What Just Transition Means
- The International Labour Organization defines it as a shift toward a green, low-carbon economy that protects workers and ensures no community is left behind.
- It refers not only to reducing emissions but doing so in a way that is socially fair, economically inclusive, and participatory.
- The concept gained formal recognition under the Just Transition Declaration at COP26 (Glasgow).
Core principles include:
- Equity: Ensuring workers and regions dependent on coal or fossil-fuel sectors do not bear disproportionate costs.
- Inclusion: Giving workers, industry, local governments, and civil society a role in planning the transition.
- Sustainability: Aligning economic systems with emission-reduction goals while protecting ecosystems and natural resources.
What Just Transition Means
- The International Labour Organization defines it as a shift toward a green, low-carbon economy that protects workers and ensures no community is left behind.
- It refers not only to reducing emissions but doing so in a way that is socially fair, economically inclusive, and participatory.
- The concept gained formal recognition under the Just Transition Declaration at COP26 (Glasgow).
Core principles include:
- Equity: Ensuring workers and regions dependent on coal or fossil-fuel sectors do not bear disproportionate costs.
- Inclusion: Giving workers, industry, local governments, and civil society a role in planning the transition.
- Sustainability: Aligning economic systems with emission-reduction goals while protecting ecosystems and natural resources.
Why Just Transition Is Needed
- Employment Risks: The ILO projects that although green sectors may create 24 million jobs by 2030, around 6 million jobs in carbon-intensive sectors may disappear.
- Climate Targets: Achieving the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal requires global emissions to peak before 2025 and fall by 43% by 2030.
- Energy Security: Diversifying energy supply through renewables reduces vulnerability to fuel price shocks and geopolitical tensions.
- Social Stability: Unequal climate policies can fuel backlash, as seen during France’s 2018 “Yellow Vest” protests when fuel taxes hit low-income groups.
Key Challenges
- High Financial Costs: Transitioning from coal mining and thermal power could cost India over a trillion dollars in the coming decades.
- Regional Inequalities: Coal-dependent areas, like Jharkhand or South Africa’s Mpumalanga, may struggle to diversify due to weak local economies.
- Dependence on Coal: For many developing countries, coal remains essential. In India, it provides around 55% of commercial energy and over 70% of electricity.
- Economic Losses: Shifting away from fossil fuels creates stranded assets. Oil-dependent economies like Saudi Arabia (68% of 2022 revenue from oil) may face fiscal pressure.
- Gender and Social Inequities: Women are heavily concentrated in informal and low-carbon sectors, limiting their ability to benefit from new green jobs.
- Technology and Infrastructure Gaps: Grid upgrades, storage capacity, and technological support remain inadequate in many developing countries.
Major Initiatives
India’s Efforts
- PMKKKY & DMFs: Funds from District Mineral Foundations support socio-economic development in mining-affected regions
- PLI Scheme for Solar Modules: Strengthens domestic capacity in high-efficiency solar manufacturing.
- Collaboration with ADB: Designing a dedicated support facility for coal-dependent districts
- National Clean Energy Fund: Financed by a coal cess to promote clean-energy innovation.
- Other measures: National Green Hydrogen Mission, Solar Parks, Green Energy Corridors etc.
Global Efforts
- Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETP): Wealthier nations provide financial and technical support to developing countries for an inclusive energy shift.
- ILO’s Just Transition Guidelines (2015): Framework for ensuring fair labour practices during environmental transitions.
- World Bank’s “Just Transition for All”: Focuses specifically on coal-dependent regions and communities.
Way Forward
- Create a National Just Transition Authority to oversee coal-closure plans, reskilling, and resource distribution.
- Expand financing through JETP, green bonds, concessional loans, and innovative climate-finance channels.
- Roll out large-scale reskilling programmes to prepare workers for green-sector employment.
- Ensure participatory planning, especially for vulnerable communities, women, informal workers, and tribal populations.
Strengthen renewable-energy infrastructure, including transmission upgrades and grid modernisation.
- Employment Risks: The ILO projects that although green sectors may create 24 million jobs by 2030, around 6 million jobs in carbon-intensive sectors may disappear.
- Climate Targets: Achieving the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C goal requires global emissions to peak before 2025 and fall by 43% by 2030.
- Energy Security: Diversifying energy supply through renewables reduces vulnerability to fuel price shocks and geopolitical tensions.
- Social Stability: Unequal climate policies can fuel backlash, as seen during France’s 2018 “Yellow Vest” protests when fuel taxes hit low-income groups.
Key Challenges
- High Financial Costs: Transitioning from coal mining and thermal power could cost India over a trillion dollars in the coming decades.
- Regional Inequalities: Coal-dependent areas, like Jharkhand or South Africa’s Mpumalanga, may struggle to diversify due to weak local economies.
- Dependence on Coal: For many developing countries, coal remains essential. In India, it provides around 55% of commercial energy and over 70% of electricity.
- Economic Losses: Shifting away from fossil fuels creates stranded assets. Oil-dependent economies like Saudi Arabia (68% of 2022 revenue from oil) may face fiscal pressure.
- Gender and Social Inequities: Women are heavily concentrated in informal and low-carbon sectors, limiting their ability to benefit from new green jobs.
- Technology and Infrastructure Gaps: Grid upgrades, storage capacity, and technological support remain inadequate in many developing countries.
Major Initiatives
India’s Efforts
- PMKKKY & DMFs: Funds from District Mineral Foundations support socio-economic development in mining-affected regions
- PLI Scheme for Solar Modules: Strengthens domestic capacity in high-efficiency solar manufacturing.
- Collaboration with ADB: Designing a dedicated support facility for coal-dependent districts
- National Clean Energy Fund: Financed by a coal cess to promote clean-energy innovation.
- Other measures: National Green Hydrogen Mission, Solar Parks, Green Energy Corridors etc.
Global Efforts
- Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETP): Wealthier nations provide financial and technical support to developing countries for an inclusive energy shift.
- ILO’s Just Transition Guidelines (2015): Framework for ensuring fair labour practices during environmental transitions.
- World Bank’s “Just Transition for All”: Focuses specifically on coal-dependent regions and communities.
Way Forward
- Create a National Just Transition Authority to oversee coal-closure plans, reskilling, and resource distribution.
- Expand financing through JETP, green bonds, concessional loans, and innovative climate-finance channels.
- Roll out large-scale reskilling programmes to prepare workers for green-sector employment.
- Ensure participatory planning, especially for vulnerable communities, women, informal workers, and tribal populations.
Strengthen renewable-energy infrastructure, including transmission upgrades and grid modernisation.
