The concept of Just Transition, originating from American trade union dialogues in the 1990s (Ciplet, 2022; Stevis and Felli, 2020), has progressively permeated global political discourses. This permeation is evidenced by its adoption as a guiding principle in the 2015 Paris Agreement and the COP 26 Just Transition Declaration in 2021 by a coalition of nations including the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, and the United States (Jones, 2022; Ciplet, 2022; Galgóczi 2022; Abram et al., 2022; Stevis and Felli, 2020). The international recognition and expanding popularity among a diverse array of actors such as trade unions, environmental justice movements, governments, and corporations (Wilgosh et al, 2022; Galgóczi 2022; Stevis and Felli, 2020; Córdova et al., 2022), have fostered a multiplicity of just transition conceptions (La Gioia et al., 2023; Cha and Pastor, 2022; Krause et al., 2022; Burke 2022; Galgóczi 2022; Wang and Lo, 2021; Jones, 2022; Stevis and Felli, 2020). This multiplicity has further broadened its semantic scope from an initial social project aimed at safeguarding workers in polluting industries (Wilgosh et al, 2022; Abram et al., 2022) to a comprehensive eco-social project pursuing intertwined environmental and social justice objectives (Krause et al., 2022; Ciplet, 2022; Cha and Pastor, 2022; Burke 2022; Bauler et al., 2021; Clarke and Lipsig-Mummé, 2020).
The rationale underpinning this comprehensive approach to just transition hinges on the symbiotic relationship between sustainability and justice objectives. Environmental imperatives present opportunities to alleviate existing societal inequalities (Krause et al., 2022; Cha and Pastor, 2022; Abram et al., 2022; Galgóczi 2022), while reduced inequalities can expedite the transition toward a sustainable society by enhancing the social acceptability of environmental policies (Laurent, 2023; Krause et al., 2022; Stevis and Felli, 2020). In many ways, the concept of just transition resonates with key principles of ecological economics and degrowth, and has been analysed and critiqued from ecological economics (McCauley et al., 2023; Purvis & Genovese, 2023) and degrowth perspectives (Barca, 2019).
Accompanying the escalating political interest is a burgeoning body of research. This includes discourse and vision analyses (La Gioia et al., 2023; Wilgosh et al., 2022; Barnes et al., 2022; Didier, 2020; Morena et al., 2018), governance avenues (Tschersich and Kok, 2022; Bauler et al., 2021; Schwanen, 2021; Laurent, 2021; Routledge, 2018), and empirical explorations into specific strategies, places, and sectors (Filipovic et al., 2022; McCauley et al., 2023; Luke, 2023; Galgóczi, 2022).
The certain advent of significant socio-ecological transitions and transformations is bringing longstanding justice issues to the fore. However, it is much less clear and consensual what exactly a just transition entails and how it should be concretely realised, with debates around notions of justice and pathways for realizing a just transition (de Boon et al., 2023; Schlosberg, 2013). This is an interesting avenue of discussion not just for researchers already focused on “just transition,” but also more broadly for scholars concerned with socio-ecological justice issues of all kinds.
Objective of the session: This open special session aims to convene a series of dialogues focusing on various visions, scenarios, imaginaries, trajectories, and conceptualizations of just transition, with a particular emphasis on future-oriented analyses. The session seeks to convene scholars with a pedigree in the many important dimensions of socio-ecological justice(s), as well as scholars interested in the inequalities of transitions and change, as well as research on the realm of the just transition.
This session seeks to gather contributions from various perspectives which may include but are not limited to:
- Conceptualizations of just transition and of justice in socio-ecological transformations
- Interrogating assumptions and elisions within established visions
- Scenarios of/for a just transition at multiple scales and across various contexts
- Transforming existing institutions and systems (e. g. social welfare) for a just transition
- Determination, qualification, and dynamics of socio-ecological inequalities within the ongoing transformations of our societies
- Inventing modes of governance for a just transition
- Compatibility and tensions with degrowth and/or understandings from ecological economics
- Methodological approaches for visioning just transition pathways
- Exploring and comparing (the production of) just transition visions from policy, activism, industry, academia, communities etc.
- Power dynamics and just transition visions
We welcome scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to submit Abstracts that align with the theme. The session is open to a wide range of methodological approaches and interdisciplinary explorations. Through this collaborative endeavor, this session seeks to construct a platform for a multi-dimensional exploration of Just Transition. Depending on the extend of the gathered interest and dynamics, we might strive for a double parallel session. If possible adding non-paper presenting formats (i. e. a round-table) which allow to start a multi-actor/multi-perspective dialogue and exchange on the domain. Our post-conference objective is to gather papers in a special issue, or a collective working document.
References:
- Abram, S., Atkins, E., Dietzel, A., Jenkins, K., Kiamba, L., Kirshner, J., Kreienkamp, J., Parkhill, K., Pegram, T., & Santos Ayllón, L. M. (2022). Just transition: A whole-systems approach to decarbonisation. Climate Policy, 22(8), 1033-1049. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2022.2108365
- Barca, S. (2019). The Labor(s) of Degrowth. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 30(2), 207 216. https://doi.org/10.1080/10455752.2017.1373300
- Bauler, T., Calay, V., Fransolet, A., Joseph, M., Laurent, E., & Reginster, I. (2021). La transition juste en Europe: Mesurer pour évoluer. Cahier de Prospective de l’IWEPS, 6,45.
- Burke, M. J. (2022). Post-growth policies for the future of just transitions in an era of uncertainty. Futures, 136,102900. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2021.102900
- Cha, J. M., & Pastor, M. (2022). Just transition: Framing, organizing, and power-building for decarbonization. Energy Research & Social Science, 90,102588. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2022.102588
- Ciplet, D. (2022). Transition coalitions: Toward a theory of transformative just transitions. Environmental Sociology, 8(3), 315-330. https://doi.org/10.1080/23251042.2022.2031512
- Clarke, L., & Lipsig-Mummé, C. (2020). Future conditional: From just transition to radical transformation? European Journal of Industrial Relations, 26(4), 351-366. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959680120951684
- Córdova, T., Bravo, J., & Acosta-Córdova, J. M. (2022). Environmental justice and the alliance for a just transition: Grist for climate justice planning. Journal of Planning Literature, 088541222211211. https://doi.org/10.1177/08854122221121120
- Schlosberg, D. (2013). Theorising environmental justice : The expanding sphere of a discourse. Environmental Politics, 22(1), 37 55. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2013.755387
- Didier, E. (2020). Les transitions justes: Rapport rendu au Haut Conseil pour le climat (p. 36).
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- Heffron, R. J., & McCauley, D. (2018). What is the ‘Just Transition’? Geoforum, 88,74-77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.11.016
- Krause, D., Stevis, D., Hujo, K., & Morena, E. (2022). Just transitions for a new eco-social contract: Analysing the relations between welfare regimes and transition pathways. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, 28(3), 367-382. https://doi.org/10.1177/10242589221127838
- La Gioia, A., Fransolet, A., Hudon, M., & Meyer, S. (2023). ‘Just transition’ visions: An analysis of the perception of the Belgian actors. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.22151.37285
- Laurent, E. (2023). Economie pour le XXIe siècle: Manuel des transitions justes. La Découverte.
- Luke, N. (2023). Just transition for all? Labor organizing in the energy sector beyond the loss of “jobs property”. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 113(1), 94-109. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2022.2079471
- McCauley, D., & Heffron, R. (2018). Just transition: Integrating climate, energy and environmental justice. Energy Policy, 119,1-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.04.014
- McCauley, D., Pettigrew, K. A., Todd, I., & Milchram, C. (2023). Leaders and laggards in the pursuit of an EU just transition. Ecological Economics, 205,107699. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2022.107699
- Morena, E., Stevis, D., Shelton, R. E., Krause, D., Mertins-Kirkwood, A., Price, V., Azzi, D., & Helmerich, N. (2018). Mapping just transition(s) to a low-carbon world (p. 33). Just Transition Research Collaborative.
- Purvis, B., & Genovese, A. (2023). Better or different? A reflection on the suitability of indicator methods for a just transition to a circular economy. Ecological Economics, 212,107938. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2023.107938
- Routledge, P., Cumbers, A., & Derickson, K. D. (2018). States of just transition: Realising climate justice through and against the state. Geoforum, 88,78-86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.11.015
- de Boon, A., Dressel, S., Sandström, C., & Rose, D. C. (2023). A psychometric approach to assess justice perceptions in support of the governance of agricultural sustainability transitions. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 46,100694. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2023.100694
- Schwanen, T. (2021). Achieving just transitions to low-carbon urban mobility. Nature Energy, 6(7), 685-687. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-021-00856-z
- Stevis, D., & Felli, R. (2020). Planetary just transition? How inclusive and how just? Earth System Governance, 6,100065. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esg.2020.100065
- Tschersich, J., & Kok, K. P. W. (2022). Deepening democracy for the governance toward just transitions in agri-food systems. Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, 43,358-374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2022.04.012
- Wang, X., & Lo, K. (2021). Just transition: A conceptual review. Energy Research & Social Science, 82,102291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102291
- Wilgosh, B., Sorman, A. H., & Barcena, I. (2022). When two movements collide: Learning from labour and environmental struggles for future just transitions. Futures, 137,102903. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2022.102903