ABSTRACT
This chapter ties together the book’s main arguments through the lens of justice, fulfilling the normative goals outlined in the first chapter. It discusses the theory of energy justice and the challenge of assessing energy justice in multi-scalar systems. It then describes and characterizes the energy injustices revealed in this empirical study of a vision for a multi-scalar energy system, and how they intersect with issues of global energy security. It analyzes issues of justice at the transnational scale in North-South collaboration, assessing the neocolonial critique of Desertec using the categories of justice. It explores whether a global framing of energy security could be adopted by nation-states without infringing on energy sovereignty or reproducing neocolonial relations, and whether an imaginary for an interconnected energy system would need to be shared at the regional level in order for secure energy integration to occur. It recommends the principle of freedom from coercion in North-South energy integration, rather than energy sovereignty, and recommends a just regional process for achieving integration. This chapter then discusses the citizen scale and recommends an approach that focuses on cosmopolitan justice and “deep energy security” to avoid building energy systems as if some lives do not matter.
