Inequality
A 2020 report which outlines the main features of the US Green New Deal (GND) with Senator Bernie Sanders’ more detailed, fully costed version, exploring its implications for policymaking and social science-based energy research. We focus on two of its most striking characteristics: its macroeconomics; and its inextricable linkage of climate change mitigation and the reduction of economic inequality.
[Originally posted at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629620301067]
A 2020 publication which proposes a participative decision-making model, The People’s Transition, that views climate action as an enabler of local development, gives people and communities ownership of the transition to zero carbon societies and enhances public support for a 'just transition' by tackling inequality and raising standards of living through the delivery of climate solutions.
[Originally posted at https://feps-europe.eu/wp-content/uploads/downloads/publications/feps-tasc%20the%20peoples%20transition%20-%202020.pdf]
A 2021 report which presents Inclusive Green Finance (IGF) as a holistic approach to policymaking that links environmental sustainability and
financial inclusion. IGF addresses the risks posed by climate change on social inclusion and poverty reduction, as well as environmental risks to the financial system.
[Originally posted at https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/35214/1/Volz%20et%20al%202021%20Inclusive%20Green%20Finance.pdf]
A 2020 report which aims to determine vulnerable communities' top energy policy priorities. Authors heard opinions from hundreds of community members about climate change, renewable energy, transportation, housing, utilities, and more.
[Originally posted at https://www.pugetsoundsage.org/research/clean-healthy-environment/community-energy/]
A 2022 study which takes the case of a country with a high level of primary energy share that is renewable – Iceland – as well as high living standards, showing how energy and transport poverty are both possible and precariously experienced.
[Originally posted at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032122004348]
A 2021 document which aims to help the UK government ahead of COP26 in its thinking around how to better understand the differential effects of climate change and identify opportunities for the transition to a net-zero economy to deliver decent job opportunities for women.
[Originally posted at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/980198/Guidance3-Women--Net-Zero-Economy-Briefing1.pdf]
A 2021 report which interrogates the idea of a 'just transition' and place it within its historical context. It addresses a major contradiction at the core of global energy transition debates: the rapid shift to low-carbon energy-systems will require increased extraction of minerals and metals. In doing so, the authors argue that extractive industries are energy and carbon-intensive, and will enlarge and intensify social and ecological injustice.
[Originally posted at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/sd.2163]
A 2021 study which concludes that the South African fossil fuel industry is still impeding the development of the country’s renewable resources, and the price of doing so is being met by those living in townships and in rural areas.
[Originally posted at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43621-021-00043-w]
A 2021 brief which outlines a framework for India’s “new green revolution” that will not only be feasible for small and marginal farmers, but will provide them stable incomes. The brief explores the necessary attributes of such a climate-smart transition.
[Originally posted at https://www.orfonline.org/research/new-green-revolution-just-transition-climate-smart-crops/]
A 2021 PhD thesis which aims to bridge the scientific and policy knowledge gap in what constitutes a gender just energy policy by developing and applying a conceptual framework that integrates energy justice and gender approaches in energy policy.
[Originally posted at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353247576_Gender_Just_Energy_Policy_engendering_the_energy_transition_in_Europe]
A 2021 report which identifies what is missing from the current narratives of a just transition. In the initial assessment, there are two key gaps in the current national 'just transition' debate that will undermine significant progress towards a genuinely inclusive and socially just energy system.
[Originally posted at https://justurbantransitions.com/our_resources/a-just-distribution-the-overlooked-role-of-energy-distribution-policy-and-governance-in-achieving-a-just-energy-transition-in-south-africa/]
A 2021 report which offers a practical opportunity to change the trajectory of energy development, distribution and access. It opens up energy systems to a more democratic process, frees them from the power of transnational corporations (TNCs) and enables people and communities to access sufficient energy.
[Originally posted at https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Friends-of-the-Earth-Just-Recovery-Renewable-Energy-Plan-for-Africa-2021.pdf]
A 2022 article which argues that the case of Morocco - a country at the forefront of renewable energy development in Africa - provides salient lessons for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in its design and implementation of the West Africa Clean Energy Corridor (WACEC). Focusing on two key dimensions of energy sovereignty, viz: (1) people’s ownership of the energy transition process, and (2) land use, livelihood issues, and environmental footprints, the paper discusses the implications of Morocco’s Noor Ouarzazate (Noor 1) solar project and illuminates the injustices embedded in the process, including their post-colonial ramifications, in order to better grasp the challenges that West Africa must tackle for its energy transition through WACEC to be truly just.
[Originally posted at https://pure.southwales.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/9921597/1_s2.0_S0016328722000349_main_1_.pdf]
A 2021 background paper which considers both: 1) how education can contribute to sustainable development, and 2) how sustainable
development can shape quality, relevant education. It also frames the meaning of education broadly, within a lifelong learning framework that includes formal education, technical and vocational education and training, work and learning, as well as social movement and community education and social learning.
[Originally posted at https://tesf.network/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/TESF-South-Africa-Background-Paper-Final_05022021.pdf]
A 2020 article which focuses on the need to better understand how a 'just transition' can shift development paths to achieve net zero emissions and eliminate poverty.
[Originally posted at https://www.tips.org.za/just-transition/item/4268-towards-a-theory-of-just-transition-a-neo-gramscian-understanding-of-how-to-shift-development-pathways-to-zero-poverty-and-zero-carbon]
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.
*We post information pursuant to the U.S. Fair Use Doctrine, and applicable international standards, in order to advance the knowledge base and education of our global audience. We endeavor to include the original link to documents. However, upon requests of original authors of posted documents, where explicit use permission is not granted, we will remove documents if it is determined continued use is not appropriate. We also reserve the full right to not include, or remove, any data inconsistent with our mission.