Spotlight on Just Transition
The last EU elections showed the political backlash faced by the EU Green Deal. We hypothesise that the integration of the social dimension into the process of energy transition is the only way to make the deep transformation of our society fairer. The new EU Commission took this topic seriously with Teresa Ribera being proposed as executive vice-president for clean, fair and competitive transition. This blog focuses on the research carried out by CIFE students, team and alumni on the issue of just transition.
The Just Energy Transition Resource Centre
We are pleased to celebrate the first anniversary of the Just Energy Transition Resource Centre. Over 1,000 references are now available with a large part of academic articles, position papers but also reports, regulatory documents, projects, podcasts and events. The just transition narrative has developed, an EU governance of the just transition is gradually implemented, adapted policies are designed, funding mechanisms are made available to regions, sectors and populations are exposed to risks provoked by the transformation of a fossil-fuel based economy and energy system to a low carbon model and distributional consequences of the energy transition are increasingly acknowledged. Burdens and benefits accompany this transformative shift and are unequally distributed. A just transition will only be achieved if such inequalities and injustices are recognised and addressed and if people participate in the transformation process. The JETRC demonstrates how rich and diverse the body of literature and papers on this topic are and can represent a relevant source of inspiration.
The European Green Deal and its translation into action: Multilevel governance perspectives on just transition
We are glad to announce that a collective paper written by George Jiglau, Leona Sandman, Raúl Castano-Rosa, Florian Hanke, Katrin Großmann, Senja Laakso, Essi Nuorivaara, Andreea Vornicu and two representatives of CIFE at the time of the writing process Eda Bülbül and Rachel Guyet on “The European Green Deal and its translation into action: Multilevel governance perspectives on just transition” was published in July 2024 online with Energy Research & Social Science. This paper explores the narratives and implementation of the just transition at different levels of governance in four EU Member States (Finland, France, Germany and Romania).
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Florian Hanke
In the past academic year, the just transition perspective caught the attention of the CIFE energy students. Several of them looked into the role of citizens and consumers in the energy transition to avoid them being left behind of the transition. Joren Schepers wrote his thesis on the role of the social climate fund as a catalyst for the French energy poverty strategy and published a policy paper. Ankica Sokolic examined how the energy transition in Macedonia could be designed not only for the people but also with the people. Aston Horton studied how the decarbonization of urban mobility in Tallinn and Skopje took into consideration the needs of the citizens. Roya Meshki-Kataria explored the trust-participation nexus and it can nurture the energy transition in Chile using the Baha’I temple of South America as an example. Francisco Horna-Peralta analysed the EU regulations to understand the role of consumers in the energy transition through the “prosumption” approach and compared it with the Italian perspective .
Read or download the paper
Publications from the CIFE Energy Network
We are also glad to announce a few new publications considering the just transition from different points of view.
Report by Fabio Passaro
The first one is authored by Fabio Passaro, Climate Bonds Initiative who delivered a report at the request of the G20 Presidency for the Sustainable Finance Working Group (SFWG) on the link between credible transition plans and sustainable finance and companies' debt, and the just elements of the transition plans of these hard to abate sectors
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Fabio Passaro is Senior Transition Policy Analyst at the Climate Bonds Initiative and a CIFE Alumnus of the Master in Global Energy Transition and Governance 2019/20.
Fabio Passaro
Best Practice in Government Use and Development of Long-Term Energy Transition Scenarios by Pablo E. Carvajal, Asami Miketa, Nadeem Goussous and Pauline Fulcheri
Long-term energy scenarios (LTES) have been serving as an important planning tool by a wide range of institutions. This article focuses on how LTES have been used (and also devised in some cases) in the government sector, and specifically how the new challenges and opportunities brought by the aspiration for the clean energy transition change the way that governments use LTES. The authors highlight that in the context of the broad and complex challenges of a clean energy transition driven by ambitious climate targets, the LTES-based energy planning methodologies need to evolve, reflecting the changing landscapes, and that more effective and extensive use of LTES in government needs to be further encouraged.
(Published by Energies, MDPI, Basel, Switzerland on 16 March 2023)
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Nadeem Goussous is Associate Programme Officer - Clean Energy Transition Scenarios at the International Renewable Energy Agency, Bonn and a CIFE Alumnus of the Master in Global Energy Transition and Governance 2018/19.
Nadeem Gussous