Detall

Seminari

Roberto Cantoni (ICTA-UAB), What is a fair energy project? The challenges of energy justice and two African case studies

Data: Dilluns, 27 de febrer de 2023
Hora: 14:00 - 15:00
Lloc: Aula 1036, Facultat d'Economia i Empresa
Organitza: Federico Demaria

Abstract
At a time when the number of solar plants and wind farms is rapidly increasing, while traditional fossil fuel-based projects keep on being launched day in, day out, the question of energy justice cannot be avoided. How do we characterize a 'fair' energy project? A typical cost-benefit analysis will not suffice, nor will environmental impact assessments per se. We need a more thorough and social science-inspired approach to energy projects. In this seminar, I provide theoretical notions from two approaches to energy justice - the 'three tenets' approach and the 'principled' approach - and apply some of them to a case study of two solar infrastructures in Burkina Faso and South Africa.

Most of the global population that lacks access to electricity services lives in sub-Saharan Africa. Peri-urban areas of large African cities, often characterized by the presence of informal settlements, exist in a kind of ‘scalar limbo,’ unable to benefit from either access to the city grid or from programs aimed at the electrification of rural areas. In addition, in those areas where lack of electricity access is common, energy poverty combined with proximity to the grid leads to a greater likelihood of illegal energy supply arrangements. In this fieldwork-based study, conducted through population surveys and interviews in the peripheries of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and Cape Town, South Africa, we employ a hybrid theoretical framework, based on work in urban political ecology and energy justice, to analyze the situation of electricity access in the two areas. We find that the planned scale, scope, and technological design of solar energy projects in peripheral areas are crucial in determining whether and how a project will be beneficial for local communities. This study provides guidance beyond academia to national and international policymakers and executives of renewable energy companies, as well as tools for a more in-depth assessment of energy justice issues.

Biografia
Roberto Cantoni is Beatriu de Pinós fellow at ICTA, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, where he is part of the Environmental Justice Team, led by Joan Martinez-Alier. He obtained his PhD in the History of Science and Technology from the University of Manchester in 2014 and has since been conducting research in the STS and in energy social sciences, publishing works on coal, shale gas, and solar energy in Europe and Africa while being based at universities in France, Germany, Spain, and the UK. His main theoretical interests are in energy and environmental justice, and in political ecology. He is the author of Oil Exploration, Diplomacy, and Security in the Early Cold War (Routledge, 2017). Email: Roberto.Cantoni@uab.cat.

Lectures recomanades

• B.K. Sovacool, Energy Ethics. Justice and the Global Energy Challenge, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2013.
• B.K. Sovacool, M.H. Dworkin, Global Energy Justice. Problems, Principles, and Practices, CUP, Cambridge, 2014.
• D. McCauley, V. Ramasar, R.J. Heffron, B.K. Sovacool, D. Mebratu, L. Mundaca, Energy justice in the transition to low carbon energy systems: exploring key themes in interdisciplinary research, Appl. Energy 223–234 (2019) 916–921, https://doi. org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.10.005.
• B.K. Sovacool, M. Burke, L. Baker, C. Kumar Kotikalapudi, H. Wlokas, New frontiers and conceptual frameworks for energy justice, Energy Policy 105 (2017) 677–691, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.03.005. 
• G.Bombaerts,K.Jenkins,Y.A.Sanusi(Eds.),EnergyJusticeacrossBorders,Energy Justice across Borders, Springer, New York, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3- 030-24021-9.