ABSTRACT
There is growing concern whether the low-carbon transition will be a just transition. Transition to clean energy is a significant component of these low-carbon futures. Traditionally, energy transitions have been understood in terms of the shift in the energy supply and its corresponding infrastructures. However, recognising that the transition is occurring in a sociotechnical system that influences and is influenced by people and their social relations, this chapter examines if India’s acceleration of clean energy expansion fuelled by climate policy is committed to just outcomes and the extent to which it risks perpetuating and creating injustices. Through the experiences of one of the largest solar installations in India, the Pavagada Shakti Sthala in Karnataka, the chapter seeks to understand how it is impacting various marginalised social groups, especially women and landless labourers. Using this evidence, the chapter also seeks to expand the interpretation of a just transition beyond jobs and the transition away from coal, but negotiate the applicability of the principle to the adoption of large-scale renewable energy and the differentiated ways in which its consequences play out, in sites labelled as conducive for such interventions but also experiencing historic pressures on their resources.
