JTRC Launches Report at COP24
Mapping Just Transition(s) to a Low-Carbon World
The Just Transition Research Collaborative is proud to announce the launch of its report “Mapping Just Transition(s) to a Low-Carbon Development”. The result of a collective mapping exercise, the report will be launched at COP24 in Katowice and is already available online at http://www.unrisd.org/jtrc-report2018.
Following the recognition that the growing popularity of the Just Transition has led to an expansion of meanings and interpretations of it, the report takes stock of the history and narratives of Just Transition and assesses different approaches and examples based on their ambition and inclusiveness.
With the report, we hope to provide readers with a clearer sense of who promotes what and why, and thus allow them to situate themselves, as well as other actors and initiatives, within the broader Just Transition landscape.
The report ends with a series of country case studies that provide insights into how Just Transition is, or is not, being mobilized on the ground. More generally, the report seeks to use the Just Transition concept and debate as a way of feeding into ongoing discussions on the role and place of equity and justice in the shift towards a low-carbon world.
Presentations at COP24
- Official Launch at Side Event “The Price to Pay for Lignite and How To Take Just Transition to the Next Level”
Monday 3 Dec, 18:30–20:00: Room Vienna at the EU Pavilion
Organizers: Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung (RLS), United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), Climate Action Network Europe (CAN)
Summary: This event will focus on the issue of just transition — a zero-carbon transition built on the principle of social justice. In the first part this complex concept will be illustrated with stories of local communities affected by coal infrastructure. Speakers will present the recently published report “The Real Costs of Coal: Muğla”, which provides testimonies of the villagers living in Muğla, Turkey who suffer health and environmental impacts of extracting and burning coal and analyses impacts of coal on people’s health, socio-economic well being, and forest ecosystems. You will also hear from local citizens of Imielin, Poland, who oppose the expansion of the hard coal mine underneath their town. In the second part we will take a closer look at the concept of Just Transition and present the Just Transition Research Collaborative Report. If it is to contribute to greater equality and justice, the just transition needs to promote rapid decarbonization while protecting workers and communities. It needs to challenge inbuilt inequalities and move beyond a green growth agenda. This involves questioning power relations and considering cross-sectional issues, such as human rights, gender and the participation of indigenous and local communities.
- Presentation at Research-to-Practice Workshop as Part of the “Just Transition Day”
Monday 3 Dec, 12:00–16:00: UNFCCC Polish Pavilion
Organizers: Climate Strategies, International Labour Office
Summary: As currently the Just Transition is being discussed in multiple forums at the UNFCCC — including the forum on the response measures — there is a strong need for the solid analytical evidence on past Just Transitions and pathways for optimal future ones to be synthesized and presented to the right drivers of change within the UNFCCC process. This workshop is an opportunity for a more structured interaction between relevant research and Just Transition drivers within the UN process and with government representatives at COP24 to facilitate decision making based on current scientific and social research. The report will be presented in Part I: Analytical Evidence for Just Transition (12:00–13:30).
- Presentation in official side event “From Local Approaches to (Inter-)national Policy: Gender Just Transition and Decent Work”
Tuesday 11 Dec, 11:30–13:00: Room Warmia
Organizers: Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, GenderCC-Women for Climate Justice, Life e.V.
Summary: Just Transition needs to promote rapid decarbonization, challenge social inequalities and overcome a green growth agenda. We need to question the predominant idea of work, power relations and consider intersectional issues (gender, human rights) and the participation of indigenous and local communities.
The Just Transition Research Collaborative (JTRC) is a space for exchange and discussion that brings together a range of experts from academia and civil society to collectively map and analyse the different understandings and narratives of “Just Transition” underpinning the concept’s growing popularity and uptake. The project provides an important contribution to the science-policy dialogue around Just Transition, and offers policy recommendations on how the approach can be used to foster the transition to equitable low-carbon development.
The project is run jointly by the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, and Edouard Morena at the University of London Institute in Paris, and supported by the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung.
