Normative Approaches to Transitions in Energy Demand: A Fuel Poverty Case Study

Meeting emissions targets necessitates both the rapid transformation of our physical energy systems and the societies that surround or use them, influencing who uses which energy source, how, and when. Thus, it is inevitable that there will be winners and losers, including the people who, for a variety of reasons, cannot access or afford the benefits from those transitions. In this vein, making sure that all voices are represented in transitions plans and their actualisation is undoubtedly a question of social justice. Yet despite ongoing debates about ethics and justice, one social element missing from transitions frameworks is explicit, practice-oriented engagement with the energy justice concept; an omission that is arguably mirrored in practice. In this regard, this chapter serves a dual purpose. First, it reiterates and reaffirms the need for socially just transitions approaches in energy demand scholarship and explores the role of the energy justice concept in this. Second, through a case study of fuel poverty, it begins to explore what this may practically look like. We close with policy-relevant recommendations.