Just Transitions: Social Justice in the Shift Towards a Low-Carbon World

by Edouard Morena, Dunja Krause, Dimitris Stevis

Overview

In the field of 'climate change', no terrain goes uncontested. The terminological tug of war between activists and corporations, scientists and governments, has seen radical notions of 'sustainability' emptied of urgency and subordinated to the interests of capital. 'Just Transition' is the latest such battleground, and the conceptual keystone of the post-COP21 climate policy world. But what does it really mean?

Just Transition emerged as a framework developed within the trade union movement to encompass a range of social interventions needed to secure workers' and frontline communities' jobs and livelihoods as economies shift to sustainable production. Just Transitions draws on a range of perspectives from the global North and South to interrogate the overlaps, synergies and tensions between various understandings of the Just Transition approach. As the concept is entering the mainstream, has it lost its radical edge, and if so, can it be recovered?

Written by academics and activists from around the globe, this unique edited collection is the first book entirely devoted to Just Transition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780745339924
Publisher:	Pluto Press
Publication date:	11/20/2019
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Edouard Morena is a Lecturer in French and European Politics at the University of London Institute in Paris (ULIP). Co-coordinator of the Just Transition Research Collaborative (JTRC), his research focuses on social and justice issues in the international climate regime through the study of different non-state actors' involvement in the UNFCCC.

Table of Contents

Introduction Part I: Liberal Environmentalist Approach 1. The Silent Takeover? The Business Case For a Just Transition - Nicole Helmerich 2. A Management Prerogative: Embracing, Reconceptualising or Ignoring a Just Transition in Australia - Caleb Goods Part II: Social Reformist Approach 3. 'No Jobs on a Dead Planet': The International Trade Union Movement's Promotion of Just Transition - Anabella Rosemberg 4. South Africa and the Just Transition: From the MEC to a Socially-Owned Renewable Energy Sector? - Sandra van Niekerk 5. A Top-Down Transition: A Critical Account of Canada's Government-Led Phase-Out of the Coal Sector - Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood and Ian Hussey 6. 'Powering Past Coal?' Spanish Unions and the Just Transition - Laura Martin Murillo 7. Just Transition Solutions and Challenges in a Neoliberal and Carbon-Intensive Economy - Darryn Snell 8. Learning the Lessons from the German Energiewende - Sabrina Schulz Part III: Grassroots Systems Change Approach 9. Local Action Driven by Systemic Thinking: Cooperation Jackson and its Just Transition Plan - Kali Akuno 10. Progressive Philanthropy's Role in the Just Transition Debate - Cuong Hoang Conclusion - Romain Felli and Dimitris Stevis

Editorial Reviews

'To tackle the climate crisis without tackling social inequality will be impossible. Just transition is meant as a concept to integrate both crises. Covering countries around the world, this work lays out why both crises need to be confronted simultaneously and how this might be achieved.'

Nora Rathzel

'When Just Transition is discussed by governments and academics, what it means for workers who experience the effects of climate change and for unions who are responsible for protecting their members' rights often gets lost. This collection of excellent papers seeks to explore who the term is for, and the politics underlying the concept.'

David Uzzell

'Just Transition has become a broad concept providing justification for very different interest groups. Going back to its roots, the authors of this book recover its radical edge by showing what Just Transition means within a concrete social context. Essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the true meaning of the concept.'

Bela Galgoczi

'This book puts the demand for a Just Transition right at the heart of the discussion around the Green New Deal. It situates the need for internationalism and demonstrates how a radical vision of Just Transition can ensure that workers in neither the global North nor the global South end up being sacrificed in the name of the climate emergency.'

Asad Rehman

'This brilliant book demonstrates how the concept of a 'just transition' has become a battlefield. It should be at the heart of a powerful narrative strengthening justice and sustainability; instead it is appropriated by powerful forces blocking the revolutionary change that the climate crisis requires. Readers will be forced to choose sides.'

Jacklyn Cock

'Just Transition gets the politics, economics, and the morality right - this book shows us the way!'

Joseph B. Uehlein

'Would forestalling a climate catastrophe lead to a crisis for workers? Just Transitions provides historical perspective, thoughtful analysis, and revealing case studies demonstrating that a just transition for workers is difficult, but indeed possible.'

Jeremy Brecher

'This path breaking volume validates the concept of a Just Transition while intellectually combating attempts to appropriate it and empty it of its transformative potential. If you are serious about climate politics this is an essential read.'

Vishwas Satgar

""'Just Transition has become a broad concept providing justification for very different interest groups. Going back to its roots, the authors of this book recover its radical edge by showing what Just Transition means within a concrete social context. Essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the true meaning of the concept'"" - Bela Galgoczi, Senior Researcher at the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), Brussels ""'Just Transition gets the politics, economics, and the morality right - this book shows us the way!'"" - Joseph B. Uehlein, Founding President of the Labor Network for Sustainability, and Voices for a Sustainable Future ""'This brilliant book demonstrates how the concept of a 'just transition' has become a battlefield. It should be at the heart of a powerful narrative strengthening justice and sustainability; instead it is appropriated by powerful forces blocking the revolutionary change that the climate crisis requires. Readers will be forced to choose sides'"" - Jacklyn Cock, author of 'The War Against Ourselves Nature, Power and Justice' ""'Would forestalling a climate catastrophe lead to a crisis for workers? Just Transitions provides historical perspective, thoughtful analysis, and revealing case studies demonstrating that a just transition for workers is difficult, but indeed possible'"" - Jeremy Brecher, author of 'Against Doom: A Climate Insurgency Manual'

From the Publisher