International Labor Organization (ILO) – Just Transition Initiative

What is "Just Transition"?

Report/Guidelines, Strategies and Recommendations; Policy Tools or Evaluations

Jul 2020

Jobs in a Net-Zero Emissions Future in Latin America and the Caribbean

The report details a decarbonization pathway for Latin America and the Caribbean region, identifies expected labor changes in various sectors, and focuses on equity considerations needed in each of the affected sectors.

Geographic Scope
Sectors: Agriculture; Energy; Industrial; Transportation
Focus Areas: COVID-19; Economic diversification/restructuring > Economic development plans, Industry and/or sector assistance or plans, Infrastructure investment; Employment > Job creation and/or equality, Skills, Social protections; Environment and/or pollution > Human health, Nature; Government intervention > Public finance; Inequality and/or poverty > Gender inequality; Investment > Competitiveness, Stranded assets
Keywords: decarbonization; input-output analysis; manufacturing; animal-based and plant based food systems; energy subsidy reform; social protection systems; Public employment programs; dietary shift; gender
By: Catherine Saget, Adrien Vogt-Schilb, Trang Luu
Publishing Organization: Inter-American Development Bank, International Labor Organization (ILO)
Inter-governmental/international organization, Labor organization
Summary: This report takes a detailed look at decarbonization pathways in the Latin America and the Caribbean region and highlights the potential to create 15 million net jobs in sectors, such as sustainable agriculture, forestry, solar and wind power, manufacturing, and construction during such a transition. The report suggests that, with adequately-designed measures to ensure that these jobs are decent and that those who lose out in the transition are protected and supported, recovery plans can create climate benefits, while also boosting growth, tackling inequality, and making progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

This report is based on an input-output analysis using a Global Trade Analysis Project Power database, a commonly employed tool for assessing the direct and indirect environmental and socioeconomic impacts of decarbonization efforts. The study finds that only three sectors would shrink in the transition to a decarbonized economy: 1) fossil-fuel based electricity, with about 80,000 jobs lost, or more than half of the current number; 2) fossil-fuel extraction, with almost a third of the current number, or 280,000 jobs eliminated; and 3) animal-based food production systems, with five percent of current jobs lost, representing half a million jobs.

The report provides a sectoral overview of the region and highlights how it is still struggling with gender and ethnic inequalities, skills gaps, insufficient social protection, and a large informal sector, despite more than a decade of steady progress. Prevailing decent work deficits, inequalities, and dependence on fossil fuel exports are expected to make Latin America and the Caribbean particularly susceptible to the social and economic impacts of climate change. The report also identifies the critical need for fairness in this transition and devotes a chapter to identifying the sector-wise equity and justice considerations needed to allow a successful transition in sectors that include energy, agriculture, forestry, waste management, tourism, transport, and construction.

Brief/Guidelines, Strategies and Recommendations

Oct 2018

Just Transition towards Environmentally Sustainable Economies and Societies for All

Drawing on lessons from past experiences, this brief provides a framework and recommendations for labor unions and workers’ organizations to support just transitions toward environmentally sustainable economies.

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; Government intervention > Regulation; Inequality and/or poverty > Other
Keywords: capacity building; labor unions; workers organizations; coalitions; Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)
Publishing Organization: International Labor Organization (ILO)
Inter-governmental/international organization, Labor organization
Summary: This brief discusses the challenges of a just transition in the context of the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals and, more specifically, provides recommendations for labor unions and workers’ organizations. It promotes the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) guidelines as a comprehensive set of principles for both climate change action and sustainable development. It then provides various examples of past just transition efforts from different levels of government and for different levels of economic development. These practical examples illustrate the role of actors, country-specific challenges, and potential models of success under various conditions.

The brief concludes with lessons learned, which tend to emphasize the importance of cooperation—for example, among labor and environmental groups or among different levels of government—and of formulating strategies with clear objectives and targets. The authors provide further recommendations specific to trade unions and workers’ organizations.

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/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.

Brief/Guidelines, Strategies and Recommendations

Nov 2019

Persons with Disabilities in a Just Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy

This policy brief examines the impacts of climate change on people with disabilities and provides a brief list of policy recommendations to ensure an inclusive transition.

Geographic Scope
Sectors: General
Focus Areas: Employment > Job creation and/or equality, Skills, Social protections; Inequality and/or poverty > Other; Social and/or cultural impacts > Other
Keywords: disability-inclusive; disproportionate climate impacts; discrimination; legal standards
By: Maria Hasan
Publishing Organization: International Labor Organization (ILO)
Inter-governmental/international organization, Labor organization
Summary: This brief examines the impacts of climate change on the world of work and discusses how a just transition to a low-carbon economy must consider persons with disabilities. It further describes various types of workplace discrimination and injustices against persons with disabilities and makes recommendations for a just and equitable transition in which they are included.

The paper stresses that persons with disabilities are disproportionately affected by climate change yet are often excluded from climate policies’ societal planning and decision-making processes. The paper also discusses the disproportionately low representation of persons with disabilities in the global labor market and suggests that a just transition could expand the opportunities for decent work available to them.

The authors refer to existing international frameworks that provide a can help guide disability-inclusive transitions and highlight key public policy needs, including legal standards, social protection mechanisms, skill-development initiatives, and attitudinal changes. They conclude with a list of recommendations for specific stakeholders, including governments, businesses, trade unions, and development agencies, among others.

Report/Guidelines, Strategies and Recommendations

Mar 2018

Social Dialogue and Tripartism

This report summarizes social dialogue principles and examines challenges related to the changing nature of work related to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Geographic Scope
Sectors: General
Focus Areas: Employment > Other; Justice
Keywords: tripartism; labor laws; informal economy; collective bargaining; sustainable development goals; SDGs
Publishing Organization: International Labor Organization (ILO)
Inter-governmental/international organization, Labor organization
Summary: “This 2018 International Labor Organization (ILO) report takes stock of current social dialogue efforts, including tripartism, in terms of the changing nature of work and in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It examines best practices and shortcomings on a region-by-region basis. It also analyzes several threats to social dialogue: automation and digitalization, migration and changes in demography, climate change, and the backlash to globalization.

While noting the importance of social dialogue and tripartism, the paper points out that widening income inequality, weakening labor market institutions, increasing automation, and informal sector employment could all potentially weaken the effectiveness of social dialogue. Climate change also poses a threat because the work of labor institutions and social partners to manage distributional impacts lags behind actual needs in many countries. The report outlines such elements of these challenges at a regional and national level.

The ILO reiterates the importance of social dialogue and tripartism in meeting the SDGs and the need for “decent work.” The final chapter of the report includes suggestions to strengthen social dialogue and labor institutions, including enhancing collective bargaining capacity, but notes that more evidence-based research (including better statistics) is needed to measure the impact of social dialogue.”

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.