In recent years Just Transition has been the subject of significant research and analysis and is increasingly enshrined in legal obligations at national and supranational level. It has been widely acknowledged that just transition policies and initiatives can deliver useful measures and on the ground action to address the social risks of industrial decarbonisation and make decarbonisation socially fair and socially supported. However, very little is known about whether and how member states are reacting to the social risks of the green transition. This research paper aims to fill that gap by mapping just transition initiatives on the island of Ireland.
It is important to consider both jurisdictions on the island of Ireland because of the need for close cooperation to address the shared challenge of responding to the climate emergency. In Ireland, this analysis involves an examination of alignment with the EU’s council recommendation on ensuring a fair transition towards climate neutrality, a critical analysis of initiatives developed thus far (and those that are under development) and how/whether a just transition approach is being adopted to addressing the multifaceted social and economic challenges associated with the transition to climate neutrality. In Northern Ireland, there has been only a very recent emergence of just transition initiatives, mainly established under the Climate Change NI Act 2022. The prospects of these initiatives are also explored in this report.
Download this document:
Share this publication:
Join our mailing list to receive the EJNI newsletter: your first look at the latest events, research and publications from EJNI and the environmental justice sector.