Examining energy justice: Empirical analysis of clean cooking transition across social groups in India, 2004–2018

Literature has highlighted the existence of a gap in clean fuel usage between the social groups in most emerging nations across the world, which is detrimental to global efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7 (access to clean energy) and SDG 10 (reducing inequalities) and just energy transition with recognition justice. This paper, assesses the clean fuel gap across social groups in India using three rounds of representative data (2004, 2014, and 2018) by applying the logit model, exogenous switching treatment effect regression (ESTER), and the Blinder–Oaxaca Decomposition Model. Such an analysis is instrumental in identifying the clean energy usage gap and its causes, thereby providing insight to policymakers to design policies to achieve just energy transition and carbon neutrality by 2060. The results show a substantive clean fuel gap between social groups in India, which is a cause of concern for just energy transition. Clean energy utilization gaps among social groups are alarming across geographical locations and consumption quartiles, highlighting the importance of recognition justice for just energy transition. The results show that in rural areas, only 19.6 % of the General Caste households and 14.5 % of the disadvantaged social groups (Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes, and Other Backward Class) in quartile one use clean energy, while in urban areas, the shares are 60.4 % and 46.3 %, respectively. To achieve a just distribution of the benefits of energy transition, energy policies should focus on disadvantaged social groups and simultaneously target General Caste households from a lower economic status and those residing in rural areas, indicating the need for targeting the neglected regions.