1.
Reframing Climate Justice to Support
Equitable and Inclusive Energy Transitions
Zainab Usman and Katie Auth
Presentation at the OECD Development Center’s Dev Talk Series
10 November 2021

2.
Outline
• Background
• Why do we need to reframe ‘climate justice’?
• Six principles for supporting equitable and inclusive energy
transitions
• Conclusions

3.
Background

4.
Anthropogenic Climate Change
• 2021 IPCC Report: “unequivocal” that human actions, specifically
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, have caused dramatic increases in
temperature over the past two and a half centuries
• Human-induced temperature changes linked to increased heatwaves,
heavy rains, droughts, and tropical cyclones
• Warming trend between 1991-2020 greater than that for 1961-1990
period for all African sub-regions (WMO, 2021)

5.
Effects of Severe Climate Events in
Africa
• January 2021, Tropical Cyclone Eloise
displaces thousands and kills dozens
in Madagascar, Mozambique &
South Africa (NASA Observatory)
• Mount Kenya projected to be
among the first entire mountain
ranges to lose glaciers within the
next 10-15 years
Source: State of the Climate in Africa 2020. World Meteorological Organization.
https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=10854

6.
Effects of Severe
Climate Events in
Africa (cont.)
• Increased desertification and
erratic rainfall exacerbate farmer-
herder conflicts and contribute to
food insecurity and mass
displacement
• Severe socio-economic
consequences. Floods, cyclones,
droughts etc affect agric yields,
damage infrastructure, induce
population displacements etc. All
these resulted in economic losses
of over $38bn in Africa in 2020
 Source: State of the Climate in
Africa 2020. World
Meteorological Organization.
https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.
php?explnum_id=10854

7.
Mounting
Pressure to
Divest
• Increasing pressure from activists
on institutional investors (SWFs,
endowments, PFs) to divest from
fossil fuel assets
• Announcements from development
banks on discontinuation of
financing for coal and other fossil
fuel projects
• 25 countries and some DFIs pledge
at COP-26 to discontinue
international public financing of
overseas fossil fuel projects

8.
Why do we Need to Reframe
Climate Justice?

9.
1. Low-Emitting
Energy-Poor Countries
Face Unique
Challenges
• These countries produce
extremely low emissions
per capita
• Power is often too
unreliable and expensive to
enable job creation
• These countries have
contributed very little to
climate change, but are
among the most
vulnerable to its impacts

10.
2. Prevailing Definitions of Climate Justice
Rarely Address Energy Poverty
The universal right to
equal protection and
equal enforcement of
environmental laws and
regulations
Environmental Rights & Justice
Climate change has
disproportionately
severe impacts on the
vulnerable including
people of color,
Indigenous groups, and
the poor, reflecting
systemic inequities
Climate Justice
Evolved out of the US
labor movement and
refers broadly to
ensuring environmental
sustainability alongside
decent work, social
inclusion and poverty
eradication
Just Transition
Countries’ contributions
to global emissions, as
well as their capacities
to respond, vary widely;
an equitable
international policy
should account for this
disparity
Common but Differentiated
Responsibilities & Capabilities

11.
3. Climate Justice Must
Achieve Just and
Equitable Energy
Outcomes
• In addition to
decarbonization, energy
transitions in low-emitting
energy-poor countries must:
 Provide universal
electricity access;
 Power job creation and
economic diversification;
 Enhance climate
resilience, and;
 Set the stage for a
prosperous low-carbon
future

12.
Six Principles for Supporting
Inclusive and Equitable Energy
Transitions

13.
1. Agency. Prioritize African-
owned ambitions and plans
and align support
• Proactively integrate input and
perspectives on justice from low-
emitting energy-poor countries in
policy design.
• Align power sector support
programs with country climate and
development plans. Use country-
specific goals and plans as the starting
point and build programs that
contribute to country-defined
objectives.

14.
● Resist outright bans on or universal prioritization of specific energy
technologies or policy solutions. Instead, adopt flexible tools that can
support the deployment of diverse solutions that best match local conditions
and needs.
2. Diversity. Adopt flexible policies and
country-specific approaches that reflect
heterogeneous energy needs

15.
3. Ambition. Aim much
higher than universal
household access
• Adopt metrics that
make basic electricity
access the first step,
not the end goal. The
Modern Energy
Minimum proposes the
next threshold of access
at 1,000 kWh per person
per year, inclusive of
both 300 kWh of
household and 700 kWh
of non-household
electricity consumption.

16.
4. Resilience. Prioritize
energy solutions for
climate adaptation
• Meet (and exceed) stated
commitments for adaptation
finance — and ensure it is truly
additional.
• Support investment and planning
for resilient electricity systems.
Support forward-looking plans that
account for and mitigate relevant
climate risks.
• Account for the additional
electricity needed for climate
adaptation. Account for electricity
demand from climate adaptation
and consider electricity a tool for
adaptation and resilience.

17.
Drive investment,
innovation, and cost
decreases in a range of
technologies, and in policy
and business model
solutions that reduce costs
and enable access by
lower-income populations.
Fund innovation across a
variety of solutions.
Prioritize finance, funding,
and knowledge sharing
and transfer to support the
development of clean tech
research and
manufacturing in Africa.
Support clean tech
industry in Africa.
Ensure that support for
research and development
(R&D) includes a focus on
technologies and business
models specifically
relevant to emerging and
frontier markets and
accelerate deployment and
economic viability of
advanced technologies
there.
Fund cleantech innovation
in developing markets.
Invest in enabling
infrastructure, including:
robust R&D systems and
new utility models
designed for an evolving
customer base.
Support infrastructure for
energy transformation.
5. Innovation. Invest in cleantech that meets
African needs, but beware of naive
‘leapfrogging’

18.
6. Equity. Treat the remaining global carbon
budget as a ‘development budget’

19.
6. Equity. Treat remaining
global carbon budget as a
‘development budget’
• Encourage net-zero targets based on
realistic poverty and employment timelines.
African targets for net-zero should enable
energy ambition, greater energy consumption,
and provide a longer transition period where
needed.
• Maintain flexibility to finance natural gas
with smart transition plans. where it
displaces dirtier fuels, balances greater
intermittent energy penetration, catalyzes
prioritized industrial development, enables
cleaner cooking, or supports broader low-
carbon development plans. As incomes rise
and emissions increase, that flexibility could be
increasingly limited.
 Tripling electricity generation in SSA (ex
South Africa) overnight, using only natural
gas, would add only 0.6% to global
emissions.

20.
Conclusions
• References to climate justice and
equity are widespread within
climate policy
• Prevailing definitions of climate
justice fail to adequately
consider energy poverty and
other circumstances of
developing countries
• Six principles for supporting
inclusive and equitable
transitions are: Agency,
Diversity, Ambition, Resilience,
Innovation and Equity

21.
Thank you!
Zainab Usman: zainab.usman@ceip.org
Katie Auth: katie@energyforgrowth.org
Co-Authors: Mimi Alemayehou, Katie Auth, Murefu Barasa,
Morgan Bazilian, Brad Handler, Uzodinma Iweala, Todd Moss,
Rose Mutiso, Zainab Usman