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Back | Programme Area: Social Dimensions of Sustainable Development

Climate Justice from Below—Local Struggles for Just Transition(s)


Climate Justice from Below—Local Struggles for Just Transition(s)
There are many understandings and practices of just transition(s). They range from change at the margins that largely preserves the neoliberal or developmentalist status quo, on one end of the spectrum, to overhaul of existing economic and political systems and a transformative shift towards sustainability and climate justice, on the other.

Many examples of the more transformative forms of just transition are rooted in local movements and community organizations exerting pressure on their local, regional and sometimes national governments to adopt alternative development strategies. Urban and local-level transitions are not always or automatically progressive and just, however. The extent to which they can contribute to a transformative shift to low-carbon development, and how their potential can be leveraged to accelerate a progressive just transition, needs careful assessment.

This report discusses a selection of urban and local-level transitions to a lower carbon economy. By exploring these examples from both developed and developing countries, it aims to kick-start a conversation on the potential of local just transition policies and frameworks to influence higher level policy change. It calls for safeguarding just transition’s original objective of reorganizing the political economy to protect both the environment and workers as a way to mobilize broad-based support for a transformative shift towards sustainability and climate justice.

About the JTRC
The Just Transition Research Collaborative is run jointly by the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) and Edouard Morena of the University of London Institute in Paris (ULIP). The Collaborative, and this report, were funded by the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung (RLS) with support from the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
  • Publication and ordering details
  • Pub. Date: 2 Dec 2019
    Pub. Place: Geneva
    ISBN: 978-92-9085-105-9
    From: UNRISD