Decarbonising the Grid: The Distributive Justice Challenge of a Net Zero Uk

The UK faces a major challenge in decarbonising its grid. The transition to a clean energy system is essential if the UK is to reach net zero, ensure alignment with the Paris Agreement, and reach long-term energy security. The challenge will be complex as the barriers involve technological, economic, regulatory, and social dimensions. The social justice concerns associated with this transition are a major hurdle for the new government to overcome. It will require large-scale investment from a government already in debt, renewable energy expansion, major infrastructure changes, and the phasing out of fossil fuels. Without equitable structures in place, these changes could exacerbate fuel poverty and economic inequality (Zenghelis, 2019).

Miller explains in his paper that social justice is concerned with “the distribution of benefits and burdens throughout a society” (Miller, 2002, pp.20–24). Distributional justice is a core principle in achieving societal justice, prioritising the equitable allocation of society's resources, goods, and services. It looks at how resources, costs, and benefits must be evenly distributed to ensure equity and fairness, where no socio-economic group is disadvantaged (Stein, 2008). Stein explains distributive justice as having two opposing dimensions, one theory being ‘utilitarianism’ which believes in ensuring maximum benefit to society whereas ‘egalitarianism’ on the other hand, prioritises equal access to resources. Despite egalitarianism not always having the largest benefit for the most people in society, it focuses on ensuring the fair distribution of benefits, ignoring maximum total benefit. We can understand that there would be opposing arguments as to which theory to prioritise when looking at the challenge of decarbonising the UK’s grid but with egalitarianism prioritised, it would ensure no socio-economic group is left behind in the transition (Stein, 2008).

The paper by (Walker and Day, 2012) explains how distributional injustice, complemented by procedural and recognition-based justice concepts, is a key factor driving fuel poverty and economic inequality in the UK. Without having distributional justice at the forefront of decision-making, the government could inadvertently deepen the socio-economic divide throughout varying societal groups.

With the new government coming into power last July, Labour's recent manifesto highlights a commitment to making the UK a self-sufficient clean energy superpower. Central to this is the creation of a publicly owned Great British Energy (GBE) to drive renewable energy production, boost energy security, reduce costs, and expand green jobs, whilst ensuring social fairness. However, to achieve this it will require careful navigation of complex economic and political challenges (Labour’s Manifesto, 2024). For example, fuel poverty could be exacerbated following concerns over the short-term affordability of clean energy and the transition from gas to heat pumps. With more expensive low-carbon technologies, there lies an alarming concern for low-income households, exacerbated by the rising cost of living. Low-income households are unevenly distributed, with higher earners living in the larger cities, i.e., London and the South, whereas lower earners are situated in the North and coastal areas. However, the bottom ten percent of earners in these areas are earning the same average wages (Overman and Xu, 2024). Therefore, the lower earners in high-income regions will struggle to align with the potential net-zero policies and solutions as they cannot afford to upgrade to new low-carbon home heating and insulation technologies, increasing fuel poverty.

To address fuel poverty, (Walker and Day, 2012) argue that effective policies are required to tackle these distributional injustices by promoting affordable access to low-carbon technologies and ensuring energy costs are accessible for all socio-economic groups. With expected widespread change, these policies are essential to support low-income households so the government can provide a more equitable energy transition (Zenghelis, 2019).

References

Labour’s Manifesto 2024. Make Britain a clean energy superpower. The Labour Party. [Online]. Available from: https://labour.org.uk/change/make-britain-a-clean-energy-superpower/.

Miller, D. 2002. Social justice. New York: Oxford University Press.

Overman, H.G. and Xu, X. 2024. Spatial disparities across labour markets. Oxford Open Economics. 3(Supplement_1), pp.i585–i610.

Stein, M.S. 2008. Distributive Justice and Disability. Louis Stern Memorial Fund and from the John K. Castle Publications Fund of Yale Universitys Program in Ethics, Politics, and Economics.

Walker, G. and Day, R. 2012. Fuel poverty as injustice: Integrating distribution, recognition and procedure in the struggle for affordable warmth. Energy Policy. 49, pp.69–75.

Zenghelis, D. 2019. Securing Decarbonisation and Growth. National Institute Economic Review. 250, pp.R54–R60.