Just Transitions
Exploring how the move from an extractive to a regenerative economy can be delivered in a way that ensures the benefits of climate action are shared widely and the costs do not unfairly burden those least able to pay, or whose livelihoods are directly or indirectly at risk as the economy shifts.
The world is embarking on an unprecedented transition. To deliver on the global commitments enshrined in the Paris Agreement, the UK must achieve zero carbon emissions by the mid-2030s. Such a change will require us as a society to radically alter our relationship with our planet. We must disconnect ourselves from our carbon intensive economy built upon the proliferation of oil and gas. Energy transitions have always been shaped by social, political and economic structures, and the transition ahead of us is as much a cultural transition as a physical one.
As a studio we explored how the move from an extractive to a regenerative economy can be delivered in a way that ensures the benefits of climate action are shared widely and the costs do not unfairly burden those least able to pay, or whose livelihoods are directly or indirectly at risk as the economy shifts and changes.
Studio Just Transitions was located in the Firth of Clyde, an area containing significant disparities in wealth and capital (both natural and social).
Stretching from the industrial towns of Greenock and Port Glasgow, with their own links to historical extraction of wealth through the sugar industry, out to the coastal communities of Dunoon and Rothesay where Glaswegian workers would ‘Doon the Watter’ to escape the conditions of the industrial city.
Taking the Firth of Clyde as our territory of focus the studio explored and developed projects that place social and ecological justice at the heart of a just transition to a decarbonised future.
We visited the region in late November to orientate ourselves in the area and meet with local partners.
