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Introduction : visions and futures in the study of low-carbon energy systems -- Technological utopianism : small modular reactors and the physics community -- Symbolic convergence : hydrogen fuel cells and the engineering community -- Technological frames : the interpretive flexibility of shale gas in Eastern Europe -- Discursive coalitions : contesting clean coal in South Africa -- Sociotechnical imaginaries : smart meters and the public in the United Kingdom -- Expectations : electric mobility and experts in the Nordic region -- Conclusion : dimensions, dichotomies and frameworks for energy futures

"Concepts from justice and ethics can significantly inform energy decision-makers. Benjamin K. Sovacool introduces readers to the injustices and insecurities inherent in the global energy system before presenting an energy justice conceptual framework consisting of availability, affordability, due process, good governance, prudence, intergenerational equity, intragenerational equity, and responsibility. He showcases the application of these principles to eight real-world case studies involving national energy planning in Denmark, the Warm Front program in the United Kingdom, the World Bank's Inspection Panel, the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, São Thomé e Príncipe's Natural Resource Fund, solar energy in Bangladesh, climate change adaptation efforts in least developed countries, and the Yasuni-ITT Initiative in Ecuador"--

This Handbook examines the subject of energy security: its definition, dimensions, ways to measure and index it, and the complicating factors that are often overlooked. The volume identifies varying definitions and dimensions of energy security, including those that prioritize security of supply and affordability alongside those that emphasize availability, energy efficiency, trade, environmental quality, and social and political stewardship.? It also explores the various metrics that can be used to give energy security more coherence, and also to enable it to be measured, inc.

Through the critical lenses of "modern slavery," "dispossession," and "gendering," this study examines the contours of power, patriarchy, and child labor in the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) of cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). There, a veritable mining boom for cobalt is underway, driven by rising global demand for batteries and other modern digital devices needed for future sustainability transitions. Based on extensive and original field research in the DRC—including 23 semi-structured expert interviews with a purposive sample, 48 semi-structured community interviews with ASM miners, traders, and community members, and site visits to 17 artisanal mines, processing centers, and trading depots—this study asks: What power relations does ASM cobalt mining embed? What are its effects on patriarchy and gender relations? Critically, what is the extent and severity of child labor? It documents the exploitation of ASM miners by the government, the police, and even at times other mining actors such as traders or local communities. It reveals the often invisible gendered nature of mining, showing how many vulnerabilities—in terms of work, status, social norms, and sexual abuse and prostitution—fall disproportionately on women and girls. It lastly reveals sobering patterns of child labor and abuse, again at times by the government or police, but other times by families or mining communities themselves. These factors can at times make cobalt mining a modern form of slavery and a catalyst for social, economic, and even regional dispossession. However, rather than despair, the study also draws from its empirical data to showcase how mining can in selected situations empower. It also proposes a concerted mix of policy reforms aimed the Congolese government (at all scales, including local and national); suppliers and end-user companies for cobalt; and international governments and trading bodies. In doing so, the study humanizes the plight of Congolese cobalt artisanal miners, reveals the power relations associated with the recent mining boom, and also proposes pathways for positive change.

This study critically examines 20 years of geography and political ecology literature on the energy justice implications of climate change mitigation. Grounded in an expert guided literature review of 198 studies and their corresponding 332 case studies, it assesses the linkages between low carbon transitions—including renewable electricity, biofuel, nuclear power, smart grids, electric vehicles, and land use management—with degradation, dispossession and destruction. It draws on a framework that envisions the political ecology of low-carbon transitions as consisting of four distinct processes: enclosure (capture of land or resources), exclusion (unfair planning), encroachment (destruction of the environment), or entrenchment (worsening of inequality or vulnerability). The study vigorously interrogates how these elements play out by country and across countries, by type of mitigation option, by type of victim or affected group, by process, and by severity, e.g. from modern slavery to organized crime, from violence, murder and torture to the exacerbation of child prostitution or the destruction of pristine ecosystems. It also closely examines the locations, disciplinary affiliations, methods and spatial units of analysis employed by this corpus of research, with clear and compelling insights for future work in the space of geography, climate change, and energy transitions. It suggest five critical avenues for future research: greater inclusivity and diversity, rigor and comparative analysis, focus on mundane technologies and non-Western case studies, multi-scalar analysis, and focus on policy and recommendations. At times, low-carbon transitions and climate action can promote squalor over sustainability and leave angry communities, disgruntled workers, scorned business partners, and degraded landscapes in their wake. Nevertheless, ample opportunities exist to make a future low-carbon world more pluralistic, democratic, and just.

Through the critical lenses of "modern slavery," "dispossession," and "gendering," this study examines the contours of power, patriarchy, and child labor in the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) of cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). There, a veritable mining boom for cobalt is underway, driven by rising global demand for batteries and other modern digital devices needed for future sustainability transitions. Based on extensive and original field research in the DRC—including 23 semi-structured expert interviews with a purposive sample, 48 semi-structured community interviews with ASM miners, traders, and community members, and site visits to 17 artisanal mines, processing centers, and trading depots—this study asks: What power relations does ASM cobalt mining embed? What are its effects on patriarchy and gender relations? Critically, what is the extent and severity of child labor? It documents the exploitation of ASM miners by the government, the police, and even at times other mining actors such as traders or local communities. It reveals the often invisible gendered nature of mining, showing how many vulnerabilities—in terms of work, status, social norms, and sexual abuse and prostitution—fall disproportionately on women and girls. It lastly reveals sobering patterns of child labor and abuse, again at times by the government or police, but other times by families or mining communities themselves. These factors can at times make cobalt mining a modern form of slavery and a catalyst for social, economic, and even regional dispossession. However, rather than despair, the study also draws from its empirical data to showcase how mining can in selected situations empower. It also proposes a concerted mix of policy reforms aimed the Congolese government (at all scales, including local and national); suppliers and end-user companies for cobalt; and international governments and trading bodies. In doing so, the study humanizes the plight of Congolese cobalt artisanal miners, reveals the power relations associated with the recent mining boom, and also proposes pathways for positive change.

This study critically examines 20 years of geography and political ecology literature on the energy justice implications of climate change mitigation. Grounded in an expert guided literature review of 198 studies and their corresponding 332 case studies, it assesses the linkages between low carbon transitions—including renewable electricity, biofuel, nuclear power, smart grids, electric vehicles, and land use management—with degradation, dispossession and destruction. It draws on a framework that envisions the political ecology of low-carbon transitions as consisting of four distinct processes: enclosure (capture of land or resources), exclusion (unfair planning), encroachment (destruction of the environment), or entrenchment (worsening of inequality or vulnerability). The study vigorously interrogates how these elements play out by country and across countries, by type of mitigation option, by type of victim or affected group, by process, and by severity, e.g. from modern slavery to organized crime, from violence, murder and torture to the exacerbation of child prostitution or the destruction of pristine ecosystems. It also closely examines the locations, disciplinary affiliations, methods and spatial units of analysis employed by this corpus of research, with clear and compelling insights for future work in the space of geography, climate change, and energy transitions. It suggest five critical avenues for future research: greater inclusivity and diversity, rigor and comparative analysis, focus on mundane technologies and non-Western case studies, multi-scalar analysis, and focus on policy and recommendations. At times, low-carbon transitions and climate action can promote squalor over sustainability and leave angry communities, disgruntled workers, scorned business partners, and degraded landscapes in their wake. Nevertheless, ample opportunities exist to make a future low-carbon world more pluralistic, democratic, and just.

Corruption and sustainability remain central themes in the study of energy and climate governance as well as energy transitions. Almost half of the human population globally (3.5 billion people) resides in countries with large endowments of fossil fuels or minerals, yet many governments and companies operating in these countries do not release timely, full, open, transparent data about the extraction of those resources or the revenues produced. Many academic theorists have suggested that transparency—"timely and reliable economic, social and political information accessible to all relevant stakeholders" —can partially counteract some of the governance challenges facing the energy sector and improve social welfare. The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) operates on the principle of having accountable and transparent assessments of the ways that extractive industries companies interact with governments and moderate their social and economic impacts. As of early 2020, its revenue transparency standards were being implemented in 52 countries, and it included almost $2.5 trillion in government revenues from oil, gas, and mining spread across more than 300 years of report coverage. Does the transparency promulgated by the EITI produce better governance and development outcomes in EITI compliant countries? Does it accelerate or retard a transition to lower-carbon forms of energy? Using a unique dataset of 218 countries, the paper quantitatively assesses the correlative performance of the first 12 countries to attain EITI compliant status on a series of metrics over the period 2000 to 2020 compared to all non-EITI countries. These 12 EITI Compliant Countries reported 57 separate revenue streams covering oil, gas, and minerals; involved 652 companies; and were responsible for $169 billion in government revenue when they joined the EITI, meaning they represented a sizable chunk of EITI assets at that time.

Corruption and sustainability remain central themes in the study of energy and climate governance as well as energy transitions. Almost half of the human population globally (3.5 billion people) resides in countries with large endowments of fossil fuels or minerals, yet many governments and companies operating in these countries do not release timely, full, open, transparent data about the extraction of those resources or the revenues produced. Many academic theorists have suggested that transparency—"timely and reliable economic, social and political information accessible to all relevant stakeholders" —can partially counteract some of the governance challenges facing the energy sector and improve social welfare. The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) operates on the principle of having accountable and transparent assessments of the ways that extractive industries companies interact with governments and moderate their social and economic impacts. As of early 2020, its revenue transparency standards were being implemented in 52 countries, and it included almost $2.5 trillion in government revenues from oil, gas, and mining spread across more than 300 years of report coverage. Does the transparency promulgated by the EITI produce better governance and development outcomes in EITI compliant countries? Does it accelerate or retard a transition to lower-carbon forms of energy? Using a unique dataset of 218 countries, the paper quantitatively assesses the correlative performance of the first 12 countries to attain EITI compliant status on a series of metrics over the period 2000 to 2020 compared to all non-EITI countries. These 12 EITI Compliant Countries reported 57 separate revenue streams covering oil, gas, and minerals; involved 652 companies; and were responsible for $169 billion in government revenue when they joined the EITI, meaning they represented a sizable chunk of EITI assets at that time.

This study examines the contours of electronic waste ("e-waste") governance in Ghana, one of the top five importers of e-waste in the world, as well as the site of one of the most intensive e-waste scrapyards in the world, Agbogbloshie. At Agbogbloshie, despite the intentions of national Ghanaian regulations and hazardous waste laws, most e-waste is untreated or crudely processed via burning or acid baths. These practices release dioxins, furans, and heavy metals into the environment, invariably harming scrapyard workers, their families, and the greater urban community of Accra. However, the scrapyard also provides a critical source of livelihood for some of Ghana's most poor, vulnerable, and unskilled migrants. The aim and objective of this study is to humanize the conundrums and challenges that e-waste invokes in places such as Ghana. Based on extensive and original field research—including expert interviews, community interviews with scrapyard workers and families, and naturalistic observation at waste sites and other parts of the e-waste supply chain—this study asks: What benefits has e-waste brought communities in Ghana? What risks has it created? And, critically, what policies need implemented to make e-waste more sustainable? It documents ten ostensible benefits of e-waste alongside ten very real and growing risks. Then, it identifies a concert of fifteen different policy recommendations as well as four research gaps. It concludes by emphasizing the duality of the e-waste phenomenon and e-waste policy, and by underscoring the political economy dynamics of e-waste activities and practices.

This study examines the political economy of cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There, a veritable mining boom for cobalt is underway, driven by rising global demand needed for batteries and other modern digital devices. Based on extensive and original field research—including expert interviews, community interviews with miners and traders, and naturalistic observation at 21 mines and 9 affiliated mining sites—this study asks: How is cobalt currently extracted? What benefits has cobalt mining brought communities? What risks has it created? And, critically, what policies need implemented to make mining there more equitable and sustainable? It documents six interrelated benefits to cobalt mining, including poverty reduction, community development, and regional stability, alongside six serious challenges, including accidents and occupational hazards, environmental pollution and degraded community health, and violent conflict and death. It then proposes seven policy recommendations for different stakeholder groups such as local and national government, industrial (and often foreign) mining companies, miners and their communities, and the manufacturers of electronic products using cobalt. The study primarily seeks to humanize the process of Congolese cobalt mining, and to reveal the tensions and tradeoffs associated with the recent mining boom.