Awards

The Long Life of Off-Grid Energy Commons: Insights from Thirty-Five Years of Electropalmor 

Beneath the surface, injustice boils: Environmental justice struggles against geothermal energy in Turkey

Over the past twenty years, Turkey has increased its renewable energy investments partly to follow the global driving forces of decarbonisation enforced by the international climate change regime, partly to attract finance from international financial institutions, and partly to substitute imported fossil fuel (mainly natural gas) with “domestic and national” energy. The rapid increase in renewable investments, coupled with the increasing authoritarian neoliberalism of the government, has taken a heavy toll on the local communities by destroying their livelihoods and violating their political rights, leading to an increasing number of local resistance movements against hydro, wind, and geothermal power plants (GPPs). In this article, we aim to examine the multidimensionality of the injustices arising from the increased number of GPPs in Turkey, particularly in Büyük Menderes and Gediz Grabens in Western Anatolia. A textual analysis of numerous reports, news articles, press releases, and videos was conducted to identify the stakeholders and the alternatives they suggest and to understand environmental justice issues surrounding the conflicts around these GPPs. Subsequently, in-depth interviews and participant observation were used to support this analysis during fieldwork in Aydın's Mezeköy village. Our analysis shows that GPPs in the area severely harm agricultural output, expropriate local communities' means of subsistence and destroy their living spaces, and only serve the business's interests. This inequality is further exacerbated by the increasing authoritarianism of the government (standing beside the business), resulting in the deprivation of the cultural, political, and moral rights of the local people. 

Stacking versus Displacement in the Mexican Energy Transition

"Repositioning energy geographies in a time of crisis: Arguments from a subdiscipline on the margins of geography" (2025). Dialogues in Human Geography  

While a range of rapidly proliferating crises shaped by anthropogenic climate change is profound and generating a raft of spatially-centered energy research, energy geographies does not occupy a central position within emergent climate scholarship, nor within broader disciplinary confines of human geography. The centrality of energy is undeniable, and even in light of the considerable history of scholarship combined with the fundamentally spatial nature of energy systems and transitions, energy geographies endure an occluded existence subsumed. This paper offers a critique of the subdiscipline’s ongoing marginality while articulating its salience before offering strategies to help advance the repositioning of energy geographies from the periphery towards a more central position.

"Renewables but unjust? Critical restoration geography as a framework for addressing global renewable energy injustice" 

A global transition toward a sustainable energy system, incorporating for example Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs), is essential for decarbonizing electricity production, meeting energy demands, and mitigating the impacts of climate change. However, the growing scale of renewable energy development has exacerbated local environmental and social challenges; improper assessment of RETs has led to recorded conflicts and resource injustice in transitioning communities. The purpose of this study is to analyze global cases of renewable energy development resulting in conflict and environmental injustice, and to propose Critical Restoration Geography (CRG) as a framework strategizing for pre-emptive avoidance of RET-related injustices. Evidence of global environmental injustice in RET development was explored using recorded conflicts from the Global Atlas of Environmental Justice (EJAtlas). We synthesized global variations in affected demographics, land area and conflict resolution with respect to achievement of environmental justice by RET type (wind, solar, biomass, geothermal). Based on analysis of GEJA's 102 recorded cases of RET-related environmental (in)justice from 2001 to 2021, justice was either not achieved or ambiguous in 55 and 20 cases. Drivers for these injustices include displacement of Indigenous communities, exclusion of communities from decision making processes, and protection of business interests over biodiversity and community needs. The proposed CRG framework details seven principles for avoiding environmental injustice in global RET development; including recognition and deconstruction of power dynamics, incorporation of multiple knowledge systems, and promotion of social justice. These principles serve to inform environmentally just approaches to policymaking for future RET development in any geographical context.