Smart Energy International, 23 January 2021
A new working paper by Dr Tracy Ledger, A Just Distribution, argues that: ‘A better understanding of the linkages between distribution and socioeconomic development is critical to our ability to design and implement a genuinely just energy system.
If we continue to ignore them, we run the very real risk of restructuring our energy system in ways that will permanently entrench current mechanisms that are deepening poverty and inequality.’
In her paper, Dr Ledger identifies two key gaps in the current national just transition debate that will undermine significant progress towards a genuinely inclusive and socially just energy system.
The first gap is that current proposals for transformation focus on the generation of energy and energy mix. She asserts that, ‘an energy system comprises much more than the generation aspect: it also includes the distribution of that energy to end users. In fact, the end user is more correctly viewed as the central socioeconomic purpose of an energy system, rather than a distant afterthought.’ […]
