A Systematic Review of the Key Elements of a Just Transition For Fossil Fuel Workers

Smart Prosperity Institute

2020

Anticipating the implications of fossil fuel industry declines on workers and communities, scholars in many academic fields are focusing on both understanding and developing “just transition” strategies that aim to minimize the impact of climate policies on fossil fuel workers and their communities. Depending on their academic field, scholars focus on various elements of just transition, yet these elements have not been systematically synthesized. In this paper, we reviewed articles that focus on a just transition for fossil fuel workers and their communities in the context of climate change to describe the state of the literature and synthesize elements of just transition that scholars in different academic fields identify.

Institute

  • Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia

  • Department of Political Science University of British Columbia

  • Faculty of Forestrym University of British Columbia Fellow, Payne Institute Colorado School of Mines