Just Transition

C2ES recognizes that the shift to a low-carbon economy, while necessary to address climate change, can have significant impacts on stakeholders such as workers and communities. We advocate for a "just transition" approach that ensures the benefits of clean energy are widely shared and that vulnerable populations are not left behind. By advancing a just transition, C2ES aims to build broader support for climate solutions and create a more just, resilient, sustainable, and equitable clean energy future.

The International Labor Organization defines a “just transition” as a “means of 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.” We believe that for climate action to be truly successful and lasting, it must address the needs and concerns of workers, communities, and regions that have historically depended on carbon-intensive industries.

Guiding Principles for Just Transition

From the International Labor Organization’s definition of Just Transition

  1. Strong social consensus on the goal and pathways to sustainability is fundamental. Social dialogue has to be an integral part of the institutional framework for policymaking and implementation at all levels. Adequate, informed and ongoing consultation should take place with all relevant stakeholders.
  2. Policies must respect, promote and realize fundamental principles and rights at work.
  3. Policies and programs need to take into account the strong gender dimension of many environmental challenges and opportunities. Specific gender policies should be considered in order to promote equitable outcomes.
  4. Coherent policies across the economic, environmental, social, education/training and labour portfolios need to provide an enabling environment for enterprises, workers, investors and consumers to embrace and drive the transition towards environmentally sustainable and inclusive economies and societies.
  5. These coherent policies also need to provide a just transition framework for all to promote the creation of more decent jobs, including as appropriate: anticipating impacts on employment, adequate and sustainable social protection for job losses and displacement, skills development and social dialogue, including the effective exercise of the right to organize and bargain collectively.
  6. There is no “one size fits all”. Policies and programes need to be designed in line with the specific conditions of countries, including their stage of development, economic sectors and types and sizes of enterprises.
  7. In implementing sustainable development strategies, it is important to foster international cooperation among countries.

 

Advancing Just Transition

Net-Zero Transition Planning

There cannot be a low-carbon transition without committing to decarbonize within the principles of just transition. Just transition ensures that resilient, low-carbon economies are promoted in a fair and equitable way, creating decent work opportunities and leaving no one behind. It aims to ensure that the low-carbon transition is orderly, efficient, and just. Within net zero transition planning, this primarily coalesces around the integration of concerns about workers and communities in the development of transition plans and emissions reduction strategies. This includes working to address traditional power imbalances and centering affected stakeholders in transition planning, strategy development and implementation, and key evaluation activities.

The corporate net zero transition planning team is creating resources on just transition relating to key thematic elements and various sector-specific considerations. We believe it is imperative to use a social and environmental justice lens to inform transition-related activities in service of creating a more inclusive, equitable, and regenerative low-carbon transition. Companies can begin to engage in this work by incorporating just transition metrics into existing assessments to better understand where this theme is likely to impact their operations and various business units. This not only promotes equity within corporate transition efforts but also contributes to business model resilience and long-term value for shareholders.

Climate Resilient Communities Accelerator (CRCA)

Through our Climate Resilient Communities Accelerator program, we catalyze transformative action at the local level. The Accelerator brings together cohorts of communities to share best practices, access technical assistance, and develop innovative financing solutions for climate resilience projects. This peer learning network helps communities overcome common barriers to implementation while ensuring that resilience strategies advance equity and economic opportunity.

Industrial Decarbonization

Decarbonizing industry has multiple benefits related to a just transition, including reduced air pollution, as well as public health improvements that can result. It also can build the supply chain and create jobs to produce decarbonization technologies like industrial heat pumps and thermal energy storage as well as low-carbon manufacturing inputs and products. Industrial facilities are often clustered in areas with environmental justice concerns, so these same areas should also reap these benefits.

It is critical for companies to properly engage with these communities as they implement industrial decarbonization projects via both new plants and retrofits to existing facilities. Such engagement should build trust, create connections to hire and train the local workforce, and share information about environmental benefits. In some areas, local industry is viewed as mainly an environmental burden by some. Pursuing a just transition should position industrial companies as job creators, innovators, and environmental and climate champions.

Regional Roundtables

As demand for low-carbon products grows, communities that have produced the energy inputs and fossil-fuel-powered products that drove the American economy for the past century are seeking opportunities to build on that legacy as they pursue new energy industries. Through our regional roundtable program, C2ES has worked to create a venue for leaders of these communities to discuss and align around a vision for their future, by identifying the barriers to realizing that vision, and the concrete steps policymakers can take to help them seize those opportunities.

Through conversations in states such as West Virginia, Arizona, Utah, Texas, Wyoming, Michigan, Louisiana, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, we have explored ways that policymakers and the communities they serve can help workers access new opportunities through training programs, facilitate investment through public-private partnerships, or work to ensure state and federal investment reaches the regions that need it most. Our bottom-up, community-led approach aims to honor the legacy of the workers across the country who built the American economy into what it is today. Learn more about our Regional Roundtable program here.

Thematic Resources

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