Just Transitions Cluster at the School of Law
Date: Friday 21 April 2023
Venue: room 207, Stair Building, 10 Proffesor's Square
Category: Academic events

Transitioning to a low-carbon economy is one of the biggest challenges of our times and “just transition” is a crucial part, as it aims to ensure a fair distribution of burdens and benefits of climate measures. The core aim of this workshop will be to understand the role of law in a just transition and to map out the current legal barriers and challenges.

We will concentrate on the high-level questions below – to be explored on the day through practical examples and more specific questions:

Which legal principles, if any, have been referenced in Just Transitions frameworks to date? Are there differences in this respect between government sponsored frameworks and private-sector frameworks?

How does implementation of Just Transitions frameworks impact on regulatory or policy frameworks in areas such as labour, health, housing, welfare, and corporate governance?

How do Just Transitions frameworks approach the distributional effects of current laws? Do they seek to change these embedded effects? To what extent do Just Transitions frameworks address uneven outcomes of sustainability policies?

We will have three discussion panels: (i) Scottish approach to Just Transition and Public Law frameworks; (ii) EU law and policy and Just Transitions ‘beyond the state’, (iii) Corporate transitions and greening financial regulation. All panels will interrogate how a discursive shift to ‘Just Transitions’ advance decent labour, environmental justice, and accountability for ‘green’ policy objectives.

Following the event, we plan to produce a summary document with a list of relevant resources and policy recommendations that might arise from the workshop discussions.

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