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Just Transitions: A Just Green Recovery from Covid-19

This podcast explores how governments can promote economic spending packages that promote an inclusive and fair green recovery.

This week, Ben Cahill (CSIS) is joined by Brian O’Callaghan and Jesse Burton to discuss how Covid-19 recovery can be more just, equitable and green. Brian is Lead Researcher and Project Manager of the Oxford University Economic Recovery Project, and Jesse is with the University of Cape Town and a Senior Associate with E3G, where she provides analysis and policy advice on coal transitions in South Africa and globally. Together, they look at how governments can ensure that their economic spending packages can accelerate a green recovery while also being inclusive and fair for all communities.

For more, read: A Just Green Recovery from Covid-19

Participants

  • Ben Cahill: Senior Fellow, Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
  • Jesse Burton: Senior Associate, E3G; Researcher, Energy Systems Research Group at the University of Cape Town
  • Brian O’Callaghan: Lead Researcher and Project Manager, Oxford University Economic Recovery Project

The views and opinions expressed in this podcast do not necessarily represent those of the Climate Investment Funds or Center for Strategic and International Studies.

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Seizing the Urban Opportunity: How National Governments can Recover from Covid-19, Tackle the Climate Crisis and Secure shared Prosperity through Cities

This collaborative report examines how national governments can leverage cities to help address the triple challenge of Covid-19, sustainable development, and climate change.

Detail

The authors discuss how national governments can harness cities to bring about a sustainable and inclusive post-pandemic economic recovery while achieving climate goals. They focus on six emerging economies to demonstrate how fostering zero-carbon, resilient, and inclusive cities can advance national economic priorities for shared prosperity.

Referencing case studies from China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa, the authors explore three themes: 1) the need for a low-carbon urban transformation and its associated socio-economic benefits; 2) the importance of both resilience and decarbonization; and 3) the availability of resources to foster low-carbon, resilient, and inclusive cities. To inspire countries ahead of the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), they analyze how cities can help national governments not only achieve their climate goals and shared prosperity, but also accelerate the Covid-19 recovery by making them more connected, inclusive, and clean.

The authors conclude with a global call to action, urging national governments to develop climate and sustainable development strategies centered around cities. While governments are essential to implementing transformative policies, the authors urge national leadership to partner with the private sector and local climate-action groups to finance sustainable and resilient urban infrastructure.

Just Transition for All: Analytical Evidence

This brief includes nine short essays on a range of issues related to just transitions, including summaries of various tools and strategies and brief regional case studies.

Detail

This brief consists of short papers prepared for a breakout session of the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24) in March 2018. The papers examine various just transitions efforts around the world, including different approaches to green transitions, a case study of distributional impacts in Germany, and a summary of green coalitions and movements in the United States.

Several of the authors emphasize implementing social protections and promoting inclusion to ensure a just transition to a low-carbon economy. The document calls on countries to take urgent action to train workers in the skills needed for a greener economy and to provide them with social protections to facilitate the transition to new jobs. One author argues that a truly just transition cannot focus solely on unionized coal miners but must consider informal workers or service providers as well. Another essay classifies just transitions approaches in terms of their inclusiveness and ambition, offering a useful taxonomy for assessing them. Another author argues in favor of a “systems approach” to just transitions that would use not only sectoral data but also microeconomic, demographic, and social survey data to create a more holistic view of societies in transition.