Energy justice is the search for social and economic fairness in the energy industry and the easing of economic, social, and health burdens for those who are affected more than others. Major challenges in the fight for energy justice include those faced by working-class people, indigenous people, and those who have been historically marginalized owing to racial and socioeconomic inequalities.
What Does Energy Justice Seek
Energy justice seeks to ensure that all communities have access to energy that is affordable, environmentally friendly, and democratically administered. During the 20th century, market expansion in the energy sector was widely regarded as an essential component of economic progress. Researchers and politicians have frequently disregarded Basalla’s appeal for a social discourse on the characteristics of the energy business.
Nonetheless, the escalating challenges associated with energy operations, such as global warming, energy poverty, and the widespread use of harmful energy technologies, have sparked a resurgence of social concerns that go beyond traditional technical or economic analysis. Conceptually, efforts to apply environmental justice ideas to a broader range of situations have gotten more sophisticated during the past four decades. Due to this development, “energy justice” could be considered an example.
Since its inception, academic research on energy justice has expanded dramatically, raising critical questions regarding the role of energy organizations in resolving to expand socioeconomic inequities and concomitant energy difficulties as costs continue to climb. The popularity of energy justice research has increased.
However, analytical and conceptual frameworks used in the field have generally focused on social situations and processes, with little regard for underlying economic and political institutions. The framework for analyzing unfair energy policies and programs comes from research on environmental justice. It is based on three justice principles: distributive justice, procedural justice, and recognized justice.
Energy Related Tenets
Three energy-related tenets are outlined in the following paragraphs. Distributional justice makes sure that everyone in society gets a fair share of the costs and benefits of making energy. Fuel poverty is a type of distributional injustice that happens when income, energy costs, and living conditions are not all shared in the same way. Under procedural justice, all parties must have an equal and democratic say in how energy decisions are made.
To encourage public participation, procedural fairness requires that all relevant information be made public and that the right legal tools be used. Justice is emphasized by recognizing that different socioeconomic groups (especially marginalized communities) are vulnerable in different ways and have different needs when it comes to energy systems.
The three-tenet paradigm provides a conceptual foundation, but it does not directly address the complicated political and economic processes that frequently lead to energy inequality when identifying and evaluating issues pertaining to communal energy (including fuel poverty). The approach focuses on ‘tailpipe’ concerns and remedies, such as enhancing accessibility and affordability, rather than the core causes of the problem.
Consequently, this is typically where the line between energy poverty and energy justice is drawn. More than 1.3 billion people still use wood, animal dung, or kerosene for cooking and heating, which is insufficient to meet the needs of the remaining 2.7 billion people worldwide. There are around 220 million people in cities around the world who lack access to electricity.
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India ranks fourth in both the production and consumption of electricity. However, 304 million Indians still lack access to dependable power, including 18.24 million who reside in urban areas. It is also a component of the climate change challenge facing the nation, the states, and the international community.”
The most vulnerable areas to the effects of climate change (such as excessive heat and flooding) are typically occupied by the poorest people on the the planet. For SPARC, “energy justice” is ensuring that the disadvantaged have equal access to sustainable energy while maintaining the affordability of such services. To reach this goal, government programs, electricity rates, and energy subsidies must be rethought to help the poor.
According to the International Energy Agency, India’s daily oil consumption is anticipated to increase to 8.7 million barrels per day by 2040. Eighty-five percent of the nation’s oil requirements are fulfilled by imports.
Russia, the world’s third-largest oil producer and exporter, is India’s natural ally. India would be protected from energy price spikes if Russia invested in its energy sector, and Russia would be able to keep selling its energy goods to India for a long time. At the recent COP26 meeting in Glasgow, it was confirmed that developing countries will still need fossil fuels for a while. This is made more challenging by the diminishing financial sources for fossil fuel programs.
The United States and Canada are two of twenty countries that have said they will support efforts to move away from fossil fuels and toward sustainable energy. This may result in short-term market volatility and distortions. The Modi administration’s focus on energy equity and a green path to economic growth has shaped its energy policies. Because the oil and gas (O&G) industry has such a long value chain, it helps the economy at all stages of production, consumption, distribution, and commerce.
The O&G business has generated more than 3% of the economy’s real gross value addition during the past five years. With a CAGR of 5.1% in FY20, the Indian Oil and natural gas businesses have contributed to a 6.8% increase in the real GDP to 262 million metric tons during the preceding six years.
The finance minister said that the oil and gas industry was an important part of the country’s defense during this time of lockdown. FM has taken significant steps to advance its energy justice program and decarbonize the economy, including the PMUY program, and the growth of the economy has led to the end of energy poverty. For the FY22 budget, the goal of giving free LPG assistance and protection to 8 million families has been raised by one million
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