The Just Transition is a principle, a process and a practice to build sustainable economies and resilient communities. Just Transition is a vision-led, unifying and place-based set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.
The transition itself must be just and equitable; restoring past harms and creating new relationships of power for the future through reparations. If the process of transition is not just, the outcome will never be. Just Transition describes both where we are going and how we get there. The effects of climate change have been identified as one of the biggest threats to society. This means approaching production and consumption cycles holistically and waste/ pollution free.
The Just Transition Day event seeks to highlight environmental initiatives on the path to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy. Efforts that have been developed both locally and internationally, and good case studies, will be shared to raise awareness among ecosystem players, partners, private sector companies, government, youth, academia and civil society formations on the imperatives of a just transition in South Africa. The International Labour Organisation’s (ILO’s) Guidelines for a Just Transition towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies for all (2015) supports this notion and further identifies numerous guiding principles that include: social consensus, respect, promotion and realisation of the fundamental principles and rights at work and taking a strong account to gender issues.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, innovative solutions are required by countries to reach their developmental goals and address the rising unemployment crisis. The purpose of this virtual event is primarily to give ecosystem players and the general public the platform to have discussions about the key issues/challenges they are facing and to create an awareness and educate society about just transition.