Delivering a Timely and Just Energy Transition: Which Policy Research Priorities?

In recent years, the concept of“energy justice”has attracted much attention andresearch effort. Although all policy issues related to energy justice are worthy of furtherstudy, the time constraints posed by the looming threat of climate change suggests theneed for coordinated policy research efforts. At the current stage of development ofEuropean societies, we consider that four policy research strands might be most impor-tant in the light of specific evolving trendsof European energy systems. Therefore, wepropose these priorities as a shared researchagenda for academic and policy researchers.In this article, we develop and discuss thefollowing four research priority strands:(a) intergenerational justice and energy justice, (b) justice and energy vulnerability,(c) transformation of the social imaginary and energy infrastructure, and (d) damage, com-pensation, and energy infrastructure. For each topic, we highlight their critical issues andresearch opportunities. We conclude that these priorities are necessary not only to accel-erate the energy transition but also to avoid negative impacts that climate change andthe transition phase could produce on already established patterns of inequality.