Nearly 3 billion people lack access to modern energy for cooking, heating, lighting, sanitation, transportation and basic mechanical power.¹ Concentrated in the least developed countries of Africa and Asia, the energy-poor constitute one-third of humanity,² but are largely forgotten in the international agreements that address climate change.³

Global Energy Justice provides a comprehensive yet succinct introduction to the ways that law and policy can address the interlocking problems of energy access and poverty. Written by Lakshman Guruswamy, the book examines the plight of the energy-poor and offers concrete proposals for promoting universal access to clean and affordable energy.

Chapters five and six break new ground by providing model laws that could be enacted by both developed and developing countries to combat energy poverty. Given the difficulty of negotiating large multilateral treaties, Guruswamy points out that the model laws give states the opportunity to harmonize national laws on energy poverty while maintaining the flexibility to make adjustments based on national circumstances. Unlike treaties, which require subsequent implementing legislation to be enforceable at the domestic level, the model laws are immediately enforceable. The model laws are premised on North–South cooperation based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, and are accompanied by section-by-section commentary and analysis. Chapter seven summarizes the conclusions of the preceding chapters.

Global Energy Justice is a slim but wide-ranging volume that will be of interest to scholars, teachers, students and policy-makers who want to understand the roots of energy poverty, the jurisprudential frameworks applicable to this challenge, and the practical legal tools that might be adopted to promote a more just and sustainable approach to energy production and consumption. The volume is scholarly yet accessible, theoretically rigorous but also practical. The book can be used in courses on energy law, climate law, environmental justice, international environmental law, law and development, and human rights and the environment as a supplement to the leading textbooks in these fields.

The book's greatest strength is its compelling arguments and model laws for decentralized renewable energy that can supply affordable energy to the energy poor without tying them to the existing fossil-fuel-based energy systems, which are expensive, cumbersome, polluting and vulnerable to capture by corrupt national elites or transnational corporations. These technologies, if widely adopted, can promote the local control of energy production while hastening the Global South's transition to sustainable energy.

The book's greatest weakness is its failure to address human-rights-based approaches to global energy justice. Scholars and activists are increasingly framing their demands for environmental justice (including climate and energy justice) in the language of human rights.⁸ Even though most human rights treaties do not expressly recognize the right to a healthy environment, regional human rights tribunals (including the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights) have concluded that a state's failure to protect the environment may violate rights to life, health, property, privacy and family life, and an adequate standard of living, as well as the collective rights of indigenous peoples to their ancestral lands and resources.⁹

To date, there are no human rights treaties that specifically refer to energy as a human right. However, energy is essential for cooking, heating, refrigeration, sanitation, health care, and the pumping of clean water for drinking, bathing and irrigation of crops. In other words, access to energy is necessary to fulfill the human right to food, water, health and an adequate standard of living, which are recognized in a variety of human rights instruments. Access to energy also promotes the right to an education by enabling children to study after dark. It advances gender equality by permitting women and girls to pursue educational opportunities and remunerative employment rather than spending countless hours collecting firewood. It also reduces the risk of sexual assault caused by lack of illumination at night or by the obligation to collect firewood far from home due to desertification and deforestation. It logically follows that failure to provide access to energy constitutes a violation of fundamental human rights.¹⁰

Grounding demands for energy justice in the language of human rights creates legal rather than simply moral obligations to address energy poverty. It also provides an opportunity to exert pressure on states through human rights institutions, including special rapporteurs, universal periodic review, and domestic and regional human rights tribunals. Finally, human-rights-based approaches to energy poverty are essential in order to ensure that renewable energy projects do not violate the human rights of the communities they ostensibly benefit. There are many examples of renewable energy projects that have violated the human rights of vulnerable communities, including wind farms that encroach on indigenous lands, hydroelectric dams and REDD projects undertaken without proper consultation with indigenous communities, and biofuels projects that ravage forests and peatlands, deprive local people of land for cultivation, and place upward pressure on food prices.¹¹ As Guruswamy recognizes, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to ensuring universal access to clean energy. Approaches suitable for Sub-Saharan Africa are unlikely to be appropriate in the Arctic or in India. In order to promote bottom-up participation, collaborative decision-making, and local empowerment, it is necessary to incorporate human rights into the design, approval, financing and implementation of renewable energy projects.

The absence of a human rights analysis does not detract from the importance of Global Energy Justice. Sweeping in its coverage, this remarkable book provides a thorough analysis of energy poverty, practical solutions, and important tools for incorporating energy justice into national and international legal frameworks. The book serves as a valuable primer on global energy justice and an excellent resource for faculty eager to introduce energy justice into their courses.