Reclaiming Energy Report: Part 3 - Beyond the State Decolonisation, Just Transition and Energy Democracy

18 December 2024

40 minutes read

Discover how grassroots movements are reclaiming energy systems from state and corporate control. From decolonizing energy to Indigenous democracy and land justice, Part 3 explores initiatives shaping a just, equitable, and socially-driven energy transition worldwide.

Reclaiming Energy Report: Part 3 - Beyond the State (PDF, 6.33 MB)

Average time to read: 40 minutes

Publication type: Report
Part of series: Public Power trilogy

Authors

Summary

Part 3 of the report addresses initiatives towards a people’s energy take-over from outside the state and public institutions.

While fostering proactive government action on the energy transition is paramount, this will only be achieved through social struggle to shift the balance of power within the state and across society more generally. This part of the report focuses on four avenues through which this kind of social struggle is being articulated.

First, we consider endeavours to decolonise the energy system, which seek to tackle the colonial exploitation of Southern countries to service the energy demands of the global North. Here, we take a particular focus on the urgent case of Palestine and unpack Israel's role within the fossil fuel industry, looking at energy as part of the broader movement for Palestinian liberation.

Second, we explore just transition initiatives, which build solidarity between workers and marginalised peoples to push for justice and equity within the energy transition.

Third, we discuss Indigenous energy democracy initiatives. These projects see Indigenous communities developing energy systems that build social benefit. In particular, we explore the case of El Cua in Nicaragua, which brought affordable, clean electricity to the rural population.

Finally, we raise the importance of struggles for land and resource justice, which fight against the exploitative dispossession of land, metals and minerals within ‘clean energy’ supply chains. Here, we set out a set of five principles to build land justice from the ground up.