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Just transition

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Protestor in Melbourne calling for a just transition and decarbonisation

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]

History

According to Pam Tau Lee, David Campbell and José Bravo, three activists who helped to first articulate the Just Transition framework:

“Throughout the 1960s, '70s and '80s, just transition evolved through dialogue between communities of color and labor organizers on the frontlines of extractive industries threatening community and worker health, our ecological life-support systems and Indigenous land defense. Where Black, brown, Indigenous, migrant and poor white communities were fighting polluting energy, petrochemical and waste corporations, industrial workers and their unions were often pitted against our communities by corporations using the false binary debate of jobs versus environment.

This is where OCAWU, the Communication Energy and Paperworkers Union and many other radical — mostly local — unions stepped in to work with our communities to fight various polluting industries. Guided by common cause, these collaborations served to build relational trust between labor and environmental justice movements through the 1990s.

The formation of the Just Transition Alliance took place when we realized that collaborating on place-based strategies to end such harm and create local alternatives was the most effective way forward. We knew we had to work past our differences and align our efforts for the long haul — because change is inevitable and justice is not.” [4]

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.[5][6][7][8]

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.[9] The Declaration encourages all relevant United Nations agencies to implement proceed with its implementation and consider the issue of just transition when drafting and implementing parties' nationally determined contributions, or NDCs.[10][11][12]

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. [13][14]

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.[13][15][16]

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.[17] The funding and mechanism helps fossil fuel-dependent regions within the European Union to transition to a greener economy.[18]

A just transition from coal is supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.[19]

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.[20]

References

  1. ^ "Climate Frontlines Briefing - No Jobs on a Dead Planet" (PDF). International Trade Union Confederation. March 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  2. ^ "Just Transition Platform". European Commission - European Commission. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  3. ^ "Mapping Just Transition(s) to a Low Carbon World" (PDF). UNRISD. December 2018.
  4. ^ "Why just transition is the opposite of net zero". GreenBiz. 7 February 2022.
  5. ^ "Paris Agreement" (PDF). United Nations 2015. 2015.
  6. ^ Smith, Samantha (May 2017). "Just Transition" (PDF). International Trade Union Confederation. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  7. ^ "What is the Paris Agreement?". UNFCCC. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  8. ^ "Find out more about COP21". COP 21 Paris. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  9. ^ "Solidarity and Just Transition Silesia Declaration" (PDF). COP 21 - Katowice 2018.
  10. ^ "Unions support Solidarity and Just Transition Silesia Declaration". ITUC. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  11. ^ "Katowice Climate Conference". United Nations. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  12. ^ "Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)". UNFCCC. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  13. ^ a b Bank, European Investment (6 July 2022). EIB Group Sustainability Report 2021. European Investment Bank. ISBN 978-92-861-5237-5.
  14. ^ "ENER - Item". ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  15. ^ Bank, African Development (12 April 2019). "Multilateral Development Banks". African Development Bank - Building today, a better Africa tomorrow. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  16. ^ 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.
  17. ^ "The Just Transition Mechanism: making sure no one is left behind". European Commission.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ^ "Financing the green transition: The European Green Deal Investment Plan and Just Transition Mechanism". ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  19. ^ "The EBRD's just transition initiative". European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
  20. ^ 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

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
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