Varieties of Just Transitions: Lessons from the Just Transition Listening Project (US)

Abstract

Since 2015 there has been a proliferation of just transition policies and initiatives. As part of the Just Transition Listening Project, launched by the Labor Network for Sustainability in early 2020, we identified seven distinct just transition cases in the USA. The diversity of these cases calls for an analytical scheme that can differentiate amongst just transitions by recognising that a policy, such as a national or transnational Green New Deal, may be promising, but only for some within a country and the world political economy and at the expense of others. This research advances our understanding of the varieties of just transitions currently pursued in one country, the US, but also offers useful and pressing analytical insights into the study of just transitions, whether these transitions are local or transnational.