Societal readiness for just energy transitions: toward an integrated conceptual framework

The success of energy transitions depends not only on technological innovation and policy interventions but also on societies' ability to understand, support, participate in, and adapt to transition-related change. Although societal readiness has received growing attention in sustainability, innovation, and responsible research and innovation research, it remains insufficiently integrated into the just energy transition literature. Existing studies rarely treat societal readiness as a distinct construct, instead addressing related concepts such as social acceptance, trust, participation, justice, governance capacity, institutional preparedness, and adaptive capacity in isolation. This fragmentation limits understanding of the conditions that enable equitable and effective transitions. This mini-review synthesizes literature that explicitly or implicitly addresses societal readiness in just energy transitions and develops an integrated conceptual framework. The review identifies four interconnected dimensions: social acceptance and trust; participation and justice; governance and institutional capacity; and socio-economic and adaptive capacity. Together, these dimensions capture the conditions that shape the ability of individuals, communities, and governance systems to engage with and support transition processes. Research has focused primarily on social acceptance, participation, and justice, while behavioral and discursive indicators, multidimensional assessment approaches, and interactions among readiness dimensions remain underdeveloped. Participation emerges as a key mechanism linking readiness dimensions, while conflict and resistance may indicate weaknesses in transition processes rather than societal unreadiness. Overall, societal readiness is conceptualized as a multidimensional and relational condition emerging from interactions among and within its dimensions. The proposed framework advances a more integrated understanding and assessment of societal readiness to support effective and equitable just energy transitions.