Scientific article
English

Global labour unions and just transition to a green economy

Published inInternational Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, vol. 15, no. 1, no. International Environmental Justice and the Quest for a Green Global Economy, p. 29-43
Publication date2015
Abstract

Questions of justice in the transition to a green economy have been raised by various social forces. Very few proposals, however, have been as focused and developed as the “just transition” strategy proposed by global labour unions. Yet, labour unions are remarkably absent from discussions of the transition towards a green economy. This is surprising as labour unions are arguably the largest organizations in the world fighting for basic rights and more just social relations. This paper tries to advance the potential contribution of labour unions in this arena by asking: what is the full scope of “just transition” today and how have labour unions developed and refined it over the years to render the move towards a green economy both environmentally and socially sustainable? The concept of just transition is hotly debated within labour unions and has different interpretations, and hence different strategies. The last section assesses these interpretations by means of a normative framework, which seeks to fuse political economy and political ecology. Empirically, we add to the growing literature on labour environmentalism, as well as transitions more generally. Analytically, our goal is to place the various approaches to a “just transition” within a heuristic framework of environmental justice that is explicit about power relations when demanding justice, two themes central to this special issue.

Keywords
  • Labour unions
  • Labour environmentalism
  • Environmental justice
  • Global environmental politics
  • Just transition
  • Sustainable development
Funding
  • Swiss National Science Foundation - Syndicalisme international et lutte contre le réchauffement climatique
Citation (ISO format)
STEVIS, Dimitris, FELLI, Romain. Global labour unions and just transition to a green economy. In: International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, 2015, vol. 15, n° 1, p. 29–43. doi: 10.1007/s10784-014-9266-1
Main files (1)
Article (Submitted version)
accessLevelRestricted
Identifiers
Additional URL for this publicationhttp://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10784-014-9266-1
1202views
5downloads

Technical informations

Creation04/11/2014 16:35:00
First validation04/11/2014 16:35:00
Update time14/03/2023 22:13:31
Status update14/03/2023 22:13:31
Last indexation30/10/2024 20:38:51
All rights reserved by Archive ouverte UNIGE and the University of GenevaunigeBlack