Land-use – Just Transition Initiative

What is "Just Transition"?

Academic paper/Guidelines, Strategies and Recommendations

Mar 2019

Just transitions/Design for transitions: Preliminary Notes on a Design Politics for a Green New deal

This article argues that the field of design for transitions should be brought into dialogues pushing for just transitions to best meet the technical, cultural, political, and economic needs of a low-carbon future.

Geographic Scope
Sectors: General; Land-use
Focus Areas: Social and/or cultural impacts > Other
Keywords: Green New Deal; creative labor; redirective practice; capitalism; neoliberalism; political economy; design; design for transitions
By: Damian White
Publishing Organization: Capitalism Nature Socialism
Academic/research institution or journal
Summary: This article makes a case for incorporating design politics into just transitions. The author argues that the discourses and movements for just transitions and design for transition have low levels of overlap at present; however, they would greatly benefit from increased collaboration to better meet the needs of a low-carbon economy.

The article first explores the transformation of just transition discourses, as well as the diverse, and sometimes, conflicting visions of what a just transition looks like, and how it should be implemented. The author also traces the dialogues surrounding the contribution of design and modes of design futuring in the shift to sustainability. The author argues that applying design to just transitions approaches can expand the scope of the possible visions for a low-carbon, high-quality future by incorporating elements of prototyping, prefiguring, speculative thinking, and scenario building.

The author concludes with several examples of how design approaches could contribute to just transitions. One such example is in the case of intensified land displacement due to expanding renewable energy technologies. Participatory design and social planning for the energy transition could help prevent green grabbing and better address the social and environmental challenges of the renewable energy transition. The author argues that these approaches and other modes of design politics will make low-carbon transitions more just.

Academic paper/Case Study; Definitions and Concepts

Dec 2019

Becoming fundable? Converting climate justice claims into climate finance in Mesoamerica’s forests

The article assesses the efforts of the indigenous and forest people’s groups in Mexico and Central America to promote claims to climate finance in terms of the different concepts of justice and identifies constraints to more transformative and reparative pathways to just climate outcomes.

Geographic Scope
Sectors: Land-use
Focus Areas: Environment and/or pollution > Nature; Government intervention > Public finance; Inequality and/or poverty > Other; Justice
Keywords: Forest governance; REDD+; indigenous communities; Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests,; climate finance; UNFCCC; empirical justice analysis; Free Prior and Informed Consent; full consent; reparative or transitional justice narratives; buen vivir; self-determination
By: Laura Aileen Sauls
Publishing Organization: Climate Change
Academic/research institution or journal
Summary: The article draws upon the experiences of a coalition of 10 Indigenous and forest peoples’ groups in Mexico and Central America—the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests (AMPB)—with regards to their navigation of the discursive strategies suited for accessing climate finance, particularly through the REDD+ instrument. The author uses the history of community positions toward REDD+ to suggest that the claims underpinning their engagement reflect conceptualizations of climate justice, which deviate from those that have dominated policy and popular discussions. The author assesses the feasibility of the AMPB-proposed Mesoamerican Territorial Fund that aims to directly capture climate finance, which would bypass problematic relations with national governments and traditional donors.

The article finds that although Indigenous peoples and local communities have made significant advances in terms of representation, recognition, participation, and concrete funding, the constraints of “becoming fundable” may hinder more transformative and reparative pathways to just climate outcomes. The requirement to “become fundable”, under the terms of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and major donors, is also a demand for the Indigenous peoples and local communities to become legible . This demand presents a clear tension with the member groups’ priorities of self-determination and “buen vivir”—a term that signifies an explicit recognition of the importance of nature for well-being. The author concludes that moving toward distributive justice may be much easier than a more critical interpretation of procedural justice. As such, efforts to support forest climate initiatives in these contested landscapes may benefit from moving away from results and performance-focused discussions toward a view of climate finance as among the means of achieving distributive, procedural, and historical justice on a territorial scale.

Report/Case Study; Policy Tools or Evaluations

Apr 2021

Workers and Communities in Transition: Report of the Just Transition Listening Project

The report synthesizes lessons from more than 100 listening sessions with labor and community groups to gather their perspectives on transitions as well as identifies how coalitions have come together and what pathways exist to a just future.

Geographic Scope
Sectors: Agriculture; Energy; General; Land-use; Mining
Focus Areas: Economic diversification/restructuring > Economic development plans, Industry and/or sector assistance or plans; Employment > Job creation and/or equality, Skills, Social protections; Environment and/or pollution > Human health; Government intervention > Public finance; Justice; Social and/or cultural impacts > Pride or cultural identity
Keywords: Just Transition Listening Project (JTLP); Transitional services; unjust transitions; social protection; employer-based health coverage; labor unions; collective bargaining; labor climate movement; Trade Adjustment Act; wage insurance; Washington Initiative 1631; Free Prior and Informed Consent; systemic racism; holistic transition; formal and informal education; “bargaining for the common good”; intergenerational mentorship; unionization; coalition building; facilitated dialogue; power inequities; Huntley Plant Closure Fund; Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant; Lordstown Transition Center; Redwood Employee Protection Program 1978; United Steelworkers
By: J. Mijin Cha, Vivian Price, Dimitris Stevis, Todd E. Vachon, Maria Brescia-Weiler
Publishing Organization: Labor Network for Sustainability
Labor organization, Non-profit organization/civil society organization
Summary: The findings of this report are derived from more than 100 in-depth listening sessions, including qualitative interviews and focused discussion groups with workers and community members from across the United States, which were conducted in 2020. The sessions, typically lasting an hour or more, involved workers from dozens of unionized and nonunionized industries; union leaders; members of frontline communities, including environmental justice communities, communities of color, and Indigenous communities; along with leaders from labor, environmental justice, climate justice, and other community organizations.

The aim of the sessions was to capture the voices of the workers and community members who had experienced, are currently experiencing, or anticipate experiencing some form of economic transition. The report suggests how past transitions, driven by market forces, corporate entities, and shortsighted public policies, often leave workers and communities largely behind, with little to no support. As such, community trauma has gone unrecognized and unaddressed for years.

The report identifies several themes that have emerged through these sessions, including a picture of what transition entails; how coalitions have come together, particularly those including labor and environment groups; how common vision and strategies for change are built; and what pathways to a just future exist. The report also highlights how individual and collective understandings of transitions range widely, according to type of work, class, gender, race, age, political ideology, previous experiences with environmentalists or the climate justice movement, and relationships with unions and the community. The report affords insightful reading and covers recommendations for policymakers; labor and movement organizations; and future research to fill in the identified gaps in knowledge, including understanding how sectoral transitions such as automation, digitalization, hybrid working, and health care could be done in an equitable manner.

Academic paper/Definitions and Concepts; Guidelines, Strategies and Recommendations

Dec 2018

How Local Energy Initiatives Develop Technological Innovations: Growing an Actor Network

This article describes the outcome of studies conducted to understand how socio-technical innovations for energy transitions can emerge at the local level.

Geographic Scope
Sectors: Energy; Land-use
Focus Areas: Government intervention > Regulation; Resilience; Social and/or cultural impacts > Other
Keywords: Grassroots innovation; energy cooperatives; local energy initiatives; community energy; technological configuration; sociology of translation; actor network theory
By: Esther C. van der Waal, Henny J. van der Windt, Ellen C. J. van Oost
Publishing Organization: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Academic/research institution or journal
Summary: This article explores innovative approaches adopted by local energy initiatives to create networks that enable grassroots technological innovations to facilitate the local energy transition to a more sustainable system. The authors examine the different components, actors, and phases of a project initiation to better understand how relationships at the grassroot levels can be built to enable these innovations. They conclude with lessons on how local energy initiatives can improve their networking capabilities.

Through various theories such as the “actor-network theory”, the authors seek to understand how local-level technological innovations are developed and identify the key elements influencing the process. They then analyze the development of networks in four stages during which ideas are conceptualized, problematized, interpositioned , and substantiated. Furthermore, they highlight the power imbalance that often emerges between energy initiatives and other stakeholders, such as banks, arguing that this could lead to a one-side-relationship that can further complicate network building. In addition, they discuss the importance of non-human “actants”, such as the environment, money, and other materials, during project development. Next, they also examine the innovation process by using case studies to better understand how local energy initiatives engage with different stakeholders.

Finally, the authors conclude with lessons on how grassroot-level energy initiatives can better develop socio-technical innovations for renewable energy, while harnessing local opportunities and talents. They argue that more scrutiny is needed at the start of a project to make it convincing, and even more importantly, to ensure all aspects of the project are well-aligned. In addition, they offer recommendations for future research to: scale up evidence on socio-technical innovations across the world; provide conceptual guidance on how relationships between stakeholders are built; and better understand existing policy frameworks that support these innovations.

Academic paper/Definitions and Concepts

Oct 2010

Indigenous Struggles, Environmental Justice, and Community Capabilities

This article discusses how Indigenous peoples’ struggles for environmental justice have redefined the justice discourse by incorporating concern for nature, culture, and communities into a range of demands for equity, recognition, and participation.

Geographic Scope
Sectors: Energy; Land-use; Water
Focus Areas: Environment and/or pollution > Human health, Nature; Inequality and/or poverty > Other; Justice; Social and/or cultural impacts > Non-financial loss, Pride or cultural identity
Keywords: environmental justice; indigenous communities; Navajo; Mapuche; culture; land rights; capabilities-based approach to justice
By: David Schlosberg, David Carruthers
Publishing Organization: Global Environmental Politics
Academic/research institution or journal
Summary: This article examines how the concept of justice is being used by various environmental groups and discusses the “capabilities-based approach” to justice used by Indigenous communities in their struggle over various environmental issues. It then presents two case studies from Arizona and southern Chile to illustrate the different conceptions of environmental justice among Indigenous communities around the world.

The authors first discuss scholars and activists’ historical conception of justice and explain the capabilities-based approach to environmental justice. They criticize an earlier focus on equity as the core principle of environmental justice, which they argue should go beyond fixing mere distributive and procedural inequities to enabling communities to thrive culturally.

They present two case studies on Indigenous environmental justice movements and argue that their conceptions of environmental justice offer a broad, integrated approach to development. They conclude that such an approach allows for diversity and provides an “integrative way” to understand environmental justice concepts from an Indigenous perspective, which includes a concern for the basic functioning of communities, their culture, and their relationship with nature.

Report/Guidelines, Strategies and Recommendations

Aug 2020

Economic Development Policies to Enable Fairness for Workers and Communities in Transition

This report analyzes the potential efficacy of U.S. federal policies and programs that could help fossil fuel–producing regions and workers transition to a low-carbon future.

Geographic Scope
Sectors: Agriculture; Energy; Land-use; Mining
Focus Areas: Economic diversification/restructuring > Economic development plans, Industry and/or sector assistance or plans, Infrastructure investment; Employment > Job creation and/or equality, Skills; Government intervention > Public finance, Regulation; Investment > Competitiveness, Private finance
Keywords: financial support mechanisms; rural development; capacity building; place-based strategies
By: Daniel Raimi, Wesley Look, Molly Robertson, Jake Higdon
Publishing Organization: Resources For the Future (RFF), Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
Academic/research institution or journal, Non-profit organization/civil society organization
Summary: This report analyzes the U.S. federal programs that could help fossil fuel–producing regions transition to a low-carbon future. It divides these programs into those that target local or regional economies driven by natural resource development (including timber and agriculture as well as fossil fuels) and those with broader geographic or economic scope. The authors suggest that the former, place-based development approaches can be especially effective.

The report examines three regional economic approaches that might be successful in a just transition context: offering capacity-building programs and technical assistance, financially supporting public and community organizations, and financially supporting private firms that may otherwise struggle to access funding. The authors also indicate that such efforts would require coordination among federal, state, and local officials and that substantial scaling up would be required for them to have a meaningful impact.

The report identifies programs that target natural resource–dependent communities and highlights a handful of initiatives that could aid just transitions efforts. For example, the Economic Development Integration program coordinates multiple economic development initiatives across agencies while making deliverables more efficient, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s rural development programs provide technical and financial support for public and private rural institutions. An extensive appendix in the report details many federal policies in full.

Report/Guidelines, Strategies and Recommendations

Jan 2012

Chile’s Pathway to Green Growth: Measuring Progress at Local Level

This report examines the challenges and opportunities associated with green growth in Chile and proposes a strategy with detailed indicators for assessing the progress of local and regional green growth initiatives.

Geographic Scope
Sectors: Agriculture; Buildings; Energy; Land-use; Mining; Water
Focus Areas: Economic diversification/restructuring > Economic development plans, Industry and/or sector assistance or plans; Employment > Job creation and/or equality, Skills; Environment and/or pollution > Human health, Nature; Government intervention > Public finance, Regulation; Investment > Private finance; Social and/or cultural impacts > Other
Keywords: green growth; natural capital; green entrepreneurship; local impacts; economic instruments; innovation; sustainable tourism; research and development (R&D); indicators
By: Cristina Martinez-Fernandez, Alwine Woischnik, Cristóbal de la Maza, Samantha Sharpe
Publishing Organization: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
Inter-governmental/international organization
Summary: This report on Chile is part of a series that explores the impacts of climate change and emission reduction activities at the local level. In examining local initiatives in Chile, the authors provide insight into how economic and employment development in this and similar carbon-intensive regions can support both low-carbon transitions and growth.

The report details Chile’s socioeconomic context and its various environmental challenges, including climate change, air pollution, soil and water contamination, waste management, and loss of biodiversity. While the concept of green growth is still nascent in Chile, the report identifies initial steps it can take and details a strategy for future efforts based on three pillars: formulating strategies for making various economic sectors environmentally sustainable, implementing economic instruments and other complementary mechanisms, and fostering innovation.

The report emphasizes the need to assess the impacts of climate change and climate mitigation measures at local and regional levels, not just the national level. It explores examples of local green growth initiatives in Chile, which successfully balanced economic and environmental concerns and, in some cases, social concerns. It concludes with a set of indicators that can be used to assess the progress of local initiatives.

Report/Guidelines, Strategies and Recommendations

Jun 2020

Actions to Transform Food Systems under Climate Change

This report identifies the current failures of the global food system and defines four areas in which it can be transformed to meet food and nutritional demands and combat climate change.

Geographic Scope
Sectors: Agriculture; Land-use
Focus Areas: Economic diversification/restructuring > Economic development plans; Employment > Skills, Social protections; Environment and/or pollution > Human health, Nature; Inequality and/or poverty > Gender inequality, Other; Resilience; Social and/or cultural impacts > Pride or cultural identity
Keywords: sustainable development goals; rural poverty; women; youth; diet; nutrition; transformational change; farmer advisory services; rural reinvigoration; food security
By: Achim Steiner, Grethel Aguilar, Khalid Bomba, Juan Pablo Bonilla, Andrew Campbell, Ruben Echeverria, Rikin Gandhi, Connie Hedegaard, Diane Holdorf, Naoko Ishii, Kenneth Quinn, Bas Ruter, Ishmael Sunga, Pavan Sukhdev, Sunny Verghese, Juergen Voegele, Paul Winters, Bruce Campbell, Dhanush Dinesh, Sophia Huyer, Andrew Jarvis, Ana Maria Loboguerrero Rodriguez, Alberto Millan, Philip Thornton, Lini Wollenberg, Stephen Zebiak
Publishing Organization: CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change
Inter-governmental/international organization
Summary: “This report identifies the current failures of global food systems in eliminating food insecurity, providing nutritious food, and mitigating climate change. The global food system is currently a major contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and fails to provide an adequate pathway to meet the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

To correct these food system failures, the authors recommend 11 transformative actions across four distinct categories: rerouting farming practices to eliminate GHG emissions and increase female and youth participation; de-risking farm livelihoods to increase resiliency against variable weather and extreme events; reducing emissions through dietary shifts and reductions in food waste; and realigning policies and finance to support social movements and spur innovation.

The costs of not reforming global food systems include increased food and nutrition insecurity, decreased smallholder participation, increased rural poverty, increased gender disparities and social inclusion, lost opportunities for rural youth, increased sensitivity to changing climate and extreme weather events, and loss of biodiversity.”

Report/Policy Tools or Evaluations

May 2012

An Institutional Analysis of Biofuel Policies and their Social Implications: Lessons from Brazil, India and Indonesia

This report assesses the social and environmental impacts of the ambitious biofuel policy programs of Brazil, India, and Indonesia.

Geographic Scope
Sectors: Agriculture; Energy; Land-use
Focus Areas: Economic diversification/restructuring > Industry and/or sector assistance or plans; Employment > Job creation and/or equality; Government intervention > Regulation; Inequality and/or poverty > Other; Justice; Social and/or cultural impacts > Other
Keywords: food security; comparative analysis; rural development; biofuel programs; smallholder Farmers; indigenous peoples; land tenure
By: Mairon Bastos Lima
Publishing Organization: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, (UNRISD), Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation
Inter-governmental/international organization, Non-profit organization/civil society organization
Summary: “This comparative assessment of Brazil, India, and Indonesia—which have sought to spur rural development through the development of biofuel alternatives—indicates there are several limitations associated with socially oriented biofuel policy. In particular, these countries adopted a two-tiered approach that largely relied upon established agribusiness and only incorporated the rural poor by having them cultivate non-food crops on “marginal lands.” The author offers a list of biofuel policy recommendations for achieving more extensive socioeconomic benefits for the rural poor.

For the three countries, biofuels policy tools often included subsidies, tax incentives, and blending mandates. However, these poorly designed, top-down policies failed to alleviate the burdens of the rural poor and were later revised. These approaches often expanded incentives and markets for corporations instead of for smallholders, failed to address equity issues, and lacked smallholder participation. These policy failures resulted in increased food insecurity, exploitation of smallholders by government and agribusiness, increased instances of monoculture (which can result in reduced crop yield or resilience and therefore lost income), and poor quality of employment opportunities (as reflected in increases in seasonal and migrant work).

In the future, more participatory decision-making in biofuel policies is needed to avoid these failures and improve outcomes for the rural poor. The report identifies three elements that appear to be crucial to successful biofuel policies: combination of feedstock and food production; inclusion of the concerns and interests of smallholders; and provisions for smallholders to gradually ascend in the value chain, specifically in expanding local ownership of oil extraction facilities.”

Academic paper, Commentary, Guidance document, News article/Case Study; Definitions and Concepts; Guidelines, Strategies and Recommendations; Policy Tools or Evaluations

Sep 2019

Framework Development for ‘Just Transition’ in Coal Producing Jurisdictions

This academic paper provides a comparative analysis of transition policies employed in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany; Alberta, Canada; and Victoria, Australia, and offers a framework for implementing just transitions in coal-dependent jurisdictions.

Geographic Scope
Sectors: Energy; General; Land-use; Mining
Focus Areas: Economic diversification/restructuring > Economic development plans, Industry and/or sector assistance or plans, Infrastructure investment; Employment > Job creation and/or equality, Skills, Social protections; Government intervention > Public finance, Regulation; Social and/or cultural impacts > Non-financial loss, Pride or cultural identity
Keywords: social dialogue; re-employability; re-training; state welfare; power relations; weak versus strong sustainable development
By: Kieran Harranhill, Owen Douglas
Publishing Organization: Energy Policy Journal
Academic/research institution or journal, Inter-governmental/international organization, Labor organization, Non-profit organization/civil society organization
Summary: The rhetoric of a just transition is central to energy and development policy discourse, yet recent studies have identified substantial challenges to its implementation. This paper provides a theoretical and practical comparative analysis of transition policies employed in three first-world jurisdictions dependent on coal: North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany, Alberta in Canada, and Victoria in Australia. These jurisdictions adopted different approaches based on their varying experiences with prior economic transitions, understandings of sustainable development, and government priorities and support.

The success of these policies is evaluated in terms of social dialogue, re-employability, re-training, and state welfare, all of which the European Trade Union Institute considers critical factors of a just transition. The authors identify which measures overcame key challenges in the achievement of a just transition and successfully ameliorated the socioeconomic well-being of coal-dependent workers and communities.

Based on these findings, the authors propose a framework for achieving a just transition in coal-dependent jurisdictions. This framework is broken into two phases, pre-transition and transition, illustrating the importance of planning and proactive social dialogue. The framework also identifies the important role of governments in assisting workers and communities in navigating the transition process and in supporting new and emerging low carbon industries in the context of sustainable development. The paper concludes by recommending topics for further study, including coal transitions in developing country contexts, consideration of a wider range of impacts, and testing of the proposed framework.