Of temporality and plurality: an epistemic and governance agenda for accelerating just transitions for energy access and sustainable development

Abstract

The complementarity of sustainable energy transitions and energy access provision are one of the key characteristics of both the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change. In this perspective piece, we offer an epistemic and governance agenda to advance the imperative of speed in meeting both ambitions and to acknowledge the plurality of disciplines, actors, and institutions involved. Recognizing that the processes required to achieve these global goals entail navigating tensions, we suggest that shifts in ways knowledge is produced and transitions are governed could be based on a justice framework.