The webinar “What does a just transition to solve climate change by 2030 look like?” was organized by the Dutch Research Institute For Transitions (DRIFT) on the 9th of April 2021 as part of the project Solve Climate by 2030, which was initiated by Bard College in New York. The aim of this project is to #MakeClimateAClass, by giving climate change topics a more important role in education, from a transdisciplinary perspective. This blog summarizes the main insights from the webinar.
Next to its role in the Bard project, the webinar was the kick-off of an event series on Just Sustainability Transitions at Erasmus University Rotterdam, which aims to deepen, translate and connect knowledge and practice on just sustainability transitions. First, dr. Shivant Jhagroe (Leiden University), dr. Katharina Hölscher (DRIFT) and Mara de Pater (DRIFT) explored the following question: How can we use the decade ahead of us to accelerate a transition that tackles climate change in a just way? They did this through three lenses: a justice perspective, a transformative approach and a climate activist stance. This was followed by a short discussion, in which participants were split up in groups of 2-3 people for about 10 minutes, to discuss the question “How does climate justice apply to your study or research field?” Finally, the event ended with a plenary Q&A session with the speakers.
49 people attended the webinar including students, researchers and people working on (climate) justice in practice.
#1 “A transition out of climate change” by Dr. Katharina Hölscher
Dr. Katharina Hölscher is a senior researcher at the DRIFT. She introduced climate change in the context of all the other sustainability challenges we face today. Her main argument was that we cannot look at climate change, or in any way ‘solve’ climate change, without also looking at the bigger picture. The issue of climate change exposes and accelerates other existing problems, in particular social and systemic inequities. The drivers and causes of climate change and other global challenges are deeply rooted in our societies. As a consequence, we cannot solve these problems without addressing these underlying drivers. We need to change our existing system: we need to transition to sustainability. Katharina explained that sustainability transitions are fundamental changes in cultures, structures, and practices, with sustainability as an end goal. Positioning climate change in the context of sustainability transitions means that any climate action can, and should, create opportunities to contribute to sustainability transitions. This is especially important in the context of social justice. Also measures to adapt to climate change can have negative and unequal consequences on people. She concluded by saying that due to societal complexity and uncertainty, sustainable and just climate action cannot be controlled by one actor in a top-down process. There is a need for more inclusive policies, enhanced participation, anticipation and forecasting, and financial support/capacity building.
#2 “How climate justice re-frames transition problems and solutions?” by Dr. Shivant Jhagroe
Dr. Shivant Jhagroe is assistant professor of Public Administration at the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs of Leiden University. He zoomed in on climate justice and the uneven impact(s) of climate change. This encompasses “remote suffering'', which means that the price of climate destructive actions in industrial and rich countries is paid by populations living in already vulnerable regions. Moreover, while “green e-technologies” offer opportunities to move from a fossil regime to a cleaner and greener future, they also lead to the emergence of new forms of violence and domination. Shivant argues that climate justice raises awareness about this suffering, while providing a perspective towards more inclusive and anti-racist green strategies. With the example of the Netherlands, we saw that governmental solutions to tackle climate change can require social capital, skills and time, thus possibly reproducing social exclusion patterns among citizens. This dark side of “sustainable solutions'' highlights the importance of new regulations and inclusive policy thinking. Shivant concluded on the need of climate justice to connect climate and social issues in transition problems and solutions. This implies a special attention to marginalized communities, holding institutional and privileged actors accountable and giving climate justice a central place in climate change education.
#3 “Citizenship in a just transition” by Mara de Pater
Mara de Pater is a researcher and advisor at DRIFT. Mara explained the concept of citizenship in relation to a just transition, defining environmental citizenship. It is a strong normative notion rooted in climate justice and implies a specific set of rights and responsibilities towards the environment we affect (fauna and flora, natural environment, human beings). She also introduced different acts of environmental citizenship: politicizing private behavior through conscious consumption or boycott actions, and climate advocacy and activism. With the examples of gas extraction and resulting earthquakes in Groningen and Fossil Free Universities, Mara illustrated actions undertaken by environmental citizens. Finally, she raised some questions on how to engage in those acts, such as which responsibilities one can take to make the distribution of environmental burdens and benefits more equal or which existing structures one can join to step into deep environmental citizenship.
Discussion and Q&A
During the interactive session, working groups of 2-3 participants discussed the following question: How does climate justice apply to your study or research field? The participants remarked that there is a need for an interdisciplinary approach to just sustainability transitions, in which we can learn from peacebuilding approaches: meeting people where they are at, speaking their language, building bridges between groups with different identities and needs. Also, in order to work together towards a just transition, we need to be careful about the terminology used in the dialogue with communities (“excluded” instead of “marginalized” for instance). This discussion raised the question: How do we bring communities together to work on climate justice issues?
In the last part of this webinar, participants raised several questions to the speakers: If environmental and anti-racism movements seem to align in theory, why don’t they align in practice? In terms of social justice, is the question of “polluter pays” well enough understood and, more importantly, regulated? When talking about energy transition, do we want to ignore all free fossil fuel-based resources and shut down the oil and gas wells? How do you see the role of education in the coming decades to accelerate this transition?
Firstly, the speakers emphasized the importance of intersectional thinking and that social justice and environmental movements seem to align. Climate change is a highly political issue. Katharina explained that important steps are taken at the European scale with the Green Deal for instance, but this is still insufficient and there should be more regulations regarding climate change at different levels, including the national level. Shivant insisted on the important role of privileged individuals and groups with resources and power in this transition, especially to support lower income populations - adapting the event’s hashtag to #MakeClimateAClassStruggle. However, there is not one silver bullet for this job. Most importantly, a just transition to solve climate change implies reimagining the economy, by keeping fossil fuels in the ground and integrating complexity in education.
This connects to the argument that education is central to #SolveClimateBy2030. To #MakeClimateAClass, education should focus on how to be a citizen, Mara argued. Katharina added that students must make use of creativity and critical thinking to identify their role and responsibilities in our deeply interconnected society. Shivant concluded by highlighting the need for a sociological, creative and ethical approach to climate change, which contributes to climate justice.
Resources from the webinar
- Overall presentation slides
- Dr. Katharina Hölscher slides on “A transition out of climate change
- Mara de Pater presentation slides on “Citizenship in a just transition”
- Event series on Just Sustainability Transitions
- Solve Climate by 2030
About the Organizers
The webinar series is a collaboration between the Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT), Vital Cities & Citizens (VCC), Global Social Challenges (GSC) and the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (ESSB).
This webinar was organized by DRIFT, a leading research institute in the field of sustainability transitions. DRIFT researchers and advisors develop and share transformative knowledge to support people, cities, sectors and organisations to engage proactively with transitions.
About the Author
Clara Glachant is working as a research intern for the VCC initiative on the theme of Just Sustainable Cities. She graduated from her MA. in Sustainable Development at Sciences Po Lille (France) and is currently pursuing her MSc. Urban Governance at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Her research interests include urban mobility, inclusiveness and sustainability.
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