Societal conflict due to gas extraction in the Netherlands: Towards the integral application of transitional justice principles

After 60 years of operation, gas extraction from the Groningen gas field ceased in 2024. This happened due to mounting political, societal and legal pressure, given extraction had become increasingly hazardous due to a gradual increase of earthquakes that fuelled thousands of damage claims. The situation was worsened by the denial of the problems by both operator and government and by problematic mitigation, causing a complex, multi-actor social conflict. This study gives an overview of the case and zooms further into its relational consequences via in-depth interviews of experts. Our objective is to determine the suitability of the theory of transitional justice to this case. This study finds significant overlap between the principles of transitional justice and the case. Indeed, we conclude that most transitional justice mechanisms are already being implemented by various actors, including government. But crucially, the transitional justice approach is not applied integrally and purposefully yet. Our paper reflects on the implications of applying transitional justice to unorthodox cases, on the state of power relations, on the selective application of mechanisms, and on why the government only applies transitional justice implicitly in this case.