Participation as a pathway to procedural justice: A review of energy initiatives across eight European countries

Abstract

The engagement of citizens in the energy transition through a variety of energy initiatives is an important component of a just energy transition. Through analyses of 378 energy initiatives, along with 81 interviews with energy professionals across eight European countries, including Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Germany, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, and Türkiye, we examine how and in what ways these initiatives address justice outcomes. Specifically, we look at citizen participation as an avenue to procedural justice, which may enable forms or distributional and recognitional justice as well. We critically examine the different forms of citizen engagement put forward by such initiatives, classifying such initiatives into three types: i) demand side action, ii) supply side action and iii) political action. While all forms of engagement are instrumental, the latter two attach greater importance to collective actions and the political agency of individuals. For demand side actions, we find that people tend to be reduced to economic actors subject to top-down directives, given agency in the privacy of their homes through atomized, individual action. Supply side initiatives, like energy communities, may encourage increased citizen involvement, yet they may not fully reflect the ideals of collective political action. Direct participation in shaping energy policies is found to be an avenue towards procedural justice. Yet, it can also exclude female, non-white, lower-income populations unless processes are put into place for fairer representation. Finally, our analysis points to the potential of initiatives that move towards more political and collective actions to deliver energy justice.