Speed and justice in a renewable energy transition
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Date
2026-01-30
Authors
Steel, Daniel
Vasquez-Fernandez, Andrea
Crookall, Brynmor
Cripps, Rachel
DesRoches, C. Tyler
Mintz-Woo, Kian
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Taylor and Francis Ltd.
Published Version
Abstract
A just transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy has been associated with a variety of duties, including climate change mitigation and promoting procedural, distributive, and recognitional justice. Several authors have discussed transitional justice tensions between the need for rapid greenhouse gas emissions reductions and other aspects of a just transition, such as fair inclusion of stakeholders. We make the case that such trade-offs are often uncertain, and that this has important moral implications tied to inductive risks. Inductive risks arise when decision-making requires accepting or rejecting an uncertain statement, where the moral harms of errors may be asymmetrical. This line of reasoning suggests that very strong evidence should be required to accept that imposing injustices on marginalized populations is necessary for rapid emissions reductions.
Description
Keywords
Climate ethics , Climate justice , Inductive risk , Just transition , Transitional justice , [SocietyPoliticsEthics]
Citation
Steel, D, Vasquez-Fernandez, A, Crookall, B, Cripps, R, DesRoches, C T & Mintz-Woo, K 2026, 'Speed and justice in a renewable energy transition', Ethics, Policy and Environment, pp. 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/21550085.2026.2614931