Just Transition Planning Toolbox

In 2020, an independent, statutory, multi-stakeholder Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) was set up by the President, who also chairs the body. The PCC is to coordinate and oversee South Africa’s progress on a just transition towards a low-carbon, inclusive, climate-resilient economy and society. Originally set up as a temporary entity, it was later formalized through the country’s Climate Change Bill (2021).

The PCC builds on earlier efforts to bring stakeholders into dialogue and planning about just transitions, including by labor unions, the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC), and the National Planning Commission (which prior to the PCC’s establishment led an extensive public consultation process at the provincial and national levels). It was also able to draw on other work done over recent years (e.g. by the Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies, and by the national business initiative).

The PCC includes representatives from government, labor unions, business, civil society, and political parties. Different sectors were invited to nominate commissioners. For the national government, in practice it provides the only real space for different agencies and ministries to work together on socioeconomic transition issues.

The PCC is tasked with creating a social partnership around a just transition, requiring engagement with all spheres of government, business, labor, academia, communities, and civil society; defining a vision for a just transition, including sectoral shifts and their impacts and opportunities, and the means of achieving that vision; conducting independent analysis on climate change impacts on jobs and the economy; and monitoring progress on mitigation and adaptation goals and on the achievement of a just transition linked to broader development objectives.

Following its establishment, the PCC undertook extensive consultations around the country, focusing on areas that are particularly vulnerable to economic transitions, such as the Eastern Cape (motor industry), Mpumalanga and Limpopo (coal mining and power), and KwaZulu Natal (oil refining). All these meetings were accessible through the internet, to reduce barriers to participation. The resulting insights informed the Framework for a Just Transition in South Africa, published in 2022 and subsequently adopted as a policy statement by the national Cabinet.

The PCC’s primary focus is on the national level, on creating a national framework for just transitions, meaning it does not coordinate action at, or necessarily with, the provincial level.

The Hunter Jobs Alliance was created in 2020 with the aim of supporting a constructive conversation about the future of the Hunter Valley, a region with coal mines and coal power stations which face the prospect of closure over the coming decades, and which also has other energy-intensive manufacturing industries (e.g. steel). 

The Alliance has brought together nine labour unions and several community environment groups. The group’s mission is to invite and enable local people to engage in discussions about the future of their region, and to articulate a bottom-up vision from the community. This can then be used as a platform to invite government and industry to work together with the community to deliver a prosperous future. 

The Alliance’s focus is on jobs and economic opportunities for the region, and on supporting other community needs and ensuring the health of the area’s natural environment. Among its activities in the first three years, the Alliance has: 

• Run online community workshops in different communities along the Hunter Valley.
• Advocated for a 'Transition Authority' (or regional development authority) for the Hunter to be set up as a durable, independent statutory authority under the State Government. The Authority, working across government, would focus on delivering several key functions: (i) Regional Structural Change Planning, including development of an investment-guiding Regional Structural Change Plan that includes community participation in its development; (ii) Job Creation & Investment Attraction, including helping to distribute royalties in a way that can support regional rejuvenation, as well as creation of a Jobs Fund and Hunter Investment Attraction Service; and (iii) Worker & Labour Market Support, including worker support service, regional guideline for restructuring employers, and regional workforce planning. The Alliance has undertaken work to design such an authority.
• Advocated for a permanent regional New Industries Training Centre (technical college), which would among other things provide free courses for mining and energy workers, and commissioned assessments to justify investment in such a centre.
• Organised exchange events to learn from the experiences of other coal regions, such as Collie in Western Australia.

Jharkhand state is home to India’s largest coal reserves. Some of Jharkand’s districts generate more than 80 per cent of their GDP, directly or indirectly, from the coal ecosystem, and the sector employs large numbers of formal and informal workers. The state also has significant energy intensive industries, such as steel production.

In 2022, the Jharkhand government created a Task Force on Sustainable Just Transition to coordinate the preparation of a low-carbon just transition roadmap for the state, which should support economic development and job creation while achieving climate goals. Its role is to provide key recommendations on how to transition in a just and sustainable way, by identifying pathways to a non-fossil fuel-based ecosystem, and assessing there potential impacts (positive and negative) on the economy, workers, and communities, and recommending policy interventions. Its focus includes a wide spectrum of issues related to the energy transition, such as how to manage the impacts of transition on jobs, the kind of infrastructure and investment required for boosting the new and alternate industries, and how finance will be raised to pay for these aspects of the transition. 

The Task Force is mandated to produce district-level action plans, and is working on seven thematic areas – livelihood, energy transition, coal transition, electric mobility, decarbonisation of industries, climate finance and capacity building. 

As a broad-based coordinating mechanism, the Task Force comprises at least 17 institutions from state departments and agencies, with technical support provided by the Centre for Environment and Energy Development (CEED India). Representatives include departments of: Forest, Environment and Climate Change; Planning and Development; Mines and Geology; Industries; Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Co-Operative; Rural Development; Urban Development; Schedule Tribe, Schedule Caste, Minority and Backward Class Welfare; Labour & Employment, Training and Skill Development; Energy; Transport; Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs; Finance; and, Health Medical Education and Family Welfare. Various other authorities are also represented, including: the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board; State Level Bankers Committee; and the Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society. The Task Force has also received several Letters of Intent (LOIs) from other organisations who are interested in joining. 

An important early phase of its work has been stakeholder engagement, including national consultative meetings in New Delhi and other sub-national, national, and international consultations with policymakers, think-tanks, international organisations, and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). These will be complemented by spending time on the ground in several coal-mining areas, as part of assessment and data collection that can help define challenges and solutions that are tailored to different local areas. 

A vision document, “(Nav-Nirman Ki Ore Agrasar): Sustainable Just Transition in Jharkhand”, was published by the Task Force in 2023.

In 2018, the New Zealand government established a Just Transitions Unit (JTU) within the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). Its mandate is to help shape and support the transition process to a low-emissions economy. In 2019, the JTU became the Just Transitions Partnerships (JTP) team, which is responsible for working across government to support individual regions to be able to plan effectively in response to major economic shocks. It is to help align the interests of Indigenous groups, regions, sectors, and communities into partnerships that create a shared vision and pathways for socioeconomic transition.

The JTP team supports transition planning in various ways. The foundation of its work, where most planning activity happens, is community-led transition planning, tackling the daily challenges of local communities. It also brings together stakeholders and connects them with existing programs that can help. As communities move towards implementing their regional plans, the JTP team provides coaching and advisory support for regional leaders. It also provides direct support for regions to help plan, create partnerships, and connect and align with other government objectives and funding. The JTP can help local stakeholders to develop a contextualized vision for what a just transition means. It is also able to advise stakeholders on how to integrate equity, diversity, and inclusion strategies in the community engagement process – and in the development of a vision and actions.

The JTU began work with the Taranaki region following a decision by the government to end further offshore oil and gas exploration. Here, the JTU helped set up a multi-sector Taranaki Transition Lead Group as an entity within the regional development agency (Venture Taranaki), to take a lead on regional engagement. The team was not necessarily highly visible in the process, which it is suggested has helped create legitimacy for the engagement and planning, because the process was seen as regionally driven. In Taranaki, the team also provided support with: resourcing, including with funding applications and support for the co-design process; advocacy and the creation of a socially inclusive engagement process; networks and connections, including across government agencies and external technical experts; and advising, particularly to various levels of government.

In 2018, the Scottish government established a two-year Just Transition Commission, to advise the government on how to apply just transition principles in Scotland. The Commission was to help the government to understand and mitigate risks related to regional cohesion, inequality, poverty (including fuel poverty), and a sustainable and inclusive labor market, and to maximize the economic and social opportunities of the transition to a net-zero economy by 2045.

In 2021, a second Commission was created, tasked with advising the government on an ongoing basis as it develops just transition plans, including the application of the Just Transition Planning Framework. It is also to advise on monitoring and evaluation; engage with stakeholders likely to be impacted by the transition and with technical experts and government programs (e.g. the Committee on Climate Change, the Poverty and Inequality Commission, Fair Work Convention, the Council of Economic Advisors and the development of the National Strategy for Economic Transformation); and report annually on the government’s progress.

Commissioners are invited in an individual capacity and typically not to act as representatives of particular groups or organizations. The secretariat for the Commission is housed within the government’s Climate Change Division.

The independent commission will be responsible for developing its own work plan with the support from the Just Transition Commission Secretariat. The Minister for Just Transition, Employability and Fair Work is to regularly inform the Commission of relevant activities and plans in the government. Other ministries may also make ad-hoc requests to the Commission for advice in support of just transition planning.

Stakeholder engagement is a core expectation of the Commission, particularly with stakeholders who will be affected by the transition, including the business sector, workers, trade unions, community organizations and young people. The Commission can fund the collection of additional information and evidence-gathering exercises as needed to help identify gaps and shape research questions.

The Latrobe Valley Authority (LVA) was established by the Victoria State Government specifically to coordinate the transition away from coal in the Latrobe Valley. The LVA engages deeply with local stakeholders to understand transition risks and opportunities, and is a conduit for various forms of support targeted to the local community, to manage the transition to a new regional economy.

Although it is a state government institution, the LVA has a high degree of autonomy in working locally to identify priorities and allocating funding. The new authority sits outside the “traditional” government structure, and has the specific purpose and resources to work locally with local stakeholders, to identify and support their locally determined social and economic priorities.