Presentation short abstract

This article examines how China links energy access to a global just transition, drawing on its domestic legacy and solar projects in Namibia and Laos. We show how “small and beautiful” projects can expand access yet reproduce inequities, shaping China’s emerging vision of a just transition.

Presentation long abstract

Energy access is an essential yet often overlooked aspect of a just global energy transition. China is often portrayed as a model of domestic ‘green’ energy access, having achieved universal electrification and become the world’s leading low-carbon energy producer. Increasingly, low-carbon technologies from China are exported to facilitate energy transitions abroad. While these exports are often examined through the lens of supply chain dominance, they have been accompanied by a broader policy shift from large, export-oriented infrastructure toward “small and beautiful” projects, suggesting a reorientation toward localized benefits. This article assesses the implications of these changes for a just transition by examining the role of energy access in China’s evolving understandings of a just transition and in its overseas low-carbon investments. More specifically, we draw on historical examination of China’s domestic lineages of energy access and qualitative research on Chinese solar projects in Namibia and Laos to analyze how Chinese actors conceptualize both domestic and international energy access in relation to questions of justice and with what implications for host communities. Our findings suggest that “small and beautiful” projects hold the potential to enhance local energy access, but they may also reproduce varied forms of injustice depending on local and institutional factors. The research contributes to broader debates on China’s role in a just transition by demonstrating how contextualized understandings of energy access have come to shape China’s domestic and foreign approaches to a just transition, with implications for the pursuit of a global just transition.