Submission Deadline: 31 May 2024

Guest Editors: Marc Jeuland (Duke University); Marcela Jaime Torres (University of Concepcion)

Environment and Development Economics seeks to publish a special issue on challenges and solutions for inclusive low-carbon energy transition. The issue will be guest edited by Marc Jeuland and Marcela Jaime Torres.

Reaching universal access to energy by 2030 while moving towards global goals of net-zero emissions is a daunting challenge. Globally, nearly 800 million people still lack any access to electricity, 600 million of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa (IEA et al., 2022), and many more have only intermittent supplies and low consumption levels. A considerably larger number, more than 2 billion people globally (nearly one third of total population), lack any access to clean cooking technology, and stacking of clean and dirty fuels remains common among many others.

Even as these deficiencies in access persist, countries are setting out ambitious actions to advance clean, affordable energy for all by 2030 in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and Long-Term Strategies (LTSs), to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Unsurprisingly, many NDCs have identified renewable energy as a top priority, as well as improvements in energy efficiency. Across developing economies, international investment initiatives are increasingly lending financial and other support to these actions. The new attention on a low carbon energy transition (LCET) certainly presents new opportunities, yet numerous and interlinked challenges continue to impede the move away from traditional energy sources and towards more sustainable ones. Moreover, the current push for a LCET in developing economies risks exacerbating an already deeply unequal global energy situation that is reflected in debates about climate justice.

This special issue aims to collect and publish research that advances understanding of the economics of policies and initiatives to promote LCET in developing economies, with a particular focus on their distributional consequences. Submissions are welcome with regard to all developing economy contexts, including societies that are still aiming to extend basic access to electricity and cooking fuels, as well as those that seek to reduce the carbon intensity of their energy economies. Contributions in the domains of cooking, lighting, heating, and small businesses are encouraged, especially those aimed at understanding pathways of effects, and linkages with economic empowerment. We encourage applied empirical studies as well as theoretical work, and especially welcome comparative work that speaks to generalizability of findings across contexts and development levels.

Potential topics/issues include, but are not limited to:

• Clarifying if and how the low-carbon energy transition can create economic opportunities for marginalized groups (women, low-income, rural, minority, and other disenfranchised populations), and support their economic empowerment;
• Conversely, investigating whether and how improved equity or empowerment help to stimulate and advance the progress of the low-carbon energy transition;
• Considering equity-efficiency tradeoffs of different institutions’ efforts, and business models, for delivering low-carbon energy transition, including actions by the private sector, NGOs, government agencies, or public-private partnerships;
• Studying how governments and the private sector can help to promote better access to productive resources (finance, sustainable energy, entrepreneurial capacity, business development services) to support women- and youth-owned and led energy businesses;
• Identifying challenges and/or solutions to balance tradeoffs between environmental objectives and poverty alleviation;
• Investigating what types of government and donor policies, incentives (subsidies, rewards, etc.), pathways, strategies and complementary initiatives (e.g., training programs, investment in infrastructure, or behavior change campaigns) are efficient, equitable, and/or cost-effective for supporting LCET, as well as which types are damaging to those objectives.

Submission Guidelines: Papers should be submitted by 31 May 2024 at the latest. Early submissions are encouraged and will be processed immediately. Papers will undergo the normal refereeing process. The quality of the paper and the extent to which a paper fits the focus of the special issue are the criteria for acceptance.

Submissions should be made online at: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ede. During the first step of the submission process, in the “Special Issue” field, authors should select “LCET”. Authors should also indicate in their cover letter that the manuscript is for the “Challenges and Solutions for Inclusive Low-Carbon Energy Transition” Special Issue.

Instructions for contributors can be found here.

For further information, authors may contact the Guest Editors.

Guest editors

About the Guest Editors

Marc Jeuland is Associate Professor of Public Policy and Global Health at Duke University. His research interests include nonmarket valuation, water and sanitation, environmental health, energy poverty and transitions, trans-boundary water resource planning and management, and the impacts and economics of climate change. He co-directs the Sustainable Energy Transitions Initiative, a global “center without walls” dedicated to producing policy-relevant scholarship on issues at the interface of energy and economic development.

Marcela Jaime Torres is Associate Professor in the Business and Management School at University of Concepción (Chile). Her research interests include behavioral aspects of water and energy conservation, waste management, air pollution control policies, energy poverty and environmental justice. She is also interested in the effects of the interactions between environmental policies, individuals’ responses to both monetary and non-monetary incentives, and on social capital and subjective well-being. She co-directs the Sustainable Energy Transitions Initiative and is the director of the brunch of the Environment for Development Initiative in Chile (EfD-Chile)