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The Just Transition Hub promotes interdisciplinary research, teaching and scholarship on issues related to just transition to a lower carbon economy. Bringing together the academic and non-academic communities, the Hub enables the development of alternative epistemologies and methodological approaches to inform research, teaching and practices on just transition.

Why have a just transition hub?

One of the greatest challenges of our time is how society develops a low-carbon economy. Our world is at risk of runaway climate change and for many there is a climate emergency. The solution is to develop low-carbon economies around the world. However, these must happen in a ‘just’ way where equity, equality, fairness, and inclusiveness are features of this transition.

In this context, Governments around the world are bringing in policy on the just transition. Here in the UK that is happening, more locally in Scotland where a national Just Transition Commission has been established. Further the British Academy has declared that a just transition is vital to society and is actively promoting research on the issue with ambitious plans for research growth in the area.

Despite all this increasing attention that the topic of just transition receives, despite the wakening of politicians to the topic, despite the increasing literature, there is a lack of proper attention to the need of new interdisciplinary, epistemological, and methodological approaches for both research and education for just transition. The lack of attention to the need for new approaches impact on the potential of the research and teaching on the topic. To an extent, this derives from the fact that too many scholars from outside of the energy community have not realized the importance of the topic for their own research, and that teachers have not realized the importance of incorporating the topic to pedagogical resources.

The Hub aims at increasing critical mass about the topic and, what is more, at answering this extremely important question: Which new research and teaching approaches are needed to respond to the ubiquity of just transition?

Main activities

The Just Transition Hub organises and hosts the following activities

  • Interdisciplinary Conferences and Seminars on Just Transition, which bring speakers from within and outside of the academia, from across the globe, to discuss new methodological approaches and topics of relevance to increase critical mass and inform transformative practices.
  • TERRAE Workshops, which bring civil society and academics to debate specific problems within the theme of just transition to a lower carbon economy.
  • Education for Just Transition, which is an ongoing research project with the objective of thinking and developing pedagogies for just transition.

Coming events

Conference on Just Transition, Security, and the Law. May 18-19, 2023. Dundee. Registration opens 10 March 2023. Find out more about the conference.

Past events

The 2021 Symposium on ‘New Approaches to Just Transition’ was organized by the Dundee Just Transition Hub via live webcast on 25th June 2021. The symposium brought together over 20 panellists and 200 attendees from different parts of the world and from different backgrounds ranging from academia, NGOs, and UN agencies. See the report here.

Want to learn more about just transition?

The following papers will help you understand the main aspects of the academic debate about just transition:

  • Darren McCauley, Raphael Heffron, Just transition: Integrating climate, energy and environmental justice, Energy Policy, Volume 119, 2018, Pages 1-7, ISSN 0301-4215, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2018.04.014.
  • Sheila Jasanoff, Just transitions: A humble approach to global energy futures, Energy Research & Social Science, Volume 35,  2018, Pages 11-14, ISSN 2214-6296, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2017.11.025.
  • Sufyan Droubi, Raphael J. Heffron, Darren McCauley, A critical review of energy democracy: A failure to deliver justice?, Energy Research & Social Science, Volume 86, 2022, 102444, ISSN 2214-6296, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102444.
  • Xinxin Wang, Kevin Lo, Just transition: A conceptual review, Energy Research & Social Science, Volume 82, 2021, 102291, ISSN 2214-6296, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102291.

Team

Directors

Associates

Researchers

  • Ruth Lelei
  • Naiara C N de Souza

Partners

STEM Education Hub

Institute Maria and João Aleixo

International Investment in Latin America Network