Official UNFCCC Side Event – “Just Transition – a Fairness Discourse for Enhancing Adaptation and Improving Social Resilience”

Concept Note:

The fairness discourse in international law has a new interlocutory face—the concept of just transition. A Just transition promises better futures for all, based on ambitious mitigation, enhancing adaptation and improving social resilience amidst climate disruption and underlying vulnerabilities. Our theory of change is that just transitions depend on the empowerment of women and youth to lead societies into a sustainable, equitable and fairer future.

The historical roots of the concept lie in the alliances forged between Labour Organizations and environmental justice groups in the 1990 and are reflected in the preamble of the Paris Agreement, where reference is made to the “imperatives of a just transition of the workforce and the creation of decent work and quality jobs in accordance with nationally defined development priorities”. CMA4 in Sharm El-Sheikh launched the “Pathways to Just Transition Work Programme”, providing initially a forum for discussion of pathways to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.

The concept of just transitions in international law is both mature and novel. In its maturity, it presumes a community and captures distinct claims of emerging and gradually solidifying fairness in international law, dating back to the work of Thomas Franck. In its novelty as a UNFCCC work program, it empowers societies to conceptualize transitions at a global scale that encapsulate the mature fairness discourse, centred on legitimacy and equity, connected with implementable solutions that account for the critical role of law in managing consequential effects of transformational societal change. The necessary and inevitable societal change must be based on the agreement of participants in the transition, procedurally and substantively. Our panel addresses these novel elements of just transitions through discourse with stakeholders that are most affected by climate change and challenged by the impacts of climate change and the requirements of a just transition.

The Panel includes:

Moderator:

Professor Petra Minnerop
   Professor of International Law, Durham University, UK.

Speakers:

Hon. Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu
   Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Uganda.

Professor Laura Marsilliani 
   Professor of Economics, Durham University, UK. 

Professor Gregg Walker
   Professor of Environmental Sciences, Oregon State University USA.

Ms Danielle Yeow
   Centre for International Law, National University of Singapore.

Ms Ruta Trainyte 
    International Environmental Communication Association.

Ms Emily Faint
   Net Zero Policy Manager at the British Standards Institution (BSI).