Presentation short abstract

The paper maps just transition in Scotland, situates the case in wider debates on labour environmentalism and economic democracy and provides novel insights into attitudes and motivations of energy workers, communities and climate activists in the context of Scotland’s contested transition politics.

Presentation long abstract

Scotland is seen as a leader on climate action and decarbonisation with the Scottish government not only setting some of the world’s most ambitious targets, including achieving net-zero emissions by 2045, but crucially also incorporating just transition principles in its legislation (Climate Change Act 2019), and establishing an independent advisory body, the Just Transition Commission. Importantly, however, these institutional achievements need to be understood in the context of sustained, left-green movement building and mobilising in Scotland, coinciding with the emergence of new grassroots mobilisations including Extinction Rebellion and youth climate strikers, and more specifically the longstanding work of the Just Transition Partnership, a coalition between the Scottish Trades Union Congress and Friends of the Earth Scotland. However, as just transition became institutionalised in Scotland, it also became more contested, with critical voices pointing to an increasing ‘watering down’ of the more progressive and even radical roots of the concept. Damningly, too, the Scottish government has recently conceded that it is no longer on track to meet its 2030 targets, scrapping its interim 75% reduction target in April 2024. Yet, at the same time, climate activists and workers are increasingly reclaiming the concept of just transition, with workers in the energy sector in particular pushing for a just energy transitions on- and offshore. This paper maps the development of just transition narratives and politics in Scotland and draws on new empirical materials to investigate the status quo of just transition efforts in the Scottish energy sector ‘in practice’.