achieved. Drawing on first-hand evidence collected from a coal city in Inner Mongolia, China, we found that while the coal workers from state-owned mines were supported by job reallocation and retirement plans, the coal workers from privately owned mines, who were mostly of rural origin and hold a rural hukou, were laid-off without adequate compensation and job assistance. Furthermore, the government failed to help the private coal workers, as the predicament of the private coal workers was not considered the responsibility of the government. These issues were fundamentally linked to China's political economic contexts such as rural-urban inequality, incomplete marketization, and authoritarianism. In addition to demonstrating the importance of understanding just transition through a political economy perspective that is sensitive to local contexts, the findings also warn against treating workers from the fossil fuel industry as a homogenized whole because it may mask the reality of structural inequality, obscure the differences among workers, and create a false appearance of justice by excluding certain groups from the logic of a just transition for all. We argue that the transition cannot be considered as “just” without identifying who is the most vulnerable group affected by such a transition. Therefore, “just transition for whom” is a key question in the evaluation of transition management. 

Political economy of just transition: Disparate impact of coal mine closure on state-owned and private coal workers in Inner Mongolia, China

Energy transition requires systematic changes, not only to energy technologies but also to the broader political, social, environmental, and economic assemblages that are built around energy production and consumption. Changes in the energy supply and the shift toward renewable energy resources cannot be comprehensively understood without considering the implications of spatial and policy dimensions. This study examined the subnational energy transition in Sao Paulo state, Brazil, and discusses the role of policies and governance in energy transition. The historical series of energy production and consumption of Sao Paulo state were analyzed from 1980 to 2019, and the institutional frameworks that promoted energy transition were also explored. The results show that the effective final consumption of each energy source in the analyzed period (40 years) increased. Despite the increasing proportion of renewable energies (particularly ethanol), fossil fuel consumption grew in this period, which shows a tendency of addition rather than a thorough energy transition. Furthermore, energy governance remains largely dependent on a centralized approach in Brazil. Although there is a growing debate regarding the role of decentralized solutions, energy policy and regulation are still not considered to be the responsibilities of local governments. Cross-sectoral cooperation focused on territorially oriented solutions can improve spatial order by integrating local level capabilities into multilevel governance for energy transition.

Energy transition in Brazil: Is there a role for multilevel governance in a centralized energy regime?

Energy transition requires systematic changes, not only to energy technologies but also to the broader political, social, environmental, and economic assemblages that are built around energy production and consumption. Changes in the energy supply and the shift toward renewable energy resources cannot be comprehensively understood without considering the implications of spatial and policy dimensions. This study examined the subnational energy transition in Sao Paulo state, Brazil, and discusses the role of policies and governance in energy transition. The historical series of energy production and consumption of Sao Paulo state were analyzed from 1980 to 2019, and the institutional frameworks that promoted energy transition were also explored. The results show that the effective final consumption of each energy source in the analyzed period (40 years) increased. Despite the increasing proportion of renewable energies (particularly ethanol), fossil fuel consumption grew in this period, which shows a tendency of addition rather than a thorough energy transition. Furthermore, energy governance remains largely dependent on a centralized approach in Brazil. Although there is a growing debate regarding the role of decentralized solutions, energy policy and regulation are still not considered to be the responsibilities of local governments. Cross-sectoral cooperation focused on territorially oriented solutions can improve spatial order by integrating local level capabilities into multilevel governance for energy transition. 

Here we propose a framework for considering the justice issues of industrial cluster decarbonisation, a pressing challenge confronting many industrialised economies. Industrial clusters are large, multi-point source emitters, users of energy and employers of regional and national significance. In the UK, establishing low carbon industrial clusters is one of several grand challenges of industrial strategy. Theorising the just transition of industrial clusters requires concepts from multiple literatures. We abstract relevant themes from the intersections of the literatures of just transitions, innovation studies and sociotechnical transitions, and public participation in spatial planning, and illustrate their empirical relevance. The broad themes of our framework are (i) politics, space and institutions, with sub-themes of justice, democracy, financialization; (ii) new processes and procedures, with sub-themes of legal recognition of public concerns, community-based planning, community capacity enhancement and life cycle impact assessment; and (iii) correlates of acceptance and resistance, with sub-themes of environmental values, perceived loss of amenity, pre-existing politics, perceptions of just process and trust in the developer. The framework is intended to both guide the design of just transition processes ex-ante and evaluate these post-hoc. 

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2022.112699

Just transitions for industrial decarbonisation: A framework for innovation, participation, and justice

The growing attention paid to the idea of a just transition away from the incumbent fossil fuel energy paradigm has led scholars to devise diverse definitions, understandings, and viewpoints of the term. This review seeks to clarify the different perspectives surrounding the concept, to consolidate knowledge, and to provide a concise account of current debates in the literature as well as a research agenda. It identifies five themes around which the concept has been discussed: (1) just transition as a labor-oriented concept, (2) just transition as an integrated framework for justice, (3) just transition as a theory of socio-technical transition, (4) just transition as a governance strategy, and (5) just transition as public perception. Overall, this review suggests that the literature on just transition employs rich theoretical and empirical insights from various disciplines yet contains several gaps. Specifically, it argues that the literature would benefit from more empirical studies rooted in practice, more discussion on the relationship between different concepts of just transition, an expansion of geographical scope to include developing countries and non-democratic regimes, and more attention to power dynamics in just transition.

Just transition: A conceptual review

This study analyzes the role of civil society in China's clean energy transition from the perspective of Confucianism, an influential political-ethical doctrine with over 2000 years of history. An environmental non-governmental organization (ENGO), Friends of Nature (FON), was taken as a case study. FON is a pioneering ENGO in China and has become an influential actor in low-carbon energy transition in the country, primarily through its environmental litigation on energy projects. We argue that FON's legal actions, which focus on the climate and sustainability aspect of energy, are embedded in a Confucian understanding of justice, that is, justice as the pursuit of collective interest rather than the fair treatment of individuals; justice as nature-humanity harmony and the conservation of natural resources for future generation; and justice as an important manifestation of Confucian self-cultivation and a political obligation. This study contributes to the broader energy justice literature by proposing an understanding that goes beyond its Western origin. 

Civil society, environmental litigation, and Confucian energy justice: A case study of an environmental NGO in China

Environmental justice is a key concept for understanding the contested relationship between pastoralism and conservation. Our study adopted a political approach to examine conservation, pastoralism, and justice in the context of the grazing ban policy in China. Employing a qualitative, in-depth case study, we investigated the local political actors and processes that lead to environmental (in)justice. The evidence shows how injustice is perpetuated by both centralized and decentralized political processes and how herders use their knowledge and strategies in resistance to the injustice. In addition, the study contributed to a pluralistic understanding of justice by examining the different notions of justice held by the herders. We found that herders perceive injustices through different lenses, namely economic, ecological, and cultural aspects. Further, the similarities and differences between Han and Mongolian herders are discussed in terms of their notions of environmental justice and counteractions. 

Pastoralism and conservation: The politics and notions of environmental justice under the grazing ban policy in Inner Mongolia, China

Energy and environmental justice (EEJ) is an interdisciplinary field of study that examines the social, economic, and political dimensions of energy and environmental transitions. Studying EEJ in China is crucial as the country accelerates its transition towards environmental sustainability and carbon neutrality, highlighting the need for the development of more equitable energy and environmental policies. This paper offers a comprehensive review of academic research on EEJ in the Chinese context. Our review indicates that Chinese EEJ scholarship has identified instances of injustice in China's energy and ecological transitions and highlighted specific characteristics, including regional disparities, urban-rural inequality, and the disproportionate impact on migrant populations. However, the tendency to apply Western justice principles (e.g., distributive, recognition, and procedural justice) undermines the appreciation of the diverse and contextual interpretations of justice-related research in China. Furthermore, there is a lack of critical justice research that explores the root causes of injustice in China. The review suggests that future research can advance theoretical development by conducting cross-cultural studies, while also adopting a more critical approach that foregrounds the role of power in reproducing injustice. This review is useful for those interested in researching the social justice dimensions of energy and ecological transitions in China.

/pdf/energy-and-environmental-justice-in-china-literature-review-1k9au80h.pdf

Xinxin Wang

Papers

Just transition: A conceptual review

Civil society, environmental litigation, and Confucian energy justice: A case study of an environmental NGO in China

Pastoralism and conservation: The politics and notions of environmental justice under the grazing ban policy in Inner Mongolia, China

Energy and Environmental Justice in China: Literature Review and Research Agenda