Just transitions for a new eco-social contract: analysing the relations between welfare regimes and transition pathways

Abstract

By combining environmental and social objectives in order to address climate change and other environmental challenges, ‘just transitions’ have the potential to accelerate low-carbon transitions in an inclusive and equitable manner. More broadly, by strengthening an egalitarian and ecological public sphere that protects workers’ rights and the rights of nature, just transitions can contribute to a new eco-social contract for both people and planet, guaranteeing full access to social rights and a viable future for all. But like other strategies, just transitions vary in their ambition and thus their eco-social visions. This article builds on the analytical framework developed by the Just Transition Research Collaborative to comparatively assess different just transition pathways in Germany, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the United States in the context of different types of welfare state and economic structure. The comparison may help stakeholders to evaluate different just transition policies according to contextual factors and transformative potential.

If Not Now, Then When? Pathways to Embed Climate Change Within Social Policy

“…This body of work has gathered both momentum and gained nuance. The concept of ‘sustainable welfare’ (see below) has gained significant traction, there has been a greater emphasis in most recent work of the significance of the (just) transition to a low carbon economy/net zero (Gough, 2022; Krause et al ., 2022; Snell et al ., 2022), and the integration of climate and environmental justice concepts with social policy literature has reframed and refreshed debates around social policy, inequality, and the environment (Bell, 2014; Snell et al, 2022; Snell, 2022; Urban and Nordensvärd, 2013; Nordensvärd, 2017; Williams, 2021, see also Middlemiss et al and Thomson et al within this themed section).…”

“…This body of work has gathered both momentum and gained nuance. The concept of 'sustainable welfare' (see below) has gained significant traction, there has been a greater emphasis in most recent work of the significance of the (just) transition to a low carbon economy/net zero (Gough, 2022;Krause et al, 2022;Snell et al, 2022), and the integration of climate and environmental justice concepts with social policy literature has reframed and refreshed debates around social policy, inequality, and the environment (Bell, 2014;Snell et al, 2022;Snell, 2022 Concerns are also raised over the threat that environmental problems pose to current systems and policy responsesfor example, social welfare systems (see, for example, Gough et al, 2008;Dean, 2019); although this literature is relatively limited within the discipline (even if more present in other fieldssee, for example, British Medical Association, 2023; Paterson et al, 2014).…”

<strong>The Transformation Flower Approach for Leveraging Change Towards Multiple Value Creation and Institutional Change</strong>

“…It serves the purpose of creating new social contracts with a more important role for duties of care and responsibility (Huntjens & Kemp, 2022). These new social contracts are referred to as a Natural Social Contract (Huntjens, 2021;Huntjens and Kemp, 2022;Huntjens et al, 2023), or Eco-Social Contract (Gough, 2022;Kempf & Hujo, 2022;Kempf, Hujo & Ponte, 2022;Krause et al 2022;UNRISD 2022;Mohamed & Huntjens, 2023). The Transformation Flower Approach is adopted by the IPBES Transformation Change Assessment (2022-2024) for linking options, levers and actors for transformative change/pathways.…”

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

“…But it can also be the result of the balance of power that forces advocates of just transition to accept something less than what they had hoped. Just transition policies that are ends in themselves and limited to sectors or stakeholders we can call reformist, while stronger and more universal reforms that are strategic parts of a more emancipatory politics can be labelled as structural reforms (for an effort to discuss just transitions and social welfare regimes, see Krause et al 2022). This leads us to the most transformative category -a just transition policy that is an integral part of a broad and deep ecosocial state, as envisioned by those movements that fuse social and ecological justice for all affected, including the natural realm (Vachon 2021).…”