Legal Protection Of Energy Justice In Green Transformatio

With the lengthy evolution of the human energy system,the logic of unjust energy regulation has been widely and deeply embedded in it,where the benefits and burdens of energy have not been justly distributed,and the energy system has suffered from the structural distortion of “positive externalities upward and negative externalities downward”,which has led to a call for energy justice in human society.Energy justice is about access to safe,affordable,sufficient,reliable and sustainable modern energy for all people in all regions and the equitable enjoyment of the positive benefits of energy and energy development,while at the same time freeing everyone from the negative impacts of energy and energy development and equitably sharing the costs associated with energy and energy development.It seeks to protect the interests of disadvantaged groups and backward regions in the evolution of energy development,and seeks to rectify the structural distortion of the energy system in which positive externalities flow upwards and negative externalities flow downwards,so as to free the energy system from the unjust logic of regulation.Through the efforts of many experts and scholars in both academia and industry,the concept of energy justice has been complexly theorised and has now developed into a theoretical system based on five principles of justice and ten evaluation indicators,of which the five principles of energy justice include energy distribution justice,recognition justice,procedural justice,restoration justice and international justice.The ten indicators of evaluation are accessibility,affordability,due process,transparency and accountability,sustainability,intra-generational equity,intergenerational equity,accountability,resistance,and intersectionality.At the same time,it is important to note that this theoretical system is not a static,closed system,but a dynamically evolving conceptual system that is constantly being enriched and developed.Justice,as the due value of the law,is an important criterion for judging whether a law is good or not;the law,as the embodiment of justice,is an enabler for the transformation of the value of justice from what should be to what is.Energy justice,as a concept of justice for the energy system,should be the intended connotation of energy legal regulation,which is a powerful tool for achieving and promoting energy justice for human beings.It is our innate human instinct to be infinitely closer to justice.The green energy transition is another landmark revolution in human energy systems in the era of sustainable development,and it carries the expectation of enhancing human energy justice.However,as the world’s green energy transition continues to advance in depth,it is also having a somewhat heterogeneous impact on social justice as it addresses global crises such as climate degradation,environmental pollution,ecological damage and energy scarcity.What this makes us realise is that a greener energy system is not necessarily a more just energy system.The tension between the energy transition and energy justice has gradually emerged and has been externalised as an inherent limitation of the regulation of the green energy transition.In other words,the current legal regulation of the green energy transition has not been able to break away from the unfair regulatory logic of the energy system.The injustices in the energy system are at risk of being further entrenched and reinforced in this transition,and the formation of energy justice issues in the green energy transition is even more complex than the injustices in the traditional energy system.Energy justice theory provides a legal rationale and a value proposition for the green energy transition.Accordingly,the article suggests that it is necessary to examine and reflect on the social problems in the energy green transition from the perspective of energy justice,and to apply energy justice theory to the construction of a legal regulatory system for the energy green transition,so as to provide legal safeguards for the realisation and promotion of energy justice in the green energy transition.There are five main social justice issues associated with the green energy transition,based on the world’s green transition practices,and these issues are creating a backlash against energy justice guarantees.One is that the promotion of green energy will lead to higher energy prices and higher costs of living,and will also lead to the problem of unstable energy supply.Secondly,the innovation and withdrawal of high-carbon energy industries will lead to the formation of green unemployment in society.Thirdly,the development of green energy resources will have a series of negative effects on the ecological environment.Fourthly,the green energy transition will put the protection of the rights and interests of the weak in a dilemma,and while it promotes the rights and interests of the weak,it also threatens the rights and interests of the weak.Fifthly,the green energy transition will lead to development difficulties for poor countries and high-carbon energy-intensive regions.The article argues,therefore,that the loss of energy justice in the legal regulation of the energy green transition is an important causal factor in these problems.Among them,the lack of a just distribution of costs and benefits in the legal regulation of the energy green transition makes the human dimension of the energy transition goals insufficient.The disregard and misrecognition of marginalized groups by the legal regulation of energy green transition,which makes the inclusion and collaboration of energy transition participating subjects insufficient.The exploitation of basic procedural rights such as the right to be informed and the right to participate by the relevant stakeholders by the legal regulation of the energy green transition,making the operational procedures of the energy transition lacking in normality and legalism.The neglect and indulgence of the negative externalities of the energy transition by the legal regulation of the energy green transition,making the justice of the consequences of the energy transition insufficient.Meanwhile,due to the deep-rooted injustice of the global governance system,the green energy transition puts the relatively backward developing countries at risk of being exploited and dominated by the developed countries again in globalisation.In the face of the backlash of the green transition against energy justice,numerous regulatory measures have been taken at the international and national levels in the energy and climate governance systems to ensure a just energy transition and to alleviate the heterogeneous impact of the green energy transition on energy justice.At the international level,the International Labour Organisation,the Global Climate Governance Mechanism and the World Bank have all attached great importance to the protection of labour rights in the green transition,and to supporting the green transition in the disadvantaged and some carbon-intensive industries regions.At the national level,many countries,such as the United States,Germany and France,have adopted the Green New Deal,the relevant Energy Transition Act and its accompanying Social Protection Act to support and assist vulnerable groups,poor households and disadvantaged areas in the green energy transition,so that they can have the corresponding capacity to make the green energy transition and promote the green energy transition.From the perspective of energy justice,the relevant legal practices in foreign countries have,to a certain extent,put into practice the concept of energy justice and thus contributed to the protection and promotion of energy justice,but it must also be acknowledged that these legal systems are not perfect.In this regard,the article acknowledges their usefulness,but also reflects on their weaknesses and shortcomings.China’s green energy transition has played a key role in addressing the world’s climate crisis and achieving global energy justice.The China government has been responding to the theory of energy justice in the system and practice of green energy transition.From the perspective of energy justice,since the implementation of China’s policy of Reform and Opening-up,with the gradual improvement of the energy system and the innovation of the practice paths,the concept of energy justice has been expressed in the concerned energy transition system,and in the practice of energy transition,specific practice paths such as promoting universal energy services through green energy development and green energy poverty alleviation have further enhanced the level of energy justice protection in China.The establishment of the twin carbon targets of “peak carbon and carbon neutrality” is a great act of great power.In the context of this goal,China’s green energy transition is on the fast track.As a large country with a carbon-intensive industry,this is destined to be a massive,long-standing and expensive social system change.Due to the many interpersonal and regional differences in initial endowments,the high cost of the transition,and the lack of uniformity in transition capabilities between citizens and regions,China’s green energy transition is bound to involve more complex social issues.In the context of climate change,in order to meet these challenges and ensure the justice of China’s green energy transition,China also needs to explore the Chinese path of legal realisation of energy justice based on its national conditions and the advantages of its socialist system.Firstly,China’s green energy transition should persist in the concept of prioritizing energy justice,emphasizing not only the rate of promotion of green energy transition,but also the fairness and justice of green energy transition,fully considering the impact of initial endowment on the transition ability of disadvantaged groups and disadvantaged regions,and establishing five basic principles of energy justice guarantee on the basis of prioritizing energy justice.Secondly,to build a legal framework for energy transition based on energy justice,based on the five principles of energy justice and the eight evaluation indicators,to build a basic legal regulatory framework for China’s energy green transition guaranteed by energy justice in five dimensions:regulatory objectives,regulatory subjects,operational procedures,monitoring of consequences and international responsibility,so as to form a general guidance for the guarantee of energy justice in the whole energy green transition regulation.Finally,at the level of specific institutions,the issue of energy justice guarantees in the green energy transition is closely related to China’s energy legal system,as well as to the current legal system of “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality”,and is also inextricably linked to China’s social security system.Therefore,the article further proposes to enhance the level of legal protection for energy justice in the green energy transition by establishing a sound energy legal system,accelerating the construction of a “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality”legal system,and improving the social security mechanism in the green energy transition,with a view to forming a Chinese road for the legal realisation of energy justice.In this way,we can enhance the level of legal protection of energy justice in the green energy transition and form a Chinese path for the legal realization of energy justice,with a view to further promoting energy justice in China while continuing to contribute to the promotion of energy justice for humanity.