‘Energy Justice’? Pastoralism, political ecology and lower-carbon energy transitions

As global renewable energy (RE) capacity continues to expand, green extractivism and energy justice (EJ) have become increasingly pressing concerns. The paper ‘‘Energy Justice’? Pastoralism, political ecology and lower-carbon energy transitions, published in 2026 in Geoforum, focuses on the justice implications of energy transitions and the processes by which they are produced in pastoralists’ lands. These processes remain relatively marginalised in current scholarship, despite pastoral drylands globally becoming targets for roll-out of large-scale RE, underpinned by discourses of empty, degraded wastelands. This paper aims to enhance critical understanding of EJ in pastoralist communities and to advance current debates on EJ principles and meanings. The study draws on case studies globally and empirical material from Kenya and Mongolia. It highlights the importance of non-Western, place-based meanings of EJ, grounded in local land relations and of contested concepts of consent, including Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), as critical in refining EJ principles and in shaping prospects
for locally owned, just energy transitions.

Posted on 28 August 2026 in Pastoralism & Climate Change, Pastoralism & Extractives, Pastoralism & Natural Resources, Pastoralism, Policy & Power