The idea of a "just transition" often is associated with coal miners and other fossil fuel workers whose jobs are going away. But it’s a topic that’s so much bigger than that. As we’ll hear throughout this season, this concept encapsulates broader ideals of righting past wrongs - wrongs like racism or sexism, colonialism or classism.
In the first part of the episode, host John D. Sutter speaks with Benjamin Sovacool, a researcher and Energy Policy professor at Boston University and the University of Sussex. Sovacool says that a "just transition" is about looking at the livelihoods and wellbeing of whole communities. The United Nations estimates that 80 mllion jobs are at risk of being lost because of global warming by 2030, most notably in the Global South.
In the second part of the episode, reporter Elna Schutz visits a community in South Africa where a coal-fired power plant was recently decommissioned using a Just Transition framework. While funding and plans have been put in place to help the community recover after losing its main economic engine, many locals remain concerned about their present situation.
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