Irving Institute Launches New Online Energy Justice Course

The Irving Institute for Energy and Society, in collaboration with the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning (DCAL), has partnered with Coursera, an online learning platform, to offer a new energy justice course geared toward energy, climate, and sustainability professionals, community leaders, and citizens who want to integrate an energy justice framework into their own work. 

The course, "Energy Justice: Fostering More Equitable Energy Futures," introduces learners to the concept of energy justice and its origins and equips them to recognize and confront energy injustice in their personal and professional lives to help build a more equitable energy future for all. 

Dartmouth Center for Advanced Learning Director of Online Programs and Strategy Joshua Kim sees the launch of the course as a natural fit for Dartmouth. "Energy justice aligns with our values as an institution. There's no bigger story right now than the energy transition…" By offering this course on Coursera, Dr. Kim explains, which has 88 million users globally, "we're able to make the educational mission of the Irving Institute and its core knowledge globally accessible and affordable." He adds, "I find that incredibly exciting!" 

Led by Irving Institute Academic Director Dr. Amanda Graham,  the course is organized into three modules: 

1) Introduction to the Landscape of Energy Justice, which defines energy justice, explores its roots in environmental justice and as a response to structural inequities, and asks learners to examine their own positionality.

2) Energy Systems and Justice Frameworks, which presents energy systems as human and social as well as physical and explores and applies core principles of energy justice. And

3) Creating More Just Energy Systems, which draws on researchers and practitioners to present varied case studies of energy justice and injustice and helps learners prepare to integrate energy justice approaches into their professional and civic lives. 

The course weaves together content-rich videos, interviews with experts and practitioners, and diverse readings to give participants a range of tools and perspectives to become advocates for a more just energy transition. As Dr. Graham says, the goal of the course is to help participants "see our energy systems differently and recognize the inequities within them. If we can see those inequities, we have the chance to avoid reproducing them and we can leverage growing investments in energy Infrastructure and climate solutions to address both equity and sustainable energy."

Energy Justice: Fostering More Equitable Energy Futures is free to audit. A certificate of completion and access to quizzes and other work are available for a fee. You can access the course here.