Climate Change and Energy Futures - Theoretical Frameworks, Epistemological Issues, and Methodological Perspectives

Abstract

Critically re-imagining our energy systems is a major task for addressing climate change. Technological change or market signals do not automatically create new energy futures. Rather, political priorities and action shape the ambitions behind energy transitions. In response, this special issue is dedicated to re-thinking energy futures related to climate change, with attention to the social values and norms, hierarchical structures, and social imaginaries underlying decision-making in a carbon-constrained world. Three cross-cutting themes run across this special issue. First, the papers identify new ways of envisioning and creating low-carbon energy futures that engage a range of social actors. Second, the papers highlight the need for analyses that bridge the global and local scales. Third, this issue emphasizes the importance of dialogue across disciplinary perspectives to strengthen the role of environmental social science in decision-making and community responses to climate change and energy futures.

Keywords:

• Energy
• global climate change
• futures research
• environmental politics
• energy transition

Acknowledgements

This special issue originated in the Climate Change and Energy Futures workshop, held at the Nexus Centre, Memorial University. For the workshop summary see: Nezhadhossein, E., and M. Stoddart. 2019. Connecting Climate Change, Energy, and Social Futures, The Nexus Centre, https://www.hss.mun.ca/nexus/posts/81? We thank Elahe Nezhadhossein for her assistance on this project.

Additional information

Funding

The workshop was supported by a SSHRC Connections Grant, the Memorial University Conference Fund, the Nexus Centre (Memorial University), the University of Waterloo Interdisciplinary Centre on Climate Change, the Waterloo Institute of Sustainable Energy, and the Department of Knowledge Integration at the University of Waterloo.