Navigating tensions between rapid and just low-carbon transitions

In this Perspective, we suggest that research on just transitions and energy justice needs to better attend to the increasingly important trade-offs arising from issues related to speed and acceleration of low-carbon transitions. We identify and elaborate two important tensions that policymakers face when they want to simultaneously achieve both just and rapid low-carbon transitions. First, the way in which participatory processes may increase justice but slow the speed of action; and second the way in which incumbent mobilization can accelerate transitions but entrench injustices. Such an analysis shifts the focus from mapping justice dimensions to acknowledging the inevitable trade-offs and winners and losers produced by transition processes as a first step to better navigating them.

Automated summary

This Perspective argues that research on just transitions and energy justice needs to pay more attention to the trade-offs arising from the speed and acceleration of low-carbon transitions. The authors identify two important tensions for policymakers: participatory processes may increase justice but slow down action, and incumbent mobilization can accelerate transitions but entrench injustices. They suggest that acknowledging trade-offs and winners and losers as a first step is crucial for navigating these processes more effectively.