Just transition: Difference between revisions
Undid revision 1127462828 by Obwiki2022 (talk)Reverted poorly sourced, good faith WP:GF edits. Wikipedia does not allow Original Research. Please see: WP:OR. All statements must be sourced from Reliable Sources WP:RS - A HUGE amount of this addition is Original Research where the source never mentions the subject of this article: "Just Transition" |
Undid revision 1127474184 by Avatar317 (talk) Previous editor stated that earlier revisions were based on "original research" and did note cite the subject of the article; however, credible sources are consistently cited throughout the revision content, and the article subject phrase "just transition" is cited over 20 times in the revised content. |
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==Definition== |
==Definition== |
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In the past years, a number of organizations have deployed the concept of a Just Transition with respect to [[Environmental justice|environmental]] and/or climate justice.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BCCF9/httpNetITFramePDF?ReadForm&parentunid=9B3F4F10301092C7C12583530035C2A5&parentdoctype=book&netitpath=80256B3C005BCCF9/(httpAuxPages)/9B3F4F10301092C7C12583530035C2A5/$file/Report---JTRC-2018.pdf | title=Mapping Just Transition(s) to a Low Carbon World |publisher=UNRISD|date=December 2018}}</ref> |
In the past years, a number of organizations have deployed the concept of a Just Transition with respect to [[Environmental justice|environmental]] and/or climate justice.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BCCF9/httpNetITFramePDF?ReadForm&parentunid=9B3F4F10301092C7C12583530035C2A5&parentdoctype=book&netitpath=80256B3C005BCCF9/(httpAuxPages)/9B3F4F10301092C7C12583530035C2A5/$file/Report---JTRC-2018.pdf | title=Mapping Just Transition(s) to a Low Carbon World |publisher=UNRISD|date=December 2018}}</ref> |
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== Origins == |
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Just transition policy has origins in labor environmentalism.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Mijin Cha |first=J. |last2=Stevis |first2=Dimitris |last3=Vachon |first3=Todd E. |last4=Price |first4=Vivian |last5=Brescia-Weiler |first5=Maria |date=2022-05-01 |title=A Green New Deal for all: The centrality of a worker and community-led just transition in the US |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0962629822000087 |journal=Political Geography |language=en |volume=95 |pages=102594 |doi=10.1016/j.polgeo.2022.102594 |issn=0962-6298}}</ref> The framework for what is now known as “just transition” emerged in the United States in the 1970s from leader [[Tony Mazzocchi]] and others as a way to reconcile environmental and social concerns.<ref name=":1" /> It also was used to subvert job blackmail, where workers are forced to work in unsafe and toxic environments or risk losing their jobs. Mazzocchi argued for support for transitioning workers who were displaced due to environmental policies and for workers exposed to hazardous and toxic materials. While this early version of just transition focused on supporting displaced workers, it involved collaboration with [[environmental justice]] and community organizations.<ref name=":1" /> |
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Over time, discussions of just transition transcended simply energy workers, further highlighting the environmental justice dimension and integrating ideals of justice into [[Energy transition|energy transitions]]. Scholars of just transitions argue that this change broadens the focus of just transition policy from simply fulfilling the immediate needs of displaced workers to questions concerning who benefits from the [[energy transition]].<ref name=":1" /> Some scholars also argue that just transition policy is rooted in environmental justice because it is concerned with the social distribution of the positives and negatives of the energy transition.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Mayer |first=Adam |date=2018-09-01 |title=A just transition for coal miners? Community identity and support from local policy actors |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210422417302459 |journal=Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions |language=en |volume=28 |pages=1–13 |doi=10.1016/j.eist.2018.03.006 |issn=2210-4224}}</ref> Rather than just promoting sustainability, these scholars consider just transition policy as an attempt to understand which groups benefit or are harmed by changes in the energy system.<ref name=":2" /> |
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Just transition acts as a stand-in term for economic and social support for workers and communities facing negative economic and social consequences due to the cessation of fossil fuel use.<ref name=":1" /> It is a common term in the [[climate justice]] movement, which refers to “a set of context-specific iterations that stress self-determination; the material access, use and control of particular resources; innovative livelihood knowledges; and the potential of collective organisation for more socially, economically, and ecologically just futures.”<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Routledge |first=Paul |last2=Cumbers |first2=Andrew |last3=Derickson |first3=Kate Driscoll |date=2018-01-01 |title=States of just transition: Realising climate justice through and against the state |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016718517303275 |journal=Geoforum |language=en |volume=88 |pages=78–86 |doi=10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.11.015 |issn=0016-7185}}</ref> |
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== In policy == |
== In policy == |
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=== Climate litigation === |
=== Climate litigation === |
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A 2021 review of legal theories for [[Climate change litigation|climate litigation]] and a just transition, recommended using [[accountability litigation]] against companies in industries that would lose work.<ref>Randall S. Abate, "[https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/cjel46&i=224 Anthropocene Accountability Litigation: Confronting Common Enemies to Promote a Just Transition]," Columbia Journal of Environmental Law 46, no. Symposium Issue (2021): 225-292</ref> |
A 2021 review of legal theories for [[Climate change litigation|climate litigation]] and a just transition, recommended using [[accountability litigation]] against companies in industries that would lose work.<ref>Randall S. Abate, "[https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/cjel46&i=224 Anthropocene Accountability Litigation: Confronting Common Enemies to Promote a Just Transition]," Columbia Journal of Environmental Law 46, no. Symposium Issue (2021): 225-292</ref> |
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=== United States policy === |
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Just transition policy has garnered attention in the [[United States]] due to the recent decline of the [[fossil fuel industry]]. The country employs over 1.7 million people in the fossil fuel sector.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Urpelainen |first=Michaël Aklin and Johannes |date=2022-08-02 |title=Enable a just transition for American fossil fuel workers through federal action |url=https://www.brookings.edu/research/enable-a-just-transition-for-american-fossil-fuel-workers-through-federal-action/ |access-date=2022-12-14 |website=Brookings |language=en-US}}</ref> This number includes all oil, gas, and coal companies, as well as those employed in connected industries such as pipeline workers. However, market forces and the growth of the [[Renewable energy in the United States|renewable energy]] sector have initiated a phase of employment decline in the fossil fuel industry.<ref name=":3" /> For example, the [[Coal industry in the United States|coal industry]] has particularly diminished: employment fell from over 125,000 workers in 1990 to less than 50,000 today.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Electricity in the U.S. - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) |url=https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/electricity-in-the-us.php |access-date=2022-12-14 |website=www.eia.gov}}</ref> Since 2013, the coal industry has lost at least 94% of its market value, from $68.6 billion to $4.02 billion.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Pollin |first=Robert |last2=Callaci |first2=Brian |date=2019-06 |title=The Economics of Just Transition: A Framework for Supporting Fossil Fuel–Dependent Workers and Communities in the United States |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0160449X18787051 |journal=Labor Studies Journal |language=en |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=93–138 |doi=10.1177/0160449X18787051 |issn=0160-449X}}</ref> This trend has occurred because domestic production of coal has decreased due to an increase in domestic oil and natural gas production.<ref name=":3" /> However, although domestic oil and natural gas production have increased, employment in those sectors has fallen with the adoption of unconventional technologies such as [[directional drilling]] and [[Hydraulic fracturing in the United States|hydraulic fracturing]].<ref name=":2" /> Today, [[Natural gas in the United States|natural gas]] companies employ about 200,000 people and petroleum companies employ just under 500,000.<ref name=":4" /> In addition, the growth of the renewable energy sector has contributed to the decline of nonrenewable energy sectors. Since the early 2000s, [[Wind power in the United States|wind power]] has grown from generating 0% to 8% of the country’s generating capacity.<ref name=":2" /> |
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The move away from coal and toward renewable energy has displaced thousands of coal workers and other nonrenewable sector jobs.<ref name=":2" /> A disproportionate amount of these workers live in rural areas that have been historically economically and culturally dependent upon the fossil fuel industry.<ref name=":2" /> As the energy transition continues, several policies have been proposed to assist workers who have lost their jobs or who stand to lose them in the future.<ref name=":2" /> |
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Just transition efforts have operated within the framework of climate and environmental justice.<ref name=":1" /> While most just transition efforts have been driven by activist groups and local stakeholders, this bottom-up approach has not produced national-level support for just transition policy.<ref name=":1" /> |
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==== Federal government action ==== |
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The U.S. federal government has mounted programs designed to assist workers facing job losses resulting from government policy choices. For example, the most prominent example is the federal [[Trade Adjustment Assistance]] (TAA) initiative.<ref name=":5" /> First implemented in 1962, this policy was designed to help workers displaced by shifts in U.S. global trade policies.<ref name=":5" /> It supports wage insurance, health insurance, counseling, retraining, relocation, and job search efforts for displaced workers. It costs the U.S. government around $360 million annually.<ref name=":5" /> However, the TAA has faced criticism from a number of observers who often note that it does not provide enough support for workers once they enter new jobs.<ref name=":5" /> |
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On February 7, 2019, U.S. Representative [[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]] and Senator [[Ed Markey]] introduced H.R.109, better known as the [[Green New Deal]].<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |date=February 7th, 2019 |title=H.Res.109 - Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal. |url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-resolution/109/text}}</ref> Though this resolution is not legally binding, it has garnered national attention for its aspirational language surrounding climate policy.<ref name=":1" /> It also specifically addresses just transition policy. It states that it is the “duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal to… achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through a fair and just transition for all communities and workers.”<ref name=":6" /> This declaration has garnered attention as it asserts the duty of the government, rather than industry to create just transition policy.<ref name=":1" /> It also formally links emissions reductions and just transition policy for the first time in legislative history.<ref name=":1" /> Previous legislative attention to the energy transition focused on [[green growth]] in industry and omitted the role of the federal government in ensuring just transitions.<ref name=":1" /> |
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Since 2020, the [[Biden Administration]] has identified [[environmental justice]] and its accompanying ideas as a priority.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=The Biden Plan to Build a Modern, Sustainable Infrastructure and an Equitable Clean Energy Future |url=https://joebiden.com/clean-energy/ |access-date=2022-12-14 |website=Joe Biden for President: Official Campaign Website |language=en-US}}</ref> Specifically, the Biden administration’s goals surrounding environmental justice include ensuring “that environmental justice is a key consideration in where, how, and with whom we build- creating good, union, middle-class jobs in communities left behind, righting wrongs in communities that bear the brunt of pollution, and lifting up the best ideas from across our great nation- rural, urban, and tribal.”<ref name=":7" /> Broadly, the Biden administration stated goals in [[Politics of climate change|climate policy]], wanting to “create good-paying, union jobs to build a modern and sustainable infrastructure, deliver an equitable clean energy future, and put the United States on a path to achieve net-zero emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050.”<ref>{{Cite web |title=Priorities |url=https://www.whitehouse.gov/priorities/ |access-date=2022-12-14 |website=The White House |language=en-US}}</ref> |
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However, the Biden administration has not implemented a specific just transition policy, only setting aside $16 million under the supervision of the [[United States Department of Energy|Department of Energy]] to create a roadmap for communities historically linked to fossil fuel extraction.<ref name=":3" /> In addition, the [[United States Congress]] has not passed legislation mentioning just transitions or any programs designed to aid workers displaced due to the energy transition. In 2021, two [[United States House of Representatives|House]] representatives introduced H.R.5193, better known as the Just Transition for Energy Communities Act.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |date=September 7, 2021 |title=H.R.5193 - Just Transition for Energy Communities Act |url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/5193}}</ref> Such legislation “establishes a program to assist eligible states and tribal governments that are economically reliant on fossil fuel development, production, or electricity generation to diversify their economies.”<ref name=":8" /> However, the legislation stalled after being referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management.<ref name=":8" /> |
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==== State action ==== |
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Much of the just transition action has so far occurred at the state level. In [[Colorado]], a Just Transition Office was launched in 2019, whose missions are primarily focused on channeling investments into coal communities and coordinating state and local policies.<ref name=":3" /> [[New Mexico]]’s 2019 Energy Transition Act stipulates that millions must be invested to “ensure a just transition.”<ref name=":3" /> Elsewhere, proposals to create just transition groups have been submitted in states such as [[West Virginia]] and [[New York (state)|New York]].<ref name=":3" /> |
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==== Reception ==== |
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There exists persistent pushback to just transition terminology among many workers and worker-led organizations.<ref name=":1" /> For example, many [[Trade union|trade unionists]] who have experienced cycles of unjust transition in the U.S., during which jobs have disappeared without replacement or support for those displaced, have little faith in policymakers or government agencies to support workers.<ref name=":1" /> |
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In addition, some [[climate justice]] advocates question the singular focus on support for displaced union workers in just transition discourse.<ref name=":1" /> Claiming the discourse ignores the supposed history of racial exclusion and gender-based discrimination in labour markets and within the labour movement, climate justice advocates argue for renewed focus on the disproportionate burden borne by marginalized groups.<ref name=":1" /> |
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Other studies suggest that just transition policy is beneficial because the number of jobs generated by clean energy investments will be larger than the jobs that will be lost through the fossil fuel industry decline.<ref name=":5" /> According to some studies, every $1 million spent on clean energy investments generates 17 jobs across all sectors of the economy, while spending the same amount on maintaining the existing fossil fuel industry generates about 5 jobs.<ref name=":5" /> The annual cost of a just transition program is estimated to be at least $600 million.<ref name=":5" /> Such calculations included pay for income, retraining and relocation support, guaranteed pensions for workers in affected industries, and effective transition programs for current fossil fuel-dependent communities.<ref name=":5" /> |
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The [[Pew Research Center]] survey of 10,237 U.S. adults conducted from January 24 to 30, 2022, finds that 69% of U.S. adults prioritize developing alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar, over expanding the production of oil, coal and natural gas.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |last=Nadeem |first=Reem |date=2022-03-01 |title=Americans Largely Favor U.S. Taking Steps To Become Carbon Neutral by 2050 |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2022/03/01/americans-largely-favor-u-s-taking-steps-to-become-carbon-neutral-by-2050/ |access-date=2022-12-14 |website=Pew Research Center Science & Society |language=en-US}}</ref> The same share (69%) favors the U.S. taking steps to become carbon neutral by 2050.<ref name=":9" /> However, about a third (35%) of U.S. adults raise economic factors as the main downside to an energy transition, including 18% who mention job losses as the main downside to phasing out oil, coal, and natural gas completely.<ref name=":9" /> |
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The [[COVID-19 pandemic]] has also deepened just transition resistance tensions in the United States.<ref name=":1" /> |
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==Publications== |
==Publications== |
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Revision as of 16:49, 15 December 2022
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Just transition is a framework developed by the trade union movement[1] to encompass a range of social interventions needed to secure workers' rights and livelihoods when economies are shifting to sustainable production, primarily combating climate change and protecting biodiversity. In Europe, advocates for a just transition want to unite social and climate justice, for example, for coal workers in coal-dependent developing regions who lack employment opportunities beyond coal.[2]
Definition
In the past years, a number of organizations have deployed the concept of a Just Transition with respect to environmental and/or climate justice.[3]
Origins
Just transition policy has origins in labor environmentalism.[4] The framework for what is now known as “just transition” emerged in the United States in the 1970s from leader Tony Mazzocchi and others as a way to reconcile environmental and social concerns.[4] It also was used to subvert job blackmail, where workers are forced to work in unsafe and toxic environments or risk losing their jobs. Mazzocchi argued for support for transitioning workers who were displaced due to environmental policies and for workers exposed to hazardous and toxic materials. While this early version of just transition focused on supporting displaced workers, it involved collaboration with environmental justice and community organizations.[4]
Over time, discussions of just transition transcended simply energy workers, further highlighting the environmental justice dimension and integrating ideals of justice into energy transitions. Scholars of just transitions argue that this change broadens the focus of just transition policy from simply fulfilling the immediate needs of displaced workers to questions concerning who benefits from the energy transition.[4] Some scholars also argue that just transition policy is rooted in environmental justice because it is concerned with the social distribution of the positives and negatives of the energy transition.[5] Rather than just promoting sustainability, these scholars consider just transition policy as an attempt to understand which groups benefit or are harmed by changes in the energy system.[5]
Just transition acts as a stand-in term for economic and social support for workers and communities facing negative economic and social consequences due to the cessation of fossil fuel use.[4] It is a common term in the climate justice movement, which refers to “a set of context-specific iterations that stress self-determination; the material access, use and control of particular resources; innovative livelihood knowledges; and the potential of collective organisation for more socially, economically, and ecologically just futures.”[6]
In policy
International policy
At the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris, France, or COP 21, unions and just transition advocates convinced the Parties to include language regarding just transition and the creation of decent work in the Paris Agreement’s preamble.[7][8][9][10]
At the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Katowice, Poland, or COP 24, the Heads of State and Government adopted the Solidarity and Just Transition Silesia Declaration, highlighting the importance of just transition as mentioned in the Paris Agreement, the ILO's Guidelines, and the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.[11] The Declaration encourages all relevant United Nations agencies to proceed with its implementation and consider the issue of just transition when drafting and implementing parties' nationally determined contributions, or NDCs.[12][13][14]
At COP26, the European Investment Bank announced a set of just transition common principles agreed upon with multilateral development banks, which also align with the Paris Agreement. The principles refer to focusing financing on the transition to net zero carbon economies, while keeping socioeconomic effects in mind, along with policy engagement and plans for inclusion and gender equality, all aiming to deliver long-term economic transformation. [15][16]
The African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, Council of Europe Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, New Development Bank, and Inter-American Development Bank are among the multilateral development banks that have vowed to uphold the principles of climate change mitigation and a Just Transition. The World Bank Group also contributed.[15][17][18]
European Union mechanism
In the European Union, the concerns facing workers in fossil fuel industries are addressed by the Just Transition mechanism in the European Green Deal.[19] The funding and mechanism helps fossil fuel-dependent regions within the European Union to transition to a greener economy.[20]
A just transition from coal is supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.[21]
Climate litigation
A 2021 review of legal theories for climate litigation and a just transition, recommended using accountability litigation against companies in industries that would lose work.[22]
United States policy
Just transition policy has garnered attention in the United States due to the recent decline of the fossil fuel industry. The country employs over 1.7 million people in the fossil fuel sector.[23] This number includes all oil, gas, and coal companies, as well as those employed in connected industries such as pipeline workers. However, market forces and the growth of the renewable energy sector have initiated a phase of employment decline in the fossil fuel industry.[23] For example, the coal industry has particularly diminished: employment fell from over 125,000 workers in 1990 to less than 50,000 today.[24] Since 2013, the coal industry has lost at least 94% of its market value, from $68.6 billion to $4.02 billion.[25] This trend has occurred because domestic production of coal has decreased due to an increase in domestic oil and natural gas production.[23] However, although domestic oil and natural gas production have increased, employment in those sectors has fallen with the adoption of unconventional technologies such as directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing.[5] Today, natural gas companies employ about 200,000 people and petroleum companies employ just under 500,000.[24] In addition, the growth of the renewable energy sector has contributed to the decline of nonrenewable energy sectors. Since the early 2000s, wind power has grown from generating 0% to 8% of the country’s generating capacity.[5]
The move away from coal and toward renewable energy has displaced thousands of coal workers and other nonrenewable sector jobs.[5] A disproportionate amount of these workers live in rural areas that have been historically economically and culturally dependent upon the fossil fuel industry.[5] As the energy transition continues, several policies have been proposed to assist workers who have lost their jobs or who stand to lose them in the future.[5]
Just transition efforts have operated within the framework of climate and environmental justice.[4] While most just transition efforts have been driven by activist groups and local stakeholders, this bottom-up approach has not produced national-level support for just transition policy.[4]
Federal government action
The U.S. federal government has mounted programs designed to assist workers facing job losses resulting from government policy choices. For example, the most prominent example is the federal Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) initiative.[25] First implemented in 1962, this policy was designed to help workers displaced by shifts in U.S. global trade policies.[25] It supports wage insurance, health insurance, counseling, retraining, relocation, and job search efforts for displaced workers. It costs the U.S. government around $360 million annually.[25] However, the TAA has faced criticism from a number of observers who often note that it does not provide enough support for workers once they enter new jobs.[25]
On February 7, 2019, U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey introduced H.R.109, better known as the Green New Deal.[26] Though this resolution is not legally binding, it has garnered national attention for its aspirational language surrounding climate policy.[4] It also specifically addresses just transition policy. It states that it is the “duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal to… achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through a fair and just transition for all communities and workers.”[26] This declaration has garnered attention as it asserts the duty of the government, rather than industry to create just transition policy.[4] It also formally links emissions reductions and just transition policy for the first time in legislative history.[4] Previous legislative attention to the energy transition focused on green growth in industry and omitted the role of the federal government in ensuring just transitions.[4]
Since 2020, the Biden Administration has identified environmental justice and its accompanying ideas as a priority.[27] Specifically, the Biden administration’s goals surrounding environmental justice include ensuring “that environmental justice is a key consideration in where, how, and with whom we build- creating good, union, middle-class jobs in communities left behind, righting wrongs in communities that bear the brunt of pollution, and lifting up the best ideas from across our great nation- rural, urban, and tribal.”[27] Broadly, the Biden administration stated goals in climate policy, wanting to “create good-paying, union jobs to build a modern and sustainable infrastructure, deliver an equitable clean energy future, and put the United States on a path to achieve net-zero emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050.”[28]
However, the Biden administration has not implemented a specific just transition policy, only setting aside $16 million under the supervision of the Department of Energy to create a roadmap for communities historically linked to fossil fuel extraction.[23] In addition, the United States Congress has not passed legislation mentioning just transitions or any programs designed to aid workers displaced due to the energy transition. In 2021, two House representatives introduced H.R.5193, better known as the Just Transition for Energy Communities Act.[29] Such legislation “establishes a program to assist eligible states and tribal governments that are economically reliant on fossil fuel development, production, or electricity generation to diversify their economies.”[29] However, the legislation stalled after being referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management.[29]
State action
Much of the just transition action has so far occurred at the state level. In Colorado, a Just Transition Office was launched in 2019, whose missions are primarily focused on channeling investments into coal communities and coordinating state and local policies.[23] New Mexico’s 2019 Energy Transition Act stipulates that millions must be invested to “ensure a just transition.”[23] Elsewhere, proposals to create just transition groups have been submitted in states such as West Virginia and New York.[23]
Reception
There exists persistent pushback to just transition terminology among many workers and worker-led organizations.[4] For example, many trade unionists who have experienced cycles of unjust transition in the U.S., during which jobs have disappeared without replacement or support for those displaced, have little faith in policymakers or government agencies to support workers.[4]
In addition, some climate justice advocates question the singular focus on support for displaced union workers in just transition discourse.[4] Claiming the discourse ignores the supposed history of racial exclusion and gender-based discrimination in labour markets and within the labour movement, climate justice advocates argue for renewed focus on the disproportionate burden borne by marginalized groups.[4]
Other studies suggest that just transition policy is beneficial because the number of jobs generated by clean energy investments will be larger than the jobs that will be lost through the fossil fuel industry decline.[25] According to some studies, every $1 million spent on clean energy investments generates 17 jobs across all sectors of the economy, while spending the same amount on maintaining the existing fossil fuel industry generates about 5 jobs.[25] The annual cost of a just transition program is estimated to be at least $600 million.[25] Such calculations included pay for income, retraining and relocation support, guaranteed pensions for workers in affected industries, and effective transition programs for current fossil fuel-dependent communities.[25]
The Pew Research Center survey of 10,237 U.S. adults conducted from January 24 to 30, 2022, finds that 69% of U.S. adults prioritize developing alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar, over expanding the production of oil, coal and natural gas.[30] The same share (69%) favors the U.S. taking steps to become carbon neutral by 2050.[30] However, about a third (35%) of U.S. adults raise economic factors as the main downside to an energy transition, including 18% who mention job losses as the main downside to phasing out oil, coal, and natural gas completely.[30]
The COVID-19 pandemic has also deepened just transition resistance tensions in the United States.[4]
Publications
- Bell, Karen (2020), Working-Class Environmentalism: An Agenda for a Just and Fair Transition to Sustainability, London: Palgrave
- Hampton, Paul (2015), Workers and Trade Unions for Climate Solidarity, London and New York: Routledge
- Morena, Edouard, Dunja Krause and Dimitris Stevis (2020), Just Transitions: Social Justice in the Shift Towards a Low-Carbon World, London: Pluto
- Räthzel, Nora and David Uzzell (2013), Trade Unions in the Green Economy: Working for the Environment, London and New York: Earthscan/Routledge
References
- ^ "Climate Frontlines Briefing - No Jobs on a Dead Planet" (PDF). International Trade Union Confederation. March 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
- ^ "Just Transition Platform". European Commission - European Commission. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
- ^ "Mapping Just Transition(s) to a Low Carbon World" (PDF). UNRISD. December 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Mijin Cha, J.; Stevis, Dimitris; Vachon, Todd E.; Price, Vivian; Brescia-Weiler, Maria (1 May 2022). "A Green New Deal for all: The centrality of a worker and community-led just transition in the US". Political Geography. 95: 102594. doi:10.1016/j.polgeo.2022.102594. ISSN 0962-6298.
- ^ a b c d e f g Mayer, Adam (1 September 2018). "A just transition for coal miners? Community identity and support from local policy actors". Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions. 28: 1–13. doi:10.1016/j.eist.2018.03.006. ISSN 2210-4224.
- ^ Routledge, Paul; Cumbers, Andrew; Derickson, Kate Driscoll (1 January 2018). "States of just transition: Realising climate justice through and against the state". Geoforum. 88: 78–86. doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.11.015. ISSN 0016-7185.
- ^ "Paris Agreement" (PDF). United Nations 2015. 2015.
- ^ Smith, Samantha (May 2017). "Just Transition" (PDF). International Trade Union Confederation. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
- ^ "What is the Paris Agreement?". UNFCCC. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ "Find out more about COP21". COP 21 Paris. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ "Solidarity and Just Transition Silesia Declaration" (PDF). COP 21 - Katowice 2018.
- ^ "Unions support Solidarity and Just Transition Silesia Declaration". ITUC. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ "Katowice Climate Conference". United Nations. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ "Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)". UNFCCC. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
- ^ a b Bank, European Investment (6 July 2022). EIB Group Sustainability Report 2021. European Investment Bank. ISBN 978-92-861-5237-5.
- ^ "ENER - Item". ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
- ^ Bank, African Development (12 April 2019). "Multilateral Development Banks". African Development Bank - Building today, a better Africa tomorrow. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
- ^ Bank, Asian Development (5 November 2021). "Collective Climate Ambition — A Joint Statement at COP26 by the Multilateral Development Banks". Asian Development Bank. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
- ^ "The Just Transition Mechanism: making sure no one is left behind". European Commission.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Financing the green transition: The European Green Deal Investment Plan and Just Transition Mechanism". ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
- ^ "The EBRD's just transition initiative". European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
- ^ Randall S. Abate, "Anthropocene Accountability Litigation: Confronting Common Enemies to Promote a Just Transition," Columbia Journal of Environmental Law 46, no. Symposium Issue (2021): 225-292
- ^ a b c d e f g Urpelainen, Michaël Aklin and Johannes (2 August 2022). "Enable a just transition for American fossil fuel workers through federal action". Brookings. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
- ^ a b "Electricity in the U.S. - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Pollin, Robert; Callaci, Brian (2019-06). "The Economics of Just Transition: A Framework for Supporting Fossil Fuel–Dependent Workers and Communities in the United States". Labor Studies Journal. 44 (2): 93–138. doi:10.1177/0160449X18787051. ISSN 0160-449X.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b "H.Res.109 - Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal". February 7th, 2019.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b "The Biden Plan to Build a Modern, Sustainable Infrastructure and an Equitable Clean Energy Future". Joe Biden for President: Official Campaign Website. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
- ^ "Priorities". The White House. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
- ^ a b c "H.R.5193 - Just Transition for Energy Communities Act". 7 September 2021.
- ^ a b c Nadeem, Reem (1 March 2022). "Americans Largely Favor U.S. Taking Steps To Become Carbon Neutral by 2050". Pew Research Center Science & Society. Retrieved 14 December 2022.