The energy transition towards a renewable energy based society and a sustainable development, is an urgent shifting process in the light of climate change and environmental pollution. However, few fossil fuel based corporations are controlling energy systems, generating most of the energy society consumes. In response to this, the idea of democratizing energy has been gaining importance. Publicly owned energy, democratic participation and decentralization of energy generation are ideas that “energy democracy” stands for. The main aim of this study was to determine if and how the combined heat and power (CHP) plant in Växjö, Sweden, is related to energy democracy. The energy plant is owned by the municipality of Växjö and runs on biomass provided by the forestry industry. Eight interviews were conducted with stakeholders from the municipality of Växjö, the energy company and civil society.This research revealed that energy democracy is taking place in the case study, which provides several benefits. Nevertheless, some impacts were found that would require further research. Regarding ecological concerns, it was revealed that the forestry activity in the Kronoberg Region providing the biomass to the CHP plant is not as sustainable as it might seem. This might have an important effect on the sustainability of the energy generation.The study concludes that one of the main drivers for the democratization of energy in Växjö is the strong local governance.

This research investigates the emergence of new participatory spaces in the transition towards a low-carbon society. Specifically, it focuses on the emerging spaces and roles for community groups in renewable energy governance. The role of community groups in facilitating a low-carbon transition has received much attention in recent years, but has been insufficiently studied within the wider context of evolving state-civil society relations. This research puts forward an understanding of community energy initiatives that is neither inherently celebratory nor dismissive of community action, but argues that such initiatives should be understood based on the interactions – between practices, organisations and relations – within and external to these communities. In doing so, this research adopts an interdisciplinary approach, building on insights from both geography and political science to understand how opportunities for community participation are articulated in particular geographical and political contexts. Grounding this research in Scotland shows the unique ways in which devolution – from the UK Government to the Scottish Government, but primarily through the emerging powers for community groups in Scotland – has created a set of spatially and temporally-specific spaces and practices of intervention. The devolution of energy governance, and the diversity of practices emerging through this process, also raises questions, however, about the democratic qualities of these new spaces and practices. This research specifically explores this issue through building on the emerging concept of energy democracy. ‘Energy democracy’ is a concept that has been adopted by a growing number of international civil society actors who regard the transition to law-carbon energy sources as an opportunity not only for technological innovation but also for wider socio-economic transformation. Invoking an image of associative democracy, those advocating for greater energy democracy consider self-governing community groups as best placed to ensure that the transition towards a low-carbon society is one that is more inclusive, democratic and just. While energy democracy, like related concepts of energy citizenship and energy justice, aims to combine technological and social transformation, its activist roots also means it is noticeably different. This is evident in two ways. First, the current body of literature is largely uncritical and rather vague in nature. The second consequence of the activist roots of energy democracy is that it is diverse in its framing of the issue and its formulation of desired transition pathways. As its main contribution to existing academic debate, my thesis explores and expands the conceptual foundations of ‘energy democracy’ by evaluating its connections to different political theories, and the consequences of different interpretations for energy democracy research and practice. Secondly, I seek to develop the empirical evidence base for energy democracy. The current, primarily activist, literature on energy democracy often assumes rather than demonstrates that the forms of governance it promotes are more democratic than the status quo. This PhD therefore sets out to analyse the complex and varied ways in which local communities practice energy governance in Scotland. First, I introduce a quantitatively-developed typology of community energy projects in Scotland to highlight the diverse nature of the sector. Subsequently I demonstrate through qualitative interviews with community groups how the diversity of the sector (both within and between groups) both contributes to, and challenges, the democratic claims made for and by community energy. In the final part I show that the hybridity of spaces created by, and for, community energy intermediaries reflect the interactions between policy and community-action. Through a focus on the interaction between actors at different governance levels, my research helps to improve an understanding of the creation and contestation of new spaces of intervention in the Scottish energy transition as a process that not only reflects a broader (re)structuring of state-civil society relations, but also provides an early and somewhat experimental expression of such restructuring.

The United States’ electric macro-grid provides electricity for all people to sustain our lifestyle. The current governing institutions that generate our electricity limit community representation, causing procedural injustice particularly to communities of color. This thesis is a contribution to the Energy Democracy literature, describing a community-based electricity model that includes two components: property and people. I argue to include an in-depth study of John Locke’s theories on property, in addition to Elinor Ostrom’s Institutional Analysis and Development Framework to promote local knowledge in understanding how physical space and governing bodies strengthen the Energy Democracy movement. In addition, I utilize the works from Karl Marx and Grace Lee Boggs to describe the process of local self-reliance to community empowerment. This Energy Democracy approach centering property and people aims to revolutionize a system that promotes equity and democracy.

Amidst the rising tides of inequality and climate change, movements are developing which aim to unify social justice and environmental agendas. Proponents of energy democracy recognize that renewable energy transitions have the potential to foster more equitable social relations. However, literature indicates that renewable energy can also worsen social relations, and may fail to hinder, or could actively contribute to, ecological degradation. Therefore, research is needed that examines how the contexts in which renewables are implemented lead to divergent socio-ecological outcomes. This project compares strategies of renewable energy implementation in Canada, as embedded within socio-environmental projects ranging from fossil capitalism to eco-socialism. The framing of renewable energy, climate change, and political-economic issues in the strategies of actors within these projects are analyzed. Canadian governments, fossil fuel and renewable energy corporations were found to undertake renewables implementation within a clean growth framework, which maintains capitalist hegemony while responding to pressure to take action on climate change. Renewables are also used by governments and fossil capital firms to justify the continued growth of fossil fuel industries. The renewables industry is more ambitious in its transition strategy but does not contest fossil fuel production and exports. Renewable energy co-operatives offer a form of energy transitioning that challenges the undemocratic nature of corporate power but appears limited in its ability to influence multi-scalar change. Meanwhile, Leap, the Pact for a Green New Deal, and Iron and Earth exhibit an emergent push for just, democratic, and sustainable alternatives to fossil capitalism and clean growth. Energy democracy is central to Leap’s strategy, which suggests paths toward addressing the limitations of renewable energy co-operatives while supporting other forms of democratic renewable energy systems. / Graduate

Les défis énergétiques contemporains sont multidimensionnels, car ils sont à la fois économiques, sociaux et environnementaux. Ils sont également mondiaux, connexes et transversaux. Ils sont néanmoins saisis dans leur globalité par le droit international, même si celui-ci manifeste des insuffisances dans son approche. Celles-ci tiennent à l’appréhension imparfaite, d’une part, de la dimension stratégique des enjeux, intimement liés au principe de souveraineté, et, d’autre part, des risques environnementaux et humains. Pour autant, ces insuffisances n’enlèvent en rien la capacité du droit international à s’adapter à ces défis. Son adaptation est amorcée avec la prise en compte de leur caractère transversal et de la solidarité qui en découle. Elle est également consolidée par l’émergence d’une finalité nouvelle et inclusive, l’accès universel à l’énergie durable, et par la recherche d’une démocratie énergétique. Le droit international porte donc en lui tous les outils propres à lui permettre, non seulement d’accompagner la transition énergétique, mais aussi de la dynamiser. / Current energy challenges are multidimentional in nature as they blend together the economic, social, and environmental fields. They are also global, interconnected and transversal. Energy challenges are apprehended globally by international law, despite some shortcomings. Those shortcomings stem from the strategic nature of energy challenges and their simultaneous dependance on sovereignty. They also come to light in the context of environmental risks and risks of harm to humans. Yet, those shortcomings do not deprive international law of its capacity to adapt to energy challenges. It shows adaptation by taking into account their transversal character and the correlated necessity for solidarity. The inclusive and new finality of pursuing universal access to sustainable energy and the efforts shown toward energy democracy yet reinforce this adaptability. Thus, international law exibits all the tools necessary to help, and also be an engine for the energy transition.

Both the theoretical outlines of a solution to the climate and ecological crisis, as well as concrete efforts at environmental reform and energy transformation, often run into the ambivalent role of organised labour, particularly trade unions, in todays growth-oriented, fossil-fuel based economy. On the one hand, trade unions often already formally endorse the ideal of sustainability, on the other hand, in concrete environmental conflicts, they often the side with "jobs" against climate and environmental protections, and thus serve as a support of the growth-oriented fossil economy. The concept of a just transition, embodying the attempts at creating a framework in which the interests of workers and climate protection can be reconciled, thus also becomes ambivalent, serving often as a basis for arguments against more ambitious decarbonization. The aim of this thesis, drawing on the theoretical framework of critical political ecology, is to explore the possibilities of solving this dilemma in the case of Czech trade unions. On the basis of interviews with their various representatives, it will try to answer the questions: 1) what political strategy is shaping the policies of Czech trade unions in the sphere of climate and energy policy, 2) how do these trade unions see their role in the proces of a...