Working Papers

This draft report maps climate policy in South Africa, focusing on trade union responses to calls for a ‘just energy transition’. South Africa is heavily dependent on coal-generated electricity and while the sector was at the heart of the colonial and apartheid economy, decarbonising the energy sector represents the biggest socio-economic shift in decades. Trade unions in South Africa are not united in their approach or response to the climate crisis, with unions in carbon intensive sectors especially resistant to change, contributing to wider push back against a transition and what this may entail.

This report was produced as part of the Hans-Böckler-Foundation funded project “Just Transition:
Aktivitäten im internationalen Vergleich”.
The project focuses on studying Just Transitions by comparing concepts, policies, and strategies across
14 diverse countries to ensure a socially just shift towards decarbonisation. It aims to develop
recommendations for climate- friendly structural changes that protect workers and vulnerable groups.
The project is funded by the Hans Böckler Foundation – Just Transition: Aktivitäten im internationalen
Vergleich 2021-582-2.

This report was produced as part of the Hans-Böckler-Foundation funded project “Just
Transition: Aktivitäten im internationalen Vergleich”.
The project focuses on studying Just Transitions by comparing concepts, policies, and
strategies across 14 diverse countries to ensure a socially just shift towards
decarbonisation. It aims to develop recommendations for climate- friendly structural
changes that protect workers and vulnerable groups. The project is funded by the Hans
Böckler Foundation – Just Transition: Aktivitäten im internationalen Vergleich 2021-582-
2.

This report was produced as part of the Hans-Böckler-Foundation funded project “Just
Transition: Aktivitäten im internationalen Vergleich”.
The project focuses on studying Just Transitions by comparing concepts, policies, and
strategies across 14 diverse countries to ensure a socially just shift towards decarbonisation.
It aims to develop recommendations for climate- friendly structural changes that protect
workers and vulnerable groups. The project is funded by the Hans Böckler
Foundation – Just Transition: Aktivitäten im internationalen Vergleich 2021-582-2.

The UK has sought to be a global leader in climate agendas and was one of the first countries to legislate for climate targets that mandated emissions reduction targets. This report is based on evidence from 27 interviews with union officers and climate experts undertaken between Spring 2023 and Autumn 2024 alongside a review of related government and union policy documents examines the role of UK unions in climate policy making and how just transition policy and practice has developed across the UK.

This report analyzes the position of labor within debates about a just transition in the United States. In the US, the labor movement for the past few decades has utilized the idea of a “just transition” to advocate for unionized workers in industries which face decline due to environmental and climate considerations. With the emergence of the climate crisis and environmental advocacy against fossil fuel, energy workers in the United States have especially been placed in the center of debates about the energy transition, as unions struggle to balance environmental concerns with a need to protect their membership whose work relies on the fossil fuel economy and promote job creation. Drawing on interviews with twelve labor leaders across the country who have participated in Climate Jobs coalitions and public interviews with union members, this report discusses conflicts over transitioning of workers, labor standards in the renewable energy industry, concerns of environmental justice within a just transition, and the impact of coalitions of unions at the state level. The report finds that leaders stress the need to break past patterns and advance for a real transition, rather than the past industrial transitions that left workers stranded and without a stable future.

Brazil plays a critical role in the global environmental landscape due to its vast biodiversity, extensive forests, and substantial carbon stocks. Despite this relevance, its economy remains deeply dependent on commodity exports—particularly agricultural goods, crude oil, fuel oils, and iron ore—sectors historically linked to land concentration, socio-environmental conflicts, and significant impacts on Indigenous, Quilombola, and other Traditional communities. The election of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2022 renewed expectations that environmental protection would once again be placed at the centre of national policy, with commitments to expanding renewable energy, reversing deforestation, and promoting carbon capture and reforestation initiatives. Yet these ambitions have been accompanied by criticism, particularly regarding federal intentions to authorise oil exploration at the mouth of the Amazon River and concerns surrounding the socio-environmental costs of large-scale infrastructure projects. Concrete initiatives within the labour movement have largely focused on the energy sector, which has become central to national decarbonisation debates. However, the lack of advance planning for displaced workers and the predominance of private capital in the renewable market have deepened territorial inequalities and undermined the social goals associated with Just Transition.