AI in ADR: Shaping a Just Energy Transition

Africa's renewable energy transition is both an environmental imperative and a social justice challenge disrupting livelihoods and igniting disputes. How these disputes are resolved determines whether Africa's energy transition is genuinely just or merely an appearance. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) has emerged as a structurally appropriate mechanism for managing renewable energy disputes, offering flexibility, inclusivity, cost-effectiveness, and access to sector-specific expertise that litigation cannot match. However, ADR alone is insufficient. Power imbalances between energy investors and host communities, insufficient practitioner expertise, technical language barriers, and widespread reluctance to engage ADR processes routinely undermine fair outcomes. As a result, just energy transition is hindered. This paper argues that Artificial Intelligence (AI), integrated into ADR frameworks, offers a credible pathway to closing these gaps. Through document automation, text simplification, historical data analysis, and smart contract enforcement, AI levels the informational playing field, reduces costs, bridges technical vocabulary divides, and builds community confidence in ADR processes. The result is a dispute resolution mechanism that is faster, more accessible, and more equitable. One that is capable of keeping just energy transition on track. The paper also acknowledges AI's limitations, including algorithmic bias, opacity, and digital access gaps, and recommends human oversight, explainable AI frameworks, regulatory safeguards, and digital literacy investment as essential counterbalances.