Expanding the scope of just transitions: Towards localized solutions and community-level dynamics

Payne Institute Director Morgan D. Bazilian, Sanya Carley, David Konisky, Fellow Hisham Zerriffi, Sandeep Pai, and Fellow Brad Handler write about the academic interpretation of the concept of just transitions has evolved considerably over the last two decades. What was generally addressed in academic research in a technocratic way, with a primary focus on job replacement and the costs thereof, has given way to broader societal thinking around the need to address injustice in legacy energy systems.  We argue that further tools based in inter-disciplinary science, social science, and humanities approaches need to be adopted to evaluate communities’ experiences with transitions and to better design and implement policy and regulation.  August 14, 2021.