2020
A 2020 study which aims to evaluate green growth, 'just transition' and decent work concepts in the context of sustainable development and
combatting climate change. In the study, it is concluded that if green growth and just transition processes are well managed they provide significant opportunities for realizing UN-SDGs, combatting climate change and the creation of decent works.
[Originally posted at https://alternatifpolitika.com/eng/site/vol/12/no/3/1-Tugac-Green-Growth--Sustainable-Development.pdf]
A 2020 paper which reviews the link of the 'just transition' to UNFCCC processes and labour unions before critically considering the current academic treatment of the agenda and in particular, the under emphasis of Nationally Determined Contributions. It then presents a series of research recommendations centred on a concern for how best to use this political background to leverage tangible impact.
[Originally posted at https://pure.au.dk/portal/files/225604713/Politicising_the_Just_Transition.pdf]
A 'just transition' shifts from historically high-emisions and exclusive development to low-emissions and inclusive development. A just transition in South Africa’s electricity sector from coal to cleaner energy is critical for climate change mitigation. And to be just, the transition must leave no-one behind. A just transition transaction as a mechanism, mobilises blended finance to fund 1) the accelerated phase out of coal, thereby accelerating a transition from coal to renewable energy and 2) protection of livelihoods of those communities and workers affected.
[Originally posted at https://zivahub.uct.ac.za/articles/report/Just_transition_transaction_in_South_Africa/13022489/files/24983501.pdf]
A 2020 paper which estimates the cost of coal worker protection over 20 years in two scenarios. In scenario 1, an 82% attrition rate is calculated, with 6 600 coal workers needing retraining and re-employment over 20 years. In the second scenario, about 75% of electricity will be decommissioned by 2043 and 32 920 (1 646 per year) workers will need retraining. The estimated cost of a 'just transition' for coal workers over 20 years is R6 billion: salaried compensation costs up to R1.2 billion, retraining at R621 million, relocation costs of R100 million, and regional development and rehabilitation costs of R4 billion.
[Originally posted at https://www.tips.org.za/just-transition/item/4104-estimating-the-cost-of-a-just-transition-in-south-africa-s-coal-sector-protecting-workers-stimulating-regional-development-and-accelerating-a-low-carbon-transition]
Phasing out coal requires expanding the notion of a ‘just transition’ and a roadmap that specifies the sequence of coal plant retirement, the appropriate policy instruments as well as ways to include key stakeholders in the process.
[Originally posted at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-0866-1.]
A 2020 briefing, prepared by Bruegel on the request of the European Parliament Committee for the Regional Development, focuses on the most concrete elements of the Commission’s proposals: the Just Transition Fund regulation proposal that lays down its objective, geographical coverage, the methodology for the allocation of resources and the content of the territorial just transition plans required to underpin the programming; and the targeted amendments of the Common Prevision Regulation (CPR) proposal, which will incorporate the JTF into the overall EU cohesion policy framework (in addition to the ERDF, ESF+, etc).
[Originally posted at https://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/237638]
A 2020 report which recommends radical changes to be made in order that the path to a net-zero economy be founded upon a 'just
transition', addressing both banking firms and government.
[Originally posted at https://www.social-banking.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Financing-Climate-Action-with-Positive-Social-Impact.pdf]
A 2020 article which reviews three main approaches to energy transition and highlights their underlying goals and assumptions. It argues that movements for energy transition must center social and economic justice in their struggles if they want to gain broad-based appeal.
[Originally posted at https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gec3.12554]
A 2020 article which undertakes a systematic mapping of 649 cases of resistance movements to both fossil fuel (FF) and low carbon energy (LCE) projects, providing the most comprehensive overview of such place-based energy-related mobilizations to date. It finds that (1) Place-based resistance movements are succeeding in curbing both fossil-fuel and low-carbon energy projects. Over a quarter of projects encountering social resistance have been cancelled, suspended or delayed. (2) The evidence highlights that low carbon, renewable energy and mitigation projects are as conflictive as FF projects, and that both disproportionately impact vulnerable groups such as rural communities and Indigenous peoples.
[Originally posted at https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abc197/meta]
A 2020 paper which reviews and evaluates key policy initiatives and strategies designed to strengthen regional economic, social and environmental outcomes in the Latrobe Valley (Victoria, Australia) in the three years following the closure of the Hazelwood power
station.
[Originally posted at https://crawford.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/publication/ccep_crawford_anu_edu_au/2020-11/ccep20-10_wiseman_workman_fastenrath_jotzo_after_hazelwood.pdf]
A 2020 study which finds that residents across southern Saskatchewan are worried about climate change and there is substantial support for a transition, especially to renewable forms of energy for consumption.
[Originally posted at https://policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/Saskatchewan%20Office/2020/10/Transition%20Time%20-%20Fall%202020.pdf]
Hot Reports
Covid-19 and a Just Transition in India's Coal Mining Sector
The COVID 19 pandemic hit India hard in early 2020, with negative GDP growth and a surge in unemployment. In the energy sector, coal fired power generation was already under pressure from overcapacity, low electricity demand growth, and increasingly competitive renewables.
Considerations for a Just and Equitable Energy Transition
As the energy transition accelerates, it is our responsibility, it is our opportunity, to ensure that in addition to contributing to a healthy planet by replacing fossil fuels with clean energy sources, this is accomplished in a just and equitable manner providing prosperity for all.
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