Caring for energy, energy to care: Exploring the energy-care nexus through examples from Sweden and India

Abstract

As the climate crisis continues to grow, there is an increasing focus both in research and policy spaces on the need and urgency of energy transitions. In this perspective, we urge scholars, policymakers and social movements to recognize the ways that care work and practices of care are intersecting with everyday experiences of energy use. Through case studies from India and Sweden, we depict how care activities and energy use intertwine in people’s daily lives in ways that are often deeply gendered. These two settings serve to illustrate our argument that energy and care are and must be deeply interlinked, in two main directions: energy as enabler or disabler of care work, and care work as shaping demands on energy access. To ensure a just energy transition where care is enabled and fairly shared, care must be an inherent part of energy transition analyses.