Enabling a just transition
Overview:
This article examines how a Just Transition can reconcile climate action with labour and social justice objectives. It analyses the institutional, labour, and governance dimensions required to enable a Just Transition toward a low-carbon economy. It highlights the importance of labour security, social dialogue, and collaborative governance in managing economic restructuring. The authors argue that without coordinated policies, place-based strategies, and inclusive social dialogue, decarbonisation risks reinforcing regional inequalities and labour precarity rather than delivering socially just climate outcomes.
Recommendations:
- A Just Transition needs to simultaneously achieve environmental sustainability and social justice, ensuring that climate action does not disadvantage workers or communities.
- The paper highlights the need for integrated labour market policies centred on green job creation, skills development, and income protection to ensure labour security during industrial transformation.
- Key pillars for ensuring equitable outcomes in low-carbon transitions need to include skills development, income protection, and green job creation. This is vital to avoid poorly managed industrial transitions (e.g., coal or automotive sectors) that can produce regional unemployment, inequality, and “left-behind” communities.
- The role of trade unions, public institutions, and collaborative governance in shaping fair transition pathways is essential.
- Place-based policies, education systems, and regional industrial strategies are essential to support workers during structural economic change.
- A Just Transition also requires institutional coordination, such as national transition authorities or centres to manage economic restructuring and regional impacts.
- The literature highlights the need for stronger public policy frameworks and social dialogue to align decarbonisation with decent work and inclusive development.
Citation: de Ruyter, A., & Bentley, G. (2024). Enabling a just transition. Contemporary Social Science, 19(1–3), 1–20.