Governance and decision-making that uphold the rights, interests, knowledges, and values of Indigenous peoples and land-connected communities are increasingly recognised as critical components of a just energy transition. Despite the unprecedented inclusion of Indigenous peoples in resource governance, it is unclear how community consultation and consent can effectively support Indigenous-centred decision-making.
This paper, Enabling Indigenous-centred decision-making for a just energy transition? Lessons from community consultation and consent in the circumpolar Arctic (published in 2025), by Julia Loginova, Mia Landauer, Juha Joona, Ranjan Datta and Tanja Joona, variously from universities in Australia, Sweden, Finland and Canada, provides a review of community experiences with consultation and consent across the Arctic and sub-Arctic region which along with other ‘resource geographies’ are increasingly affected by transition minerals mining and renewable energy infrastructure.
Key themes identified in the review include:
- limitations of state-and company-led community consultation and consent;
- practices of Indigenous-centred (Indigenous-led, Indigenous-benefiting and Indigenous-informed) decision-making; and
- barriers to Indigenous-centred decision-making.