Skip to main content

PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Clim.
Sec. Climate and Decision Making
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fclim.2024.1498156

The Uneven Foundations of a Just Transition for Workers: a UK perspective

Provisionally accepted
Dave Reay Dave Reay *
  • University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Assessments of the workforce impacts of net zero transitions have largely focussed on job losses, gains and net changes for a particular industry, sector or state. While improved projections of quantitative changes are important, understanding the impacts of these changes on the diversity of the future workforce is arguably even more crucial in ensuring employment policy delivers a just transition for all workers. Using the example of the UK we illustrate the risk that new job creation in the transition to net zero by 2030 will perpetuate and further magnify workforce inequalities. We then discuss how national and international initiatives are attempting to mitigate these risks, with particular reference to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change work programme on Just Transition Pathways and its potentially pivotal role in informing and supporting national workforce strategies for climate action that have equality, diversity and inclusion at their heart.

    Keywords: Just Transition, Workers, gender, ethnicity, Disability

    Received: 18 Sep 2024; Accepted: 18 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Reay. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Dave Reay, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.