Just transition: Framing, organizing, and power-building for decarbonization

As fossil fuel activity declines, workers and communities dependent upon this activity will face negative economic and social consequences. Mitigating these impacts and including socio-economic considerations in the energy transition is often referred to as “just transition.” While there is robust discussion on what is meant by a just transition, there is not a uniform definition or vision of what a just transition entails. Moreover, the dynamics of community-based engagement and advocacy in advancing a just transition is often downplayed. This study contributes to the body of just transition research through an analysis of just transition advocacy in the U.S. states of California, Kentucky, Louisiana, and New York that sought to understand what is needed for a just transition and how just transition can be advanced at the state-level. While many cross-state comparisons focus on policy regimes, this research focused on the underlying balance of community power, and the ability to face established interests. A key finding of our research is that many of our interviewees noted that the current system of providing power was deeply impacted by the current configuration of economic and political power. For them, just transition was not just a policy package but a political project. The paper begins with a discussion of what is meant by just transition in existing literature. We then move into presenting the results of our study with a particular focus on how just transition stakeholders envision the idea and whether they saw just transition as a clean energy transition or something more transformative. We conclude with a discussion of how these findings can contribute to better understandings of just transitions, the role that community-based advocacy plays in confronting and overcoming entrenched interests, and the importance of state-based actions.