Energy Justice, Critical Minerals, and the Geopolitical Metabolism of the Global Energy Transition: Insights from Copper Extraction in Chile and Peru

The global energy transition (ET) is widely portrayed as a technological shift toward low-carbon systems; however, it also entails profound geopolitical and socio-environmental transformations. While energy justice (EJ) has become a key framework for assessing fairness in energy systems, it seldom incorporates the geopolitical restructuring of material, energy, and economic flows that underpin contemporary transitions. This article develops a geopolitically informed approach to EJ, trying to capture how the new flows of energy, matter, and power shape—and are shaped by—enduring centre–periphery inequalities. Using a guided literature synthesis that combines EJ, political ecology, decolonial critiques, and green extractivism, the study enhances classical EJ tenets by incorporating transboundary flows, ecological unequal exchange, ontological plurality, and local self-determination. An illustrative application to copper extraction in Chile and Peru demonstrates how critical-mineral supply chains reproduce new sacrifice zones within emerging geopolitical configurations. By connecting local socio-environmental conflicts to global energy dynamics, the framework advances a more comprehensive, multidimensional approach to justice in the ET. The findings offer conceptual and practical insights for designing more equitable and geopolitically aware sustainability policies.