Ethics and Justice in Energy Transitions

Thanks to the Justice 40 initiative, the language of just transitions is now fundamental to U.S. energy policy. Energy institutions and researchers are only beginning, however, to grapple with the complex challenge of defining and implementing just transitions in theory and in practice. This talk will review the complex dynamics of energy transitions and the diverse ways that those dynamics intersect with questions of ethics of justice.

This webinar will feature Dr. Clark A. Miller, Director of the Center for Energy & Society at Arizona State University and Professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society. His research explores the structure and dynamics of human relationships with technology and the challenges of reconfiguring those relationships to address global challenges of sustainability and inequality. He is a member of the National Academies committee on accelerating decarbonization in the United States and an advisor to cities, utilities, and communities on strategies for designing and implementing a just transition to clean energy futures.

Dr. Miller will be joined by Allen Townsend, graduate student at the University of Virginia. Allen has advised a sitting U.S. Ambassador on foreign water-energy policy, worked within a Fortune 100 company on corporate sustainability, and served in various international consulting roles across sectors. Currently, he is a Ph.D. Fellow at the University of Virginia’s Convergent Behavioral Science Initiative, where he works to address water-related challenges that require a merged understanding of human behavior and the systems that this behavior creates.

The webinar will be hosted by Dr. Caitlin Wylie, Assistant Professor of Science, Technology, and Society at UVA’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

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Funded by the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at UVA.