Search

Global energy justice remains far out of reach. If the goal of energy justice is the universal, equitable, and democratic provision of safe, affordable, and sustainable energy services, the international community currently lacks the physical, ideational, or governance infrastructure necessary for its realization. Instead, access to energy remains radically unequal, continuing greenhouse gas emissions are creating inter-generational sabotage, and fossil fuel revenues routinely corrupt democratic politics. In addition to distributive injustice, global energy governance also creates dilemmas of procedure and recognition that are our focus. Here, we first identify inherent tensions between local democratic sovereignty and global energy justice and then argue that existing energy governance infrastructures often amplify powerful actors’ leverage over the energy choices and strategies of less powerful communities. We conclude by discussing the design of a governance infrastructure that could promote climate mitigation and energy access goals without exploiting international inequalities in ways that risk undermining justice.

In some versions of the story of Heracles at the crossroads, his decision is based exclusively on the visual aspects of the two options, incorporated in two female figures (most notably in Dio Chrysostom’s first Kingship Oration). The women do not explain in speeches what they represent ; it is only by their appearance that their moral significance is highlighted. This concentration on the visual aspects of the choice reflects the influence of the story of the judgement of Paris. Both myths have in common that the choice described does not reveal new insights into the different options on offer, but rather into the moral qualities of the one who chooses.