Abstract
The concept of energy justice has brought philosophies of ethics and principles of social justice to bear on a range of contemporary energy issues. More inter-disciplinary and applied endeavours are now needed to take this field forward. One such application is to the issue of fuel poverty and the challenge of retrofitting inefficient housing stock. An energy justice perspective sees fuel poverty as a fundamentally socio-political injustice, not just one of uneven distribution. Starting from this premise, we highlight the multiple injustices faced by two groups who are regarded by policymakers as being particularly vulnerable to fuel poverty: disabled people and low-income families. In the UK, these groups are nominally prioritised within fuel poverty policy, but their complex situations are not always fully appreciated. Building on the theoretical foundations of energy justice, we present an inter-disciplinary dialogue that connects this approach with wider vulnerability research and domestic energy efficiency policy. Specifically, we discuss ‘within group’ heterogeneity (recognition justice), stakeholder engagement in policy and governance (procedural justice) and the overlap of multiple structural inequalities (distributional justice). In each section we illustrate the added value of combining justice and vulnerability conceptualisations by linking them to domestic energy efficiency schemes.
Highlights
A number of academic books, journal issues and articles have sought to elaborate a history of, and future for, the notion of energy justice (e.g. [1])
Drawing on the more established traditions of social and environmental justice, they apply a range of philosophical principles and social science concepts to analyse contemporary issues related to energy systems, applying them to specific scales of governance and to the global political economy of energy as a whole [2,3,4,5]
In social policy studies the concept of vulnerability is used to understand systemic drivers, and household level experiences, of deprivation. By drawing on this literature we open up another avenue of interdisciplinary work for the energy vulnerability concept, encouraging more consideration of the social and political drivers of certain groups’ vulnerability to the experience of fuel poverty
Summary
Recognition justice acknowledges the various needs, rights and experiences of different groups, often setting out a rationale for social and political action. Justice based policies ought to do the opposite; redress disadvantage to provide a level playing field This principle is at the heart of the social contract philosophy of Rawls [39] and in the capabilities approach of Sen [40] and Nussbaum [41]. Among the widely cited list of ten ‘central capabilities’ with universal appeal put forward by Nussbaum [41], energy plays an important role in at least five, including: bodily health and integrity, social affiliation, play, and political participation. This link has been picked up by energy justice scholars and applied to multiple contexts. The experience of poverty for young children, focussing on multiple forms of deprivation highlights the instrumental importance of energy in achieving certain social goods e.g. where rationing of energy is common it is linked to experiences of social exclusion and, inversely, sufficient access to energy services such as heating, lighting and travel can strengthen families internal and community-facing relationships [61,62,12]
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