Coastal Conservation Alliance

Should access to energy be a human right?

By: Seppi Saatchi & Shadi Madani, March 2nd 2023

Edited by: Seppi Saatchi

Whether access to energy is a human right is a commonly debated topic in conversations surrounding both clean energy and human rights. A frequently raised point favouring energy as a human right addresses how energy has an impact on access to various other human rights and basic human needs such as food, health, and education. Furthermore, a lack of access can have detrimental impacts, hindering livelihood in relation to these rights and needs. For example, the burning of toxic fuels such as kerosene could have severe health impacts, thus impeding on needs and rights related to health and healthcare. Additionally, the time spent collecting fuel for energy may reduce the amount of time that individuals, especially women, have to put towards their education. For that reason, I argue that energy access is definitely a human right.

Beyond the context of an individual household, economic development needs in low-income countries will also require significant inputs of energy and therefore an increase in energy access for applications beyond household needs. Broader economic development in developing countries (commercial, industrial, transportation, etc.) may in turn increase accessibility to other human rights which demonstrates why it is important to look at the broader context as well. For example, better connected transportation systems may create easier access to education in remote areas. Additionally, industrial development may facilitate increased access to different types of technologies and material inputs for energy that were once not an option for low income countries.

However, Lars Lofquist raises an important point in his article Is there a universal human right to electricity? about the risk of viewing energy access as a human right. This perceptive arguably implies that fossil fuel powered production systems are acceptable to develop on a large scale if it results in an increased access to energy. This becomes problematic as we consider how economic development allows for other human rights to be accessed better while that economic development may be detrimental to our planet. This ties into the previous point of broader development for improving the access to human rights as this would require significant amounts of energy as compared to individual households where individuals can be educated to make informed decisions about clean and safe energy. Therefore, it is also important to hold high income countries accountable for their excessive consumption while recognizing energy as a human right. This approach aids in offsetting the climate impact of development in low income regions where access to both clean and affordable energy may be limited. Furthermore, a greater emphasis should be place on implementing renewable and less emitting energy systems in low income countries especially in the context of economic development.  

Energy as a human right also present some challenges relative to other rights due to the complex geopolitical and economic landscape in which energy access exists. Unlike other human rights such as freedom of speech, individual national governments are often constrained in their ability to provide energy access. Often times, where energy access is limited, it is not being withheld and is instead limited to economic constraints, global geopolitics, and a lack of access to natural resources. Therefore, individual government responsibility to provide energy access to its citizens is quite limited beyond their control. Therefore, just as we expect governments in high energy consuming countries to limit their over consumption of energy, governments in countries—with a lack of access—should be supported in meeting energy access needs. In this regard, there is a global responsibility to improve access to clean and affordable energy in low income countries to improve their overall access to other human rights. This may require a level of international involvement to improve factors such as grid access and available technologies.

With that being said, it is also important to be culturally sensitive when we discuss energy access in developing countries as certain cooking technologies that burn “unclean fuels” may be culturally significant. Therefore, education and autonomy on a household level should be reinforced in this conversation. This way, households have the informed choice to adopt technologies that suit their current cultural practices.