The HTR and EmPOWERing All Tasks just published a paper in a Special Issue of Politics & Governance, titled “Elevating Indigenous Voices for the Just Energy Transition“. It highlights the plight of an Indigenous community whose reindeer-herding existence is under threat from huge mining and infrastructure developments that are seen as existential for the “green transition” by the Swedish State, and the EU.
Several energy transition narratives (“green” vs “national security” vs “just”) conflict with the lived experience of the people of Kiruna, whose city is being relocated as it’s undermined by the current ferro-iron LKAB mine, and impose a form of “green colonialism” on the Gabna reindeer-herding community, whose last migration routes are being cut off by the newest Critical Rare Earth Mineral finding at Per Geijer.
We map these different, conflicting narratives on the “energy trilemma” (environment vs geopolitics vs economics), and highlight that it’s not just about the stories being told, but also about the imbalance of power in who tells the stories, and how recognition, restorative, and intergenerational justice principles should guide major decisions that can cause such existential impacts.
We use auto-ethnography to help tell the Gabna story to the academic and international community – our co-authors are experts from several different scientific disciplines and Indigenous Sámi, who so kindly shared their experiences with us.