Intersections of power, policy and justice: Dr Gerald E. Arhin’s energy-transitions research

Dr Gerald E. Arhin is a Research Fellow at University College London, where he investigates the political economy of climate-compatible development. His work is based within the Climate Compatible Growth project, funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. His current research spans Ghana, Kenya, Zambia and Nepal, examining the political and policy dynamics shaping energy transitions.

Gerald’s interest in extractive governance began with personal experience. He grew up in Ghana, in a community surrounded by natural resources and supported by a reliable water source. When gold mining in the area increased, particularly through illegal operations, the community began facing water pollution and shortages. Oil and gas discoveries in Ghana in 2007 intensified resource pressures. These early experiences led him to begin reading about the extractive industries and their impact on everyday life.

While applying for his MPhil at the University of Cambridge, he began to think more critically about the relationship between extraction and destruction. His PhD research built on this foundation, starting with oil, then expanding to gas and mining. He became increasingly interested in how extractive and energy infrastructures intersect with local communities, particularly in terms of livelihoods, skills and justice.

Today, Gerald applies a political economy lens to energy transitions. He examines how infrastructure projects such as wind farms, solar energy systems and critical mineral developments affect people living near them. His work pays close attention to how power operates at different levels, from international negotiations to local decision-making.

A central strand of his research is environmental social science, with a strong focus on sub-national issues. He explores how climate-friendly infrastructure reshapes communities and what this means for justice. He is especially interested in how policies are developed and implemented, and how they respond to the specific needs of different places. For Gerald, context matters. He believes that understanding local variation is essential when addressing global climate challenges.

He is currently working on three main areas. First, he investigates the governance of critical minerals for low-carbon energy, with a focus on Ghana and Zambia. He is examining how these resources are managed and what the implications are for local communities. Second, he looks at the politics of energy-transition planning, including how international actors influence national decisions. He studies how climate goals are translated across different spaces, and what this means for carbon reduction and adaptation efforts. Third, he applies political economy thinking to modelling frameworks, asking how technical tools can be designed to include social and political factors. His aim is to help make these tools more inclusive and responsive to real-world conditions.

Justice is a central theme in Gerald’s work. He is interested in how different communities define justice in the context of climate policy. He notes that justice is often discussed in broad terms, such as the fair distribution of risks and benefits, but these ideas can mean different things in different places. In his view, achieving justice in climate policy requires attention to context. It is not fixed, but shaped by time, place and the specific needs of communities.

Through his research, Gerald continues to ask what conditions allow climate policies to be adopted and enforced, and how international agendas interact with local realities. By combining political economy analysis with on-the-ground research, he brings attention to the ways that power, policy and justice intersect in energy transitions.

Dr. Gerald E Arhin

Research Fellow in the Political Economy of Climate Compatible Development, Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy (STEaPP), University College London (UCL)

Read more about Gerald’s work:
University College London profile

Contact Gerald:
LinkedIn

Gerald was interviewed by Jaya Gajparia as part of her new ACCESS interview series, spotlighting environmental social scientists with global-majority backgrounds. Read more.