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Short abstract:

This study explores a systematic way of understanding normative diversity in participatory decision-making for energy transitions. It uses three case studies to identify energy justice imaginaries and their relation to the scale of decision-making and the energy technology being decided upon.

Long abstract:

Policymakers encounter diverse views on justice in participatory decision-making processes for energy transitions. Understanding this diversity of views will aid in making decisions that have considered all perspectives, thereby avoiding the unintentional exclusion of actors. This paper aims to enhance this understanding, especially of the points of conflict and agreement between perspectives. The study approaches justice perspectives as imaginaries. To allow for systematic differentiation between imaginaries, it expands upon the dominant tenet-based framework using empirical data and recent insights from energy justice research to identify central elements of energy justice imaginaries, such as principles of justice, moral grounds and values. The paper focuses on the Netherlands and asks: How are imaginaries of a just energy transition in the Netherlands influenced by the energy technologies being decided upon and the scale of participatory decision-making?

The study aims to identify imaginaries institutionalized in energy policies and held by a variety of societal actors. It will do so through the analysis of three case studies on participatory decision-making for different types of energy infrastructure (wind turbines, heat and electricity grids) and on different political scales (municipal, provincial and national). Imaginaries will be identified through observations during decision-making processes, interviews and a document analysis of relevant policy documents. The paper aims to shed light on notable differences in actors’ imaginaries in relation to the scale at and the technology about which a decision needs to be made. In addition, it aims to find general patterns in energy justice imaginaries in the Netherlands.