Since the industrial revolution, fossil fuels have fueled remarkable progress, but at a significant environmental cost. This has led to a pressing climate emergency. To avert disaster, we must swiftly transition to a sustainable, net-zero future, ensuring that this shift is both rapid and equitable.
This “just transition” concept, which has gained prominence recently, originated in the 1980s when it was used by US trade unions to protect workers impacted by new environmental regulations. Its essence lies in making sure that the whole of society, including all communities, workers, and social groups, is carried along in the transition to a greener future.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) defines it this way: “Greening the economy in a way that is as fair and inclusive as possible to everyone concerned, creating decent work opportunities and leaving no one behind.” While this provides a sound basis, perception does vary between countries and regions.
As climate change’s impacts intensify, countries are striving to decarbonize, green their economies, and bolster resilience. This aligns with the Paris Agreement’s goals to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. However, abrupt changes can have significant social and economic costs. The momentum around the concept of a just transition is growing. Governments worldwide are increasingly acknowledging its importance by integrating just transition principles into their climate plans.
A just transition offers numerous benefits, including building public support, creating quality green jobs, laying the groundwork for a resilient net-zero economy, promoting local solutions, and reinforcing the urgency of climate action. Governments, businesses, and workers’ organizations all play pivotal roles in making a just transition happen. While there are challenges, organizations like UNDP are supporting governments in addressing them through assessments, social dialogue, capacity-building, and access to finance.
Several countries, such as Serbia, Costa Rica, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Antigua and Barbuda, and India, are leading the way in adopting just transition principles and practices in their climate plans, focusing on social and economic impacts, stakeholder engagement, and capacity-building.
Who’s responsible for, and involved in, making a just transition happen?
Governments at all levels – national, regional and local – businesses, and workers’ organizations are all agents of change in the just transition. As well as convenors of social dialogue and consultation, governments have the primary responsibility to put in place the policy and regulatory frameworks needed to accelerate climate action underpinned by a just transition. They are also investors – owners of state enterprises and infrastructure – and employers of public sector workers.
Meanwhile, businesses play an important role in identifying risks and tapping into opportunities, including training and developing new skills for workers. They are also key to ensuring labour rights and human rights are respected as businesses enter green sectors. Workers’ organizations – including trade unions and local and regional advocacy groups – are of course also pivotal to achieving a just transition, ensuring the needs of workers are represented as fully as possible.
What are the obstacles to achieving just transition – and how can we overcome them?
Governments face a number of obstacles to achieving a green just transition. Among them are a lack of clarity and consensus on what it is; a lack of data on the benefits of a green transition and the impacts of different policies on different segments of society; a lack of national capacity (to develop the required policies but also fill the skills gaps); and finally, inadequate investment.
UNDP is helping governments address these challenges as part of their short-and long-term climate plans through four key areas of support: conducting qualitative and quantitative assessments; support for enhanced social dialogue; institutional, policy, and capacity-building; and accessing/attracting needed finance.
Which countries are leading the way?
Under the Climate Promise initiative, UNDP is supporting 34 countries and territories around the world to strengthen just transition principles, processes, and practices using UNDP’s Framework for Incorporating Just Transition into NDCs and LTS (known as Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs, and long-term strategies, or LTS, respectively).
Countries like Serbia, Costa Rica, and Zimbabwe are building a solid evidence-base for just transition by conducting qualitative and quantitative assessments (including economic modelling) looking at the socioeconomic impacts of a green transition. This information is also helping identify targeted measures for vulnerable populations such as women and informal workers.
Meanwhile, South Africa and Antigua and Barbuda seek to demonstrate the benefits of a whole-of-society approach in which a wide variety of stakeholders are involved in defining a common vision for, and pathways towards, just transition. In India, capacity-building measures to bolster the national skills capacity, particularly for women and youth, are supporting the green jobs revolution.
Source: UNEP
