Temporalities of energy justice: Changing justice conceptions in Dutch energy policy between 1974 and 2022

The concept of energy justice is increasingly adopted by policymakers and scholars. We argue that, although the use of the concept is new, normative interpretations of what is just have been part and parcel of energy policy as dynamic conceptions, changing to reflect the socio-cultural and socio-technical transitions of their time. To show this dynamic nature of justice conceptions, we analysed 13 key policy documents outlining the course of energy policy in the Netherlands in the period 1974 to 2022. Our analysis identified four periods in which different justice conceptions were dominant. We found that justice conceptions broadened over time and changed in the relative importance of certain aspects of justice: from primarily being regarded as a distributive concern to including and emphasising procedural and recognition justice. Our analysis shows that conceptions of justice are spatially and time sensitive, continuously being re-interpreted and re-enacted. Based on this insight, we propose for energy justice scholarship to view justice more as a highly contingent and spatially and time sensitive concept. This understanding asks of policymakers to engage in continuous, representative dialogue with societal actors to share heterogeneous conceptions of justice, using participatory processes open to a societal redefinition of priorities.