Thinking and acting across disciplines

Full Project name

Thinking and acting across disciplines - For the sake of a just energy transition

Project acronym

-

Project fund

• National (TU Delft)

Short description of the project

"In thinking about energy justice, Mariëlle Feenstra’s expertise, gender has a key role to play. First of all, although half of energy consumers are of course women, this is true of only 22% of energy producers and women are even more poorly represented among decision-makers in the energy sector. Based on methods and analyses she developed during her extensive research project in sub-Saharan Africa, which she then applied to the European situation in her PhD research, Feenstra argues that Dutch energy policy is largely blind to the dimension of gender, both conceptually and in its implementation.

For example, in the 250-page Climate Agreement presented by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate in 2019, women were mentioned only three times, says Feenstra, and only then as a solution to the labour shortage in the energy and climate sector. This is even more ironic in view of the fact that the Dutch government has been supporting energy and gender programmes in Africa and Asia for years. Feenstra: “But even in the Netherlands and other European countries, we see that certain groups of women, such as single mothers and the elderly, do not have equal access to energy or even face energy poverty.” These people have to live in cold homes, or may be forced to use a food bank in order to be able to afford the energy bill.

In other words, even in the Netherlands, there is still huge progress to be made when it comes to the justice aspect of the energy transition. Ultimately, this is about inclusion: will we allow the energy transition to increase inequality or will we actually seize it as an opportunity for reducing that inequality?"

Methodologies used in the project

• Other (Specify): Construct activity club to increase across disciplines communication

Focus of project

• Other (Specify): STEAM education, Thinking and acting across disciplines

Link to the project website

https://www.tudelft.nl/en/2022/internationale-vrouwendag/thinking-and-acting-across-disciplines-for-the-sake-of-a-just-energy-transition

Project Start Year

3/7/2022

Project End Year

12/31/2023

Project Coordinator

Gerdien de Vries, Mariëlle Feenstra

Country of Coordinator

• Netherlands