The issue of environmental justice in the Global North has become increasingly urgent. This is particularly the case in the context of policies seeking to addressing climate change and socio-ecological transformation.
To explore these questions, a sub-group on “Environmental Justice in the Global North” was formed by interested network members at the 2022 EnJust conference in Bern.
Taking the Bern discussions forward, we held our first workshop online on 5 May 2023. The aim was to understand who is working on these issues in the EnJust network and to explore aspects of interest. Three distinct topics emerged in the course of our discussions:
- Energy Infrastructures
- Spatial Justice, Coastal/Rural Development
- Framing Environmental Justice & Ethics + Epistemic Justice/Politics
The energy infrastructures group in particular wanted to continue their discussions in the near future. In addition, questions on epistemology and conceptual differences of EJ in different parts of the Global North were vividly debated and clearly needed to be pursued further. To take these debates forward, we held another workshop on 20 June 2023. There, we had more specific discussions on these two topics, followed by the question of our next steps and how to translate what we had discussed into action.
Some of the subgroup want to work concretely on the topic of green hydrogen and renewable energy transitions in different countries, including aspects of epistemic justice and framing Environmental Justice in different contexts. The organization team will meet up in September and discuss the relevant further steps.
If you want information on the next steps or/and to participate in the work of this subgroup, just email enjust(at)geographie.uni-kiel.de
