| Abstract | Access to an adequate level of uninterrupted, high quality, affordable, sufficient and useful energy services varies dramatically across countries. While some nations still experience energy poverty and struggle to fulfill basic needs, others consume well over what is considered sufficient to sustain wellbeing and human flourishing. These imbalances represent fundamental injustices that must be urgently addressed and resolved. Given current inequalities, this paper asks, in general, whether it is possible to establish a human right to energy and, more specifically, whether the Capabilities Approach (CA) can provide a solid theoretical foundation for the claim to a human right to access energy services. We argue, on the one hand, that it is possible to identify concrete ranges of individual energy consumption that, if “translated” into useful energy services, constitute the adequate (not just minimal) preconditions for achieving core capabilities in different geographical contexts. On the other hand, we use the CA as a normative framework to argue for a capability-based human right to access necessary energy services such as nutrition, cooking fuel and electricity. We support these claims in two main ways. First, by looking at how individual energy consumption impacts human development and wellbeing. Several studies suggest that beyond certain thresholds of individual energy consumption, there is little to no improvement in the metrics that assess wellbeing (or human development). This phenomenon, also described as “saturation” curve or “plateau”, has important implications for energy ethics. Second, we offer a comparison between access to specific energy services and the Human Development Index (HDI). The human right to access necessary energy services should be understood in both moral and legal terms. Ethically, it should inform the implementation of energy policies and projects. Legally, it should be integrated within both the international United Nations human rights framework and international energy law. |
