Worker safety – Just Transition Initiative

What is "Just Transition"?

Report/Guidelines, Strategies and Recommendations

Jan 2019

The Contribution of Social Dialogue to the 2030 Agenda: Formalizing the Informal Economy

This report discusses the importance of social dialogue in formalizing the informal economy, as outlined in the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Geographic Scope
Sectors: General
Focus Areas: Employment > Job creation and/or equality, Skills, Social protections, Worker safety; Environment and/or pollution > Human health; Government intervention > Regulation; Inequality and/or poverty > Gender inequality, Other
Keywords: informal economy; social dialogue; recommendation 204; 2030 Agenda; stakeholder engagement; tripartite dialogue; poverty alleviation; gender bias
By: Laura Maffei
Publishing Organization: International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
Inter-governmental/international organization
Summary: The author summarizes findings of case studies from Argentina, Costa Rica, the Philippines, and Kenya on the contribution of social dialogue to formalizing the informal economy and meeting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. She discusses how social dialogue serves as a mechanism for implementing the 2030 Agenda and provides recommendations for improving social dialogue to better contribute to formalizing the informal sector.

The author offers a brief explanation of social dialogue before discussing the scale of the informal sector in the global economy. She then highlights the challenges that informal workers face, demonstrating the need for formalization and explaining why social dialogue is essential to the formalization process. Citing examples from around the world, the author also demonstrates how social dialogue can facilitate progress on social protections, inclusion, and more.

The author highlights the continued challenges to formalization, including lack of commitment to social dialogue by various actors, insufficient time and resources, and lack of coordination between dialogue processes. She concludes with recommendations to address these challenges and strengthen social dialogue outcomes.

Report/Definitions and Concepts; Guidelines, Strategies and Recommendations

Apr 2019

The Contribution of Social Dialogue to the 2030 Agenda: Promoting a Just Transition towards Sustainable Economies and Societies for All

This paper explains how just transitions can help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and discusses the importance of social dialogue, citing examples from around the world.

Geographic Scope
Sectors: General
Focus Areas: Employment > Job creation and/or equality, Skills, Social protections, Worker safety; Government intervention > Regulation; Inequality and/or poverty > Other; Investment > ESG and corporate engagement
Keywords: sustainable development goals; social dialogue; collective bargaining; multinational companies; Global Framework Agreements (GFA); sustainable economic development; sectoral transformation; trade unions
By: Antonio Ferrer Márquez, Begoña María-Tomé Gil, Olga López Maeztu
Publishing Organization: International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
Inter-governmental/international organization, Labor organization
Summary: In this report, the authors explain how just transitions can help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and address climate change. They argue that social dialogue is an essential element of just transitions, as it can facilitate planning processes based on genuine partnership. Drawing on case studies from around the world, the authors highlight just transition processes forged through social dialogue at the national and corporate levels.

The authors examine the role of multinational companies in a just transition, describing the dilution of regulatory power and social and labor rights tied to the rise of large multinational companies. In this context, they explain the importance of social dialogue to protect workers’ interests across supply chains. They highlight various examples of social dialogue within energy and textile companies, including through Global Framework Agreements, and advocate for coordination among trade unions to promote supranational mechanisms for social dialogue. They highlight the need for trade unions to strengthen their capacity on climate-change issues and to integrate an environmental dimension into their strategies to engage in just transitions effectively.

The authors conclude with wide-ranging recommendations for the successful implementation of just transitions. These recommendations are directed at a variety of actors in this space, including donor governments engaged in development.

Report/Guidelines, Strategies and Recommendations

May 2017

Just Transition: A Report for the OECD

This report presents a holistic approach for a just transition to a low-carbon world that promotes environmental sustainability as well as decent work, social inclusion, and poverty eradication.

Geographic Scope
Sectors: General
Focus Areas: Economic diversification/restructuring > Economic development plans, Infrastructure investment; Employment > Job creation and/or equality, Skills, Social protections, Worker safety; Government intervention > Public finance; Inequality and/or poverty > Other; Investment > ESG and corporate engagement, Private finance
Keywords: OECD countries; social partners; informal workers; innovations; indigenous rights; poverty alleviation; disclosure; trade unions; community development
By: Samantha Smith
Publishing Organization: Just Transition Centre
Inter-governmental/international organization, Labor organization
Summary: This report from the Just Transition Centre describes various concepts and principles of just transitions, using case studies from around the world to analyze the roles key stakeholders can play.

With social dialogue and social protection as its main principles, the International Labor Organization (ILO) definition of just transition serves as a bridge to the future where “all jobs are green and decent, poverty is eradicated, and communities are thriving and resilient,” as defined by the ILO. This report examines the potential role for various stakeholders depending on the scale of a transition. Drawing from several case studies, the report offers examples in which social dialogue has been key, including the closure of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power facility in California and the wind sector transition in Denmark.

The report further acknowledges gaps in these transitions, such as a lack of appropriate government policies, funds, and structures that make it difficult for workers, employers, and communities to move forward. The author offers recommendations to help achieve both Paris Agreement targets and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including making a strong commitment to social dialogue.

Report/Guidelines, Strategies and Recommendations

Sep 2018

Coal Kills: Research and Dialogue for a Just Transition

This report describes the environmental and health tolls of coal mining in South Africa and provides recommendations to move forward with a just transition.

Geographic Scope
Sectors: Mining; Water
Focus Areas: Economic diversification/restructuring > Economic development plans; Employment > Worker safety; Environment and/or pollution > Human health, Nature; Government intervention > Regulation; Inequality and/or poverty > Gender inequality, Other; Social and/or cultural impacts > Non-financial loss
Keywords: air and water pollution; worker justice; damaged land and ecosystems; environmental rehabilitation; legal action; environmental justice
Publishing Organization: Ground Work
Non-profit organization/civil society organization
Summary: This compilation of research from various institutions details the environmental and social harm caused by South Africa’s coal industry. The report provides detailed analysis of the social, gender, and environmental impacts of coal mining and identifies the failures of South Africa’s social and environmental policy frameworks.

Coal regions such as Highveld and Mpumalanga, which contain the largest fertile lands in the country and were once an important source of fresh water, have been reduced to “toxic lands.” Several essays in the report criticize the government’s failure to regulate air pollution, calling for tighter regulatory oversight and a new focus on sustainability founded in economic, social, and environmental justice. The report criticizes the lack of enforcement of the Social and Labor Plans (SLPs) that coal companies must submit to win mining licenses. The Centre for Applied Legal Studies outlines the absence of community involvement or transparency in such plans, which often means communities have no access to them. Two organizations, groundWork and Friends of the Earth South Africa, call for a just transition as the only way forward for South Africans. An appendix in the report includes recommended links to reports and studies by other environmental groups.

Brief/Guidelines, Strategies and Recommendations

Dec 2017

Green Initiative Policy Brief: Gender, Labor, and a Just Transition towards Environmentally Sustainable Economic and Societies for All

This brief summarizes climate-related challenges to gender equality in the world of work and emphasizes the need to achieve greater gender equality through transitions to a low-carbon, sustainable economy.This brief summarizes climate-related challenges to gender equality in the world of work and emphasizes the need to achieve greater gender equality through transitions to a low-carbon, sustainable economy.

Geographic Scope
Sectors: General
Focus Areas: Employment > Job creation and/or equality, Social protections, Worker safety; Inequality and/or poverty > Gender inequality; Social and/or cultural impacts > Other
Keywords: informal economy; disproportionate climate impacts; agriculture; care work
Publishing Organization: International Labor Organization (ILO)
Inter-governmental/international organization, Labor organization
Summary: This brief provides a high-level summary of the challenges that women in the world of work face as a result of climate change, both now and within the framework of worsening, future climate impacts. It also warns against the negative effects of excluding or overlooking the needs of women when enacting climate mitigation and adaptation measures.

The authors explore these challenges in the context of formal labor, informal agricultural labor, and unpaid household and care work. They suggest that the transition to low-carbon and sustainable economies offers an opportunity to address existing and emerging inequalities and vulnerabilities, secure and protect fundamental workplace rights, and empower women by ensuring their essential contribution to the stimulation of green growth.

To achieve these goals, the authors encourage greater engagement on the issues of gender, labor, and climate change. Furthermore, they encourage policymakers to include specific goals in transition planning regarding equal opportunities for and treatment of women and men.

Report/Definitions and Concepts; Guidelines, Strategies and Recommendations

Jan 2020

Principles for a Just Transition in Agriculture

This report stresses the need to include marginalized groups such as women and migrant workers in transitions from industrialized agriculture to agroecology practices.

Geographic Scope
Sectors: Agriculture
Focus Areas: Economic diversification/restructuring > Industry and/or sector assistance or plans; Employment > Job creation and/or equality, Skills, Social protections, Worker safety; Environment and/or pollution > Nature; Inequality and/or poverty > Gender inequality, Other; Resilience
Keywords: Global South; migrant workers; land management; agroecology; agribusiness; hunger; exploitation; gender barriers; farmers' unions
By: Teresa Anderson, Maria Ron Balsera
Publishing Organization: ActionAid International
Inter-governmental/international organization
Summary: This report promotes the global transition from resource-intensive industrialized agriculture to agroecology. It recommends governments and local communities collaborate to address world hunger, gender injustice, workers’ rights, and smallholder participation within their efforts to decrease the agriculture sector’s climate impacts. The authors provide a list of policy recommendations to achieve these climate and equity goals and brief examples of effective and ineffective policies.

The authors argue that this transition must minimize disruption to farmers’ lives and include traditionally marginalized groups such as women and migrant workers. Such a transition must incorporate an inclusive and participatory planning process, comprehensive policy frameworks, social protection, and guarantees of positive opportunities for affected communities to ensure their acceptance of and participation in the transition.

If appropriately done, such a transition can provide numerous benefits. More specifically, it could help decarbonize the agricultural sector, introduce sustainable farming practices (which can increase crop yield and resilience to climate change), alleviate world hunger, provide social protections for women and migrant workers, and decrease the control and influence of agribusiness.

Report/Guidelines, Strategies and Recommendations

Jan 2020

Green Jobs and a Just Transition for Climate Action in Asia and the Pacific

This report discusses the potential for green job creation and a just transition in the Asia-Pacific region.

Geographic Scope
Sectors: Agriculture; Energy; Industrial; Mining; Water
Focus Areas: Economic diversification/restructuring > Economic development plans, Industry and/or sector assistance or plans, Infrastructure investment; Employment > Job creation and/or equality, Skills, Worker safety; Environment and/or pollution > Nature; Government intervention > Regulation; Inequality and/or poverty > Gender inequality
Keywords: green jobs,; migration; tourism; Blue Pacific Big Ocean states; textile and garment industry; natural disasters; waste water management; foreign investment; capacity building; social dialogue
By: Cristina Martinez
Publishing Organization: International Labor Organization (ILO)
Inter-governmental/international organization, Labor organization
Summary: This report discusses the potential for green job creation and sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific region in the context of just transitions. It outlines how the region could accelerate this transformation by creating clean energy jobs that contribute to climate change mitigation—provided certain policy measures are put in place.

The report explores some of the opportunities and challenges of green job creation in the Asia-Pacific, in particular in the climate-vulnerable Pacific islands and in the textile and garment industry, a polluting sector that is nonetheless an important source of women’s employment and foreign investment. It then explores lessons learned from just transition pilot programs in the Philippines and Uruguay.

The report groups its recommendations for how to address the challenges of a just transition in Asia-Pacific into five categories: policy and institutions, training and capacity building, social dialogues and collaboration, awareness raising, and financing.

Report/Guidelines, Strategies and Recommendations

Oct 2016

UN FCCC Just Transition of the Workforce, and the Creation of Decent Work and Quality Jobs

This technical paper is intended to assist and guide signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change through the just transition of their national workforces with regard to climate change mitigation policies.

Geographic Scope
Sectors: Agriculture; Buildings; Energy; Mining; Transportation
Focus Areas: Economic diversification/restructuring > Economic development plans, Industry and/or sector assistance or plans; Employment > Job creation and/or equality, Skills, Social protections, Worker safety; Government intervention > Regulation; Inequality and/or poverty > Other
Keywords: suitable development; ILO Guidance; decent work; climate change mitigation policy; National Just Transition policy framework
Publishing Organization: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC)
Inter-governmental/international organization
Summary: This technical paper was conducted as a part of a United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) work program focused on the impact of climate response measures. It is intended to inform and guide parties, especially in developing countries, through a just transition of their national workforces and the creation of decent work and quality jobs in relation to climate mitigation policies.

The paper synthesizes the conceptual understandings of a just transition in relation to climate change mitigation measures. It summarizes the major existing works to date, including the guiding principles, drivers, and objectives of a just transition as outlined by the International Labor Organization (ILO). It explores the potential impact of climate change mitigation policies on the quantity and quality of the workforce through job creation, substitution, elimination, and transformation.

It then provides a sequential framework for a national just transition, from including consideration of employment in the planning stages to preparing for the transition of the workforce, implementing the transition, and assessing its effects. The authors explore each of these phases in detail, providing specific guidance and examples from case studies. However, little research is available on best practices for analyzing the effects of a just transition.

Brief/Guidelines, Strategies and Recommendations

Apr 2017

Strengthening Just Transition Policies in International Climate Governance

This document provides a brief history of just transitions in the context of climate action, identifies key policy areas of a just transition, and offers recommendations for incorporating the concept into international climate change policy.

Geographic Scope
Sectors: Agriculture; Energy; Mining; Transportation
Focus Areas: Economic diversification/restructuring > Economic development plans, Industry and/or sector assistance or plans; Employment > Job creation and/or equality, Skills, Social protections, Worker safety; Government intervention > Regulation
Keywords: international governance
Publishing Organization: The Stanley Center for Peace and Security
Non-profit organization/civil society organization
Summary: This policy analysis brief provides a succinct but comprehensive overview of just transitions in the context of international climate governance. It explains the history and growth of the concept of a just transition, exploring its current meaning(s) and significance as a tool to garner support for ambitious climate action. It identifies areas where policies are needed to protect workers and communities from the potential impacts of specific climate actions and to develop different economic models.

Drawing on International Labor Organization (ILO) guidelines, it identifies key policies that are critical to a just transition strategy and provides brief examples of their implementation in climate and energy transitions. Lastly, it provides recommendations on how to further incorporate the concept of a just transition into international forums to advance a positive, pro-people vision of the international climate regime.

Guidance document/Guidelines, Strategies and Recommendations

Feb 2016

Guidelines for a Just Transition towards Environmentally Sustainable Economies and Societies for All

These guidelines, developed through tripartite dialogue, provide a general policy framework for governments and social partners seeking a just transition to sustainable development.

Geographic Scope
Sectors: General
Focus Areas: Economic diversification/restructuring > Economic development plans, Industry and/or sector assistance or plans; Employment > Job creation and/or equality, Skills, Social protections, Worker safety; Government intervention > Public finance, Regulation; Inequality and/or poverty > Other
Keywords: tripartite and social dialogue; decent work; labor standards; integrated sustainability
Publishing Organization: International Labor Organization (ILO)
Inter-governmental/international organization, Labor organization
Summary: These guidelines were developed through tripartite dialogue. They provide general guidance on how to formulate, implement, and monitor a just transition in accordance with national circumstances and priorities. It is a commonly referenced document in the just transitions discourse and, in many respects, outlines the foundational elements of just transitions in the context of climate action.

This document briefly summarizes the vision, opportunities and challenges, and guiding principles of a just transition, which were first outlined in conclusions by the 102nd session of the International Labor Conference in 2013. It then builds on these conclusions to outline the elements of a basic framework for a just transition. These elements include institutional arrangements and key policy areas that serve to mainstream and promote environmental, economic, and social sustainability. The guidance is directed at both governments and social partners, which have an active and significant role to play in the transition.