You may have heard the phrase ‘just transition’ in climate discussions. It’s an important principle, and one that we advocate at Joy in Enough – how we respond to climate change is as important as what we do. Climate action must be fair, and when our environmental policies and our social policies work together, there’s no reason why we can’t improve social outcomes at the same time as safeguarding the planet.
This week the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) published a briefing on Just Transition, which is well worth a read. Like the Climate Change Committee, POST are well informed and scrupulously balanced, so their reports are useful primers on scientific topics.
“What is a just transition for environmental targets?” they ask. The briefing looks at the background to the idea of just transitions, where we are at the moment and what it means in the UK. They suggest that there are two main forms of justice that we ought to bear in mind: procedural and distributive.
- Procedural justice is about the processes of change, about consultation and ownership of ideas. Environmental change should not be imposed. It needs democratic consent.
- Distributive justice is about the balance of costs and benefits. Who pays for changes, and who suffers any downsides to climate action.
We don’t see these justice considerations enshrined in UK law at the national level, but POST’s briefing points out that the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are a step or two ahead. Scotland has a Just Transition Commission that scrutinises policy and ensures that the country’s climate plans are fair. Northern Ireland are setting up a similar commission at the moment, having voted to create it in 2022. In Wales, just transition considerations are embedded in the ground-breaking Wellbeing of Future Generations Act.
So far, most of the work around just transition in the UK has focused on energy and its impacts on labour. Around 30,000 people work in the oil and gas industry, most of them in Scotland. It would be easy to oppose climate action in order to protect those jobs, but that’s a delaying tactic and not a solution. The industry will wind down even without climate change, and it’s important to plan ahead to avoid an unemployment crisis. Taking both aspects of justice into consideration, we would want to consult workers in those industries (procedural), and ensure that they get the support as the changes come into effect (distributive).
Scotland is working on both of those things. When surveyed, over half of oil and gas workers in the North Sea say they would be interested in transitioning to working on offshore wind. The challenge for Scotland is to create the training opportunities to make that happen, funding them so that workers don’t have to pay for their own re-training, and developing recognised qualifications across the industries.
Another energy-related just transition question is housing. Britain’s homes are inefficient, and we won’t reach our climate targets without a huge national retrofitting scheme. Millions of homes need insulation and low-carbon heating. Both aspects of justice matter here too. People need to feel that they have been heard and they are not being forced (procedural). And we need to do those retrofits without laying the costs at the feet of those on lower incomes (distributive).
POST raise two other considerations for a just transition in the UK. One is climate adaptation. The harm from a warming climate will fall more on those on low incomes, and in low-lying coastal communities. Britain’s adaptation strategies need to reflect this inequality of impact. The second is the impact on consumers, as prices rise or certain goods and services are no longer available.
With regional governments leading the way and an election next year, hopefully we will see just transition principles applied across the country in the years to come. As Christians, we should support this approach – we believe in mutual flourishing, not success at the expense of others. We share God’s bias towards the poor, and that should lead us to climate policies that support those on lower incomes and place the burden of costs on those most responsible for the pollution.
A just transition is an ethical approach to climate action, and it’s an effective one too. If people don’t feel consulted and think that policies are unfair, then they will oppose them or undermine them. Climate change needs everyone, and a just transition approach is how we make sure that our climate actions are fair, inclusive and effective.
Joy in Enough 