Just Transition as Wellbeing: A Capability Approach Framing [Article]

Abstract

Since its inclusion in the preamble to the Paris Agreement in 2015, just transition has grown to become one of the most engaged subjects in climate change law and governance. The rationale of just transition proponents is simple: the wholesale socio-economic transition that climate change compels is costly, and those costs must be equitably distributed across society. A closer look at this Rawlsian conceptualization of just transition, however, unearths major flaws, including its faulty essentialization of jobs, emphasis on the means of justice rather than ends, and the localization of an intrinsically global phenomenon—climate change. This article addresses these flaws. Rather than the distributive and procedural emphases of ‘traditional’ just transition discourse, it is shown that a capability approach to just transition, which underlines socio-ecological wellbeing as the ultimate objective of just transition, is a more availing theoretical underpinning for just transition. The article highlights the flaws of distribution-centric just transition, draws examples from just transition policies and laws in Canada, the United States, and Australia, and discusses how recent developments in Europe are more aligned with the capability approach described here. The article concludes with a discourse on how international human rights law is a viable, albeit imperfect, vehicle for a well-being-focused iteration of just transition.