Energy Research & Social Science 75 (2021) 102027 2214-6296/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Energy transitions from the cradle to the grave: A meta-theoretical framework integrating responsible innovation, social practices, and energy justice Benjamin K. Sovacool a, b, c, * , David J. Hess d , Roberto Cantoni b a Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex, Jubilee Building, Room 367, Falmer, East Sussex BN1 9SL, United Kingdom b Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex Business School, United Kingdom c Center for Energy Technologies, Department of Business Development and Technology, Aarhus University, Denmark d Sociology Department, Vanderbilt University, United States A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Energy justice Sociotechnical transitions Sustainability transitions Climate justice Environmental justice ABSTRACT An almost inexhaustible number of conceptual approaches has arisen in the past few decades to seek to explain the interlinked phenomena of energy transitions, low-carbon transitions, or sociotechnical change. With an eye for theoretical synthesis, this study asks: What do three particular epistemic communities—those concerning innovation, practices, and justice—say about energy transitions? What does this literature reveal about the in- justices and inequalities of energy transitions? Finally, what can we learn by integrating aspects of this literature? The study answers these questions by drawing from responsible research and innovation, social practice theory, and energy justice approaches. Essentially the frst is about the design of technology, the second how it is used, the third the broader societal and global implications. Taken together, the study offers an integrative framework capable of analyzing transitions from their “cradle” of design to their “life” of use to their “grave” of aftereffects. It explores the extent to which the three perspectives can be integrated into a meta-theoretical framework. This integrative framework is then applied to four diverse case studies: French nuclear power, Greek wind energy, Papua New Guinean solar energy, and Estonian oil shale. 1. Introduction Even before the global Covid-19 pandemic, concern was growing that global society is on a trajectory away from climate stability, social justice and environmental sustainability. Writing more than 25 years ago, Norgaard [1] provocatively wrote that the entire modern project of Enlightenment is being called into question due to its fallacious pre- sumptions of universal human values and the dangerous idea of progress via human control of natural systems by technology. Instead of fulflling aspirations, Norgaard and others writing at the time (e.g., Beck [2]) argued that modernity through science and technology has instead led to new risks that are systemic and resistant to elimination. The risks include extreme environmental degradation, population growth, land- use expansion, widespread poverty, social injustice, and cultural destruction. Because energy transitions are embedded in wider political, social and economic contexts, they have the potential to worsen this pernicious collection of wicked problems by either exacerbating existing in- equalities or introducing new vulnerabilities [3]. Even solutions to the problems of fossil-fuel extraction, such as renewable energy or biofuels, can have their own problems, which include effects on local resources and landscapes [4], patterns of poverty and rural development [5], lack of democratic accountability and participation [6], and even direct costs and economic losses [7]. Accompanying these ponderous and weighty concerns has been a rise in conceptual approaches dealing with energy transitions within the academy itself. For example, Sovacool and Hess [8] created an inventory of 96 different theories capable of studying energy transitions and sociotechnical change, many of which attempted to look at issues of justice, sustainability, and ethical values. In their research agenda for the feld of sustainability transitions, K¨ ohler et al. [9] depicted nine different themes of research worth exploring, “understanding transi- tions” being one of them alongside “transitions in everyday life” and even “the ethical aspects of transitions.” Moreover, the sustainability * Corresponding author at: Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex, Jubilee Building, Room 367, Falmer, East Sussex BN1 9SL, United Kingdom. E-mail address: B.Sovacool@sussex.ac.uk (B.K. Sovacool). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Energy Research & Social Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/erss https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102027 Received 14 December 2020; Received in revised form 6 February 2021; Accepted 5 March 2021