Just places: how community energy initiatives foster energy justice through place attachment

Community energy initiatives (CEI) have continued to grow over recent decades. CEI are often seen as key actors in delivering social innovation, challenging dominant energy regimes and embedding energy justice principles through place-based approaches. However, these aspects have yet to be explored in an integrated manner within the context of community energy. Not doing so risks overlooking key dynamics in how place, in particular place attachment, meaningfully shapes more just outcomes of CEI, as well as the energy transition more generally. Hence, this paper explores the interplay between place attachment and energy justice in practice. Drawing on 30 semi-structured interviews conducted across 11 case study sites, this study examines how CEI actors understand, narrate and enact energy justice and place attachment in shaping processes and outcomes of CEI. Findings highlight that social and physical characteristics of place, along with cognitive-emotional people-place bonds, serve as both a foundation and a driver for advancing dimensions of energy justice. In particular, trust and pride foster a sense of belonging and wellbeing, which in turn support more effective community action.