Navigating tensions between rapid and just low-carbon transitions

Newell, Peter; Geels, Frank W.; Sovacool, Benjamin K.

doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ac622a

Cited by 64 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our findings indicate that the need for compensation will likely increase, rather than diminish, as coal phase-out policies diffuse to economies with weaker institutions. However, providing internationally-funded compensation to governments that lack democratic accountability creates the additional risk that aid flows intended to support just transitions will be captured by vested interests and thus fail to resolve the 'speed' versus 'justice' tension 50 inherent in coal phase-out. More generally, our research serves as a model for quantifying the social and political concerns of rapid transitions 51,52 so that they can be considered on par with economic aspects.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socio-political cost of accelerating coal phase-out

Nacke

Vinichenko

Cherp

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While macroeconomic models highlight rapid coal phase-out as an urgent climate mitigation measure, its socio-political feasibility is unclear. The negative impacts of coal phase-out for companies, workers and coal-dependent regions, and the unequal global distribution of the coal phase-out burden has triggered resistance and calls for just transitions. Here, we construct a database of domestic and international just transition policies and partnerships that compensate affected actors of coal phase-outs. By comparing coal phase-out in countries which have compensation plans with those that don’t, we show that compensation policies are essential to realizing premature retirement of coal. The cost we estimate associated with these policies clarifies the financial cost of making coal phase-out politically feasible. We find that compensation costs are proportional to avoided emissions resulting from coal phase-out and are generally consistent with recent carbon prices. We find that the cost of implementing similar compensation policies in case of 1.5°C -consistent coal phase-out for China and India is 17 times higher than all existing compensation, and roughly comparable to global Official Development Assistance in 2021. We show that in the case of coal phase-out, political will and social acceptance have a tangible economic component which should be factored in to assessing the feasibility of achieving climate targets.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socio-political cost of accelerating coal phase-out

Nacke

Vinichenko

Cherp

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Decision-making processes driving energy transitions often exclude communities home to new infrastructure, despite evidence that public participation can secure relevant local knowledge and support for policy (104). This trade-off arises from tensions that challenge the ability to simultaneously achieve both rapid and just low-carbon transitions (105). For example, participatory processes may increase justice but slow the speed of action, sometimes markedly.…”

Section: The Framework In Action: Opportunities To Simultaneously Mit...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mitigating Climate Change and Climate Injustice Simultaneously

Activation¹,

Grace

Agrawal³

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mitigating climate change and social injustice are critical, interwoven challenges facing humankind. Climate change is the result of grossly unequal greenhouse gas emissions by different societies and groups. Its impacts are also unjust, disproportionately affecting poor and less powerful nations, and the poor and the less powerful within each nation. While climate mitigation is essential, it reshapes the interacting socio-cultural, economic, political, physical and ecological processes that cause climate change, often with adverse outcomes for the most vulnerable. Answering the challenge of how to achieve climate mitigation alongside social justice mitigation and enhanced wellbeing will require improved understanding of the tradeoffs of alternative climate mitigation options with demonstrably different social justice outcomes.Herein, we present a broad framework to illustrate the interface between climate change and social justice, examining how economic, health, governance, social and policy dimensions interrelate both as cause and consequence of climate change, related emissions, and associated injustices. We then assess how specific mitigation interventions can address or exacerbate climate injustice, or more complexly, simultaneously worsen climate injustice for some and improve justice outcomes for others. In sorting through these possibilities, we identify a set of interventions that can both reduce emissions and enhance justice more broadly. These solutions highlight a range of possible ways forward, and include demographic choices, technology, a suite of natural solutions, and policy and governance. We also discuss political-economic obstacles to adoption and possible mechanisms that may support broader deployment. Addressing such possibilities has the potential to generate new ways of thinking about and mitigating inequity and power imbalance in the context of mitigating climate change.

show abstract

“…Decision-making processes driving energy transitions often exclude communities home to new infrastructure, despite evidence that public participation can secure relevant local knowledge and support for policy (102). This trade-off arises from tensions that challenge the ability to simultaneously achieve both rapid and just low-carbon transitions (103). For example, participatory processes may increase justice but slow the speed of action, sometimes markedly.…”

Section: The Framework In Action: Opportunities To Simultaneously Mit...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mitigating Climate Change and Climate Injustice Simultaneously

Grace

Agrawal²,

Nagendra

2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mitigating climate change and social injustice are critical, interwoven challenges facing humankind. Climate change is the result of grossly unequal greenhouse gas emissions by different societies and groups. Its impacts are also unjust, disproportionately affecting poor and less powerful nations, and the poor and the less powerful within each nation. While climate mitigation is essential, it reshapes the interacting socio-cultural, economic, political, physical and ecological processes that cause climate change, often with adverse outcomes for the most vulnerable. Answering the challenge of how to achieve climate mitigation alongside social justice mitigation and enhanced wellbeing will require improved understanding of the tradeoffs of alternative climate mitigation options with demonstrably different social justice outcomes.Herein, we present a framework to illustrate the interface between climate change and social justice, examining how economic, governance, social and policy dimensions interrelate both as cause and consequence of climate change, related emissions, and associated injustices. We then assess how specific mitigation interventions can address or exacerbate climate injustice, or more complexly, simultaneously worsen climate injustice for some and improve justice outcomes for others. In sorting through these possibilities, we identify a set of interventions that can both reduce emissions and enhance justice more broadly, including demographic choices, technology, natural solutions, and policy and governance. We also discuss obstacles to adoption and possible mechanisms that may support broader deployment. Addressing such possibilities has the potential to generate new ways of thinking about and mitigating inequity and power imbalance in the context of mitigating climate change.

show abstract

Navigating tensions between rapid and just low-carbon transitions

Cited by 64 publications

References 23 publications

Socio-political cost of accelerating coal phase-out

Socio-political cost of accelerating coal phase-out

Mitigating Climate Change and Climate Injustice Simultaneously

Mitigating Climate Change and Climate Injustice Simultaneously

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About