Advancing socio-cultural dimensions of off-grid energy transitions for climate resilience: Lessons from remote and indigenous communities in Indonesia and Australia

Despite significant global efforts to address energy access gaps, most off-grid communities remain underserved—solutions have frequently fallen short by treating energy transitions as primarily technical and financial challenges, neglecting the socio-cultural dimensions that determine whether communities can genuinely shape and sustain energy systems aligned with their values and ways of life. This paper examines three remote off-grid communities, Moa Village (Indonesia), Pasi Island (Indonesia), and Warraber Island (Australia), through comparative qualitative case analysis across contrasting institutional, governance, and socio-cultural contexts. Findings reveal that community agency, rather than social capital alone, determines whether energy systems build adaptive capacity or perpetuate dependency, and that governance frameworks and regulatory arrangements function as critical enablers or barriers to the socio-cultural conditions necessary for genuine energy autonomy. Divergent pathways, from customary governance-driven autonomy to systematic exclusion despite formal recognition, demonstrate that institutional arrangements either support or suppress the socio-cultural foundations of climate-resilient energy transitions. Grounding analysis in lived community experiences, the study refines seven literature-derived principles into nine interdependent dimensions for navigating socio-culturally appropriate energy transitions, arguing that genuine energy justice requires operational sovereignty, facilitative institutional support, and the legitimisation of customary governance within—rather than displacement by—formal regulatory frameworks. The findings offer empirically grounded guidance for policymakers, energy practitioners, and communities navigating off-grid energy transitions that genuinely serve community needs and strengthen climate resilience.