Transforming Gendered Interrelations of Power and Inequalities in Transition Pathways to Sustainable Energy Systems
The energy transition creates new privileges and discrimination. In gEneSys, we are exploring what a gender-equitable energy transition can look like.
BACKGROUND
Decarbonizing the energy system plays an important role in combating climate change. This systemic transition, however, will impact people's daily life experiences, global economic and social orders, international security, and national understandings of democracy.
To ensure that the energy transition is accepted by society, “it must be just and fair”, as recommended by the Group of the Chief Scientific Advisers to the European Union. However, studies have shown that most energy policies are gender blind and unjust. The Sustainable Development Goal 5 aiming to achieve ‘gender equality’ tends to be generally ignored in global transformation strategies, above all in the energy transition. What is more is that gender inequalities in the energy transition often interact with other forms of discrimination – centered on race, social class, sexuality, disabilities, or religion.
AIM
Analyzing the energy transition from an intersectional gender perspective allows to understand how social and identity characteristics are linked to discrimination or privilege in the energy transition. This will help improve social justice and increase the acceptability of the energy transition. Gender relations in both the Global South and Global North will be analyzed regarding the following question:
How to integrate gender and intersectional equality perspectives into energy transition processes and foster energy justice?
PROCEDURE
The project will apply a mixed method approach, it uses existing data and collects further data through extensive surveys. Within Work Package (WP) 1, a systematic literature review on the energy transition, gender and energy justice will be conducted. Specifically, attention will be given to the (re)production of gender and intersectional inequalities in energy transition contexts. Following up on this, in WP 2, CeRRI will build a theoretical framework to better understand the intersectional gender patterns in the energy transition by conducting a quantitative survey with 30,000 citizens in ten countries in Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. Thereafter and within the scope of a Delphi study, an interdisciplinary group of experts will be mobilized to validate and explain the data patterns. Exploiting the generated results, the theoretical framework will then be applied to concrete case studies of the energy transition to try to depict intersectional discrimination dynamics in specific contexts. Based on this work, concrete implications for policies and actions will be developed.
The remaining work packages will deploy concrete solutions for advancing women’s roles in the energy system as researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs, and leaders (WP 3), promoting effective engagement and empowerment of women in Africa (WP 4), and developing credible pathways for an equitable, just, and fair energy transition (WP 5).
FUNDING
The project has a duration of three years (2023 to 2026). It is funded by Horizon Europe to support research on gender equity in the energy transition.
gEneSys-Project homepage - https://www.genesys-project.eu/
PROJECT CONSORTIUM
Project lead: CNR - https://www.cnr.it/en
AIMS - https://aims.ac.za/
ENEA - https://www.enea.it/it
Imperial College London - https://www.imperial.ac.uk/
Jagiellonian University - https://en.uj.edu.pl/en_GB/start
Portia - https://portiaweb.de/