Back | Programme Area: Social Dimensions of Sustainable Development

Cities in Transition: Local Struggles for a Just Transition and Their Potential to Advance Climate Justice

• Event Brief: 10
• Code: EB10
• Project Title: Just Transition Research Collaborative (Phase II): Cities in Transition—Urban Struggles for Just Transition(s)
• Programme Area: Social Dimensions of Sustainable Development
• Authors: Shannon Johnson, Dunja Krause

Effectively tackling climate change and setting the world on a sustainable, low-carbon development path is the greatest challenge the world is now facing. While commitments made by countries in the international arena to mitigate climate change are being weakened or even reversed in some places, they are being reinforced in others. At the local level, particularly in cities, concrete initiatives are being taken to fill gaps in both vision and action. These climate change mitigation policies and programmes have unique opportunities as well as challenges when it comes to incorporating just transition—the idea that justice and equity must form an integral part of the transition toward a low-carbon world. To what extent do approaches to climate change mitigation at the local level—and in cities in particular—incorporate social justice and equity concerns alongside the environmental agenda? Where they do so, is there potential for city-level just transitions to influence higher level policy change and climate justice?

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UNRISD Event Briefs highlight knowledge that can improve the quality of development debates, policy and practice. They offer readers a concise overview and key highlights of the discussions at selected UNRISD project workshops, conferences and international meetings. Through these briefs, UNRISD provides information about its events and the discussions taking place, which may not otherwise be available to interested audiences.

• Publication and ordering details
• Pub. Date: 22 Nov 2019
  Pub. Place: Geneva
  ISSN: 2309-0561
  From: UNRISD/UN Publications