migration – Just Transition Initiative

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.

Summary

Discussions on mine decline and closure primarily focus on the economic impacts. There is limited empirical evidence of the actual distributional impacts, particularly of policy responses designed to address them. The authors conduct a systemic analysis of literature on past mine closures and declines to evaluate the potential distributional impacts of the transitions and of their common policy responses.

The authors largely focus on the distributional impacts (social, economic, and political) in relation to gender and age. They find the economic decline disrupted traditional gender norms for women and especially affected young people seeking to enter the job market, often resulting in disenchantment and migration. They also examine how distributional impacts can emerge from programs designed to restore jobs, rehabilitate the socioeconomic conditions of mining communities, and prevent out-migration. Based on these findings, they provide general recommendations and considerations for future policies.