JUST TRANSITION, SOCIAL PERSPECTIVES & MOVEMENTS

The effects and impacts of climate change are being felt globally, however, the burdens of these impacts are not felt equitably across communities of people. Systems transformations in the energy sector are phasing out fossil fuels and scaling up renewable energy – at a scale and pace that can be socially disruptive. Similarly, how climate solutions impact people and communities does matter to social justice and equality. Climate justice, and measures to implement just transitions, begin by recognizing that key groups are affected by climate change differently, and that climate solutions require a greater understanding of these differences and how they can be addressed. Just transitions can provide a framework for action to ensure that shifting development paths towards a sustainable, carbon-neutral economy, happens in a fair way. A just transitions framework needs to recognize people’s social and economic opportunities, and specifically in a way that does not exacerbate existing social inequalities. This collection showcases current research on climate justice and just transitions, with respect to strategies, policy assessments, frameworks, national case studies, and identifying and managing social justice outcomes across a wide range of contexts.

Thomas, V., & Antony, R. (2025). Climate commitments and democratic contradictions: India’s Panchamrit policy in comparative south Asian perspective. Climate Policy, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2025.2596754

Gugushvili, D., Meuleman, B., & Spruit, D. (2025). What drives consistent opposition to (and support for) climate policies? The case of Belgium. Climate Policy, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2025.2592814

Ringhofer, S., Fleiß, E., Thaller, A., Lienhart, L. M., & Posch, A. (2025). Distributional concerns above all? Exploring perceptions of the fairness and effectiveness of demand-side push measures in leisure air travel. Climate Policy, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2025.2581806

Bassène, T. (2025). Inflation, public attention allocation, and psychological distance to climate change. Climate Policy, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2025.2579644

Meng, D., Ding, Y., & Zhang, H. (2025). Mitigating regional employment disparities through flexible coal power phasedown and workforce resettlement. Climate Policy, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2025.2557235

Chen, J., & Liao, H. (2025). Global public perceptions of climate change risks and their determinants. Climate Policy, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2025.2562025

Güneş Yerlikaya, E. B., & Balaban, O. (2025). Urban climate justice and migrant communities: factors of climate vulnerabilities of the Syrian population in Istanbul. Climate Policy, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2025.2558179

Goetting, K., Liebe, U., & Becker, S. (2025). From parking place to public space: a factorial survey experiment on public acceptability of parking space reallocation in Germany. Climate Policy, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2025.2539140

Agger, A., & Egmose, J. (2025). Deliberative design choices and their implications – dilemmas unveiled from the first Danish Citizens’ Assembly on Climate. Climate Policy, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2025.2540581

Poortinga, W. (2025). The role of policy appraisals and second-order beliefs in public support for climate policies in the UK. Climate Policy, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2025.2539977

Lütkes, L., Dirksmeier, P., & Tuitjer, L. (2025). From committed to dismissive: how conspiracy mentality and trust in the democratic (political) system shape climate policy perspectives in Germany. Climate Policy, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2025.2522828

Wokuri, P. (2025). How Global South actors frame the conflict between the right to development and climate action? The case of oil extraction in Uganda. Climate Policy, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2025.2494774

Lorenzoni, I., Jordan, A. J., Sullivan-Thomsett, C., & Geese, L. (2025). A review of National Citizens’ Climate Assemblies: learning from deliberative events. Climate Policy, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2449416

Bishwakarma, K. L., & Roongtawanreongsri, S. (2025). Examining climate change adaptation policies in Nepal: a qualitative content analysis through the Dalit lens. Climate Policy, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2025.2487525

Dafermos, Y. (2025). Climate finance and global justice. Climate Policy, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2025.2482104

Jarin, J. B. (2025). Comparing electricity policies between the primary and tertiary needs: the need for distributive justice within the energy transition. Climate Policy, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2025.2467968

Kaya, O., Florkowski, W. J., Kaya, I., & Contu, D. (2025). Scorching doubts: unveiling climate change skepticism among gulf cooperation council residents. Climate Policy, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2025.2477117

Loy, L., & Jacquet, J. (2025). The animal agriculture industry’s obstruction of campaigns promoting individual climate action. Climate Policy, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2025.2460603

Faure, C., & Schleich, J. (2025). Leading by example: spillover effects of municipal climate protection leadership on citizens’ climate protection activities. Climate Policy, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2447492

Hurlimann, A., Browne, G. R., March, A., Moosavi, S., & Bush, J. (2025). Translating global emission reduction goals into built environment policy instruments: an ambitious yet inadequate policy portfolio for Victoria, Australia. Climate Policy, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2025.2459319

Lempinen, H., Parks, V., & Korpikoski, A. (2025). Unions, fossil fuel workers, and the energy transition: learning from plant closures in Finland and the U.S. Climate Policy, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2025.2460665

Hunt, L., & Hillis, V. (2025). The appeal of climate program framing depends on climate beliefs: a conjoint survey experiment among US agricultural producers. Climate Policy, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2447486

Shawoo, Z., Browne, K., Canales, N., & Nazareth, A. (2025). Assessing the distributive equity of adaptation finance: a framework. Climate Policy, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2025.2456552

Helmke-Long, L., Davicino, A., Carley, S., & Murphy, C. (2025). Integration of equity into climate-related plans in the U.S. Climate Policy, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2445170

Zhang, S., Ferreira, S., & Karali, B. (2024). Understanding public acceptability of climate policies in Europe. Climate Policy, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2415371

Azar, C., & Johansson, D. J. A. (2024). Climate justice and a fair allocation of national greenhouse gas emissions. Climate Policy, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2415400

Anisimova, K. V., & Patterson, J. J. (2024). Public responses to hard climate policies in OECD member countries: prevalence of contention at the post-adoption stage. Climate Policy, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2409806

Fan, D., Zhao, M., & Wang, K. (2024). Do impoverished regions benefit from climate change mitigation measures? Evidence from the Forest Carbon Sink Project in China. Climate Policy, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2418947

Nawaz, S., McLaren, D., Caggiano, H., Hudson, A. D., & Scott-Buechler, C. (2024). Carbon removal for a just transition. Climate Policy, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2418305

Liu, J. C. E., & Chiang, S. N. (2024). Sensitizing just transition in Taiwan. Climate Policy, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2425221

Njangang, H., Tadadjeu, S., & Kamguia, B. (2024). From policy to progress: do female parliamentarians influence energy justice? Climate Policy, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2424231

Okushima, S. (2024). Reevaluating fair carbon emissions for households in Japan: basic energy needs and subsistence CO₂ emissions. Climate Policy, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2425017

Shen, M., Yang, M., & Xing, L. (2024). Do climate change policies affect labour market distortions? Empirical evidence from China’s low-carbon city pilots. Climate Policy, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2428757

Nisbett, N., Spaiser, V., Leston-Bandeira, C., & Valdenegro, D. (2024). Climate action or delay: the dynamics of competing narratives in the UK political sphere and the influence of climate protest. Climate Policy, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2398169

Dabla-Norris, E., Khalid, S., Magistretti, G., & Sollaci, A. (2024). Does information change public support for climate mitigation policies? Climate Policy, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2403560

Aklin, M. (2024). The political logic of just transition policies. Climate Policy, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2378995

Nisbett, N., Spaiser, V., Leston-Bandeira, C., & Valdenegro, D. (2024). Climate action or delay: the dynamics of competing narratives in the UK political sphere and the influence of climate protest. Climate Policy, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2398169

Wrigley, K., Yallup Farrant, J., Farrant, B., Synnott, E. L., Barrow, J., Godden, N. J., & O’Sullivan, L. (2024). Relational processes for transformative climate justice policymaking: insights from a Western Australian community of practice. Climate Policy, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2385486

Proedrou, F., & Pournara, M. (2024). Exploring representations of climate change as ecocide: implications for climate policy. Climate Policy, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2368859

Jones, R., Reid, P., & Macmillan, A. (2024). An Indigenous climate justice policy analysis tool. Climate Policy, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2362845

Turnpenny, J., & Alexander, M. (2024). Addressing risks to mental health from climate change: a policy capacity analysis of England. Climate Policy, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2362848

Timmons, S., Andersson, Y., & Lunn, P. D. (2024). Communicating climate change as a generational issue: experimental effects on youth worry, motivation and belief in collective action. Climate Policy, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2024.2341080

Daniel Lindvall & Mikael Karlsson (2023) Exploring the democracy-climate nexus: a review of correlations between democracy and climate policy performance, Climate Policy, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2023.2256697

Edwige Marty, Alcade C. Segnon, Sabine Homann-Kee Tui, Sabrina Trautman, Sophia Huyer, Laura Cramer & Everisto Mapedza (2023) Enabling gender and social inclusion in climate and agriculture policy and planning through foresight processes: assessing challenges and leverage points, Climate Policy, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2023.2268042

Alexandra Lesnikowski, Sébastien Jodoin, Jean-Philippe Lemay, Verity Thomson & Kasia Johnson (2023) Human rights in climate change adaptation policies: a systematic assessment, Climate Policy, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2023.2261881

Fanglei Zhong, Jingwen Tian, Chenxi Zhao, Shuai Zha, Xiao Chen & Yuhan Zhang (2023) Assessing energy justice in climate change policies: an empirical examination of China’s energy transition, Climate Policy, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2023.2261894

Luciana Iocca & Teresa Fidélis (2023) Are the rights and knowledge of indigenous peoples and local communities being attended to by climate framework laws?, Climate Policy, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2023.2262416

Felipe Sanchez & Linus Linde (2023) Turning out the light: criteria for determining the sequencing of countries phasing out oil extraction and the just transition implications, Climate Policy, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2023.2197854

Arnaud Van Der Cam, Ignace Adant & Goedele Van den Broeck (2023) The social acceptability of a personal carbon allowance: a discrete choice experiment in Belgium, Climate Policy, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2023.2183176

Karina French & Carolyn Kousky (2023) The effect of disaster insurance on community resilience: a research agenda for local policy, Climate Policy, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2023.2170313

Marius Korsnes, Bradley Loewen, Ragnhild Freng Dale, Markus Steen & Tomas Moe Skjølsvold (2023) Paradoxes of Norway’s energy transition: controversies and justice, Climate Policy, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2023.2169238

Jiahai Yuan, Xiaowen Yang, Yiou Zhou & Jian Zhang (2023) The challenge of just transition in China’s coal power sector: a city-level employment vulnerability assessment, Climate Policy, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2022.2149453

Dirk Arne Heyen (2022) Social justice in the context of climate policy: systematizing the variety of inequality dimensions, social impacts, and justice principles, Climate Policy, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2022.2142499

Christine Wamsler, Gustav Osberg, Anna Panagiotou, Beth Smith, Peter Stanbridge, Walter Osika & Luis Mundaca (2022) Meaning-making in a context of climate change: supporting agency and political engagement, Climate Policy, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2022.2121254

Simone Abram, Ed Atkins, Alix Dietzel, Kirsten Jenkins, Lorna Kiamba, Joshua Kirshner, Julia Kreienkamp, Karen Parkhill, Tom Pegram & Lara M. Santos Ayllón (2022) Just Transition: A whole-systems approach to decarbonisation, Climate Policy, 22:8, 1033-1049, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2022.2108365

Anne Owen, Josh Burke & Esin Serin (2022) Who pays for BECCS and DACCS in the UK: designing equitable climate policy, Climate Policy, 22:8, 1050-1068, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2022.2104793

Karen Turner, Julia Race, Oluwafisayo Alabi, Antonios Katris & Kim Swales (2022) The relationship between a ‘polluter pays’ approach to carbon capture, regional policy and ‘just transition’ employment agendas, Climate Policy, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2022.2110031

Matthew Lai, Stacy-ann Robinson, Emmanuel Salas, William Thao & Anna Shorb (2022) Climate justice for small island developing states: identifying appropriate international financing mechanisms for loss and damage, Climate Policy, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2022.2112017

Antonina Scheer, Moritz Schwarz, Debbie Hopkins & Ben Caldecott (2022) Whose jobs face transition risk in Alberta? Understanding sectoral employment precarity in an oil-rich Canadian province, Climate Policy, 22:8, 1016-1032, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2022.2086843

Jingyuan Xu & Yue Zhang (2022) Has the international climate regime promoted climate justice? Evidence from Clean Development Mechanism projects in China, Climate Policy, 22:2, 222-235, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2021.2008294

Charles Beauregard, D’Arcy Carlson, Stacy-ann Robinson, Charles Cobb & Mykela Patton (2021) Climate justice and rights-based litigation in a post-Paris world, Climate Policy, 21:5, 652-665, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2020.1867047

Philippe Le Billon, Païvi Lujala, Devyani Singh, Vance Culbert & Berit Kristoffersen (2021) Fossil fuels, climate change, and the COVID-19 crisis: pathways for a just and green post-pandemic recovery, Climate Policy, 21:10, 1347-1356, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2021.1965524

Sennan D. Mattar, Tahseen Jafry, Patrick Schröder & Zarina Ahmad (2021) Climate justice: priorities for equitable recovery from the pandemic, Climate Policy, 21:10, 1307-1317, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2021.1976095

Zoha Shawoo & C. L. McDermott (2020) Justice through polycentricity? A critical examination of climate justice framings in Pakistani climate policymaking, Climate Policy, 20:2, 199-216, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2019.1707640

Greg Muttitt & Sivan Kartha (2020) Equity, climate justice and fossil fuel extraction: principles for a managed phase out, Climate Policy, 20:8, 1024-1042, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2020.1763900

Ayse Uyduranoglu & Serda Selin Ozturk (2020) Public support for carbon taxation in Turkey: drivers and barriers, Climate Policy, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2020.1816887

Joakim Kulin & Ingemar Johansson Sevä (2020) Who do you trust? How trust in partial and impartial government institutions influences climate policy attitudes, Climate Policy, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2020.1792822

Robert A. Huber, Lukas Fesenfeld & Thomas Bernauer (2020) Political populism, responsiveness, and public support for climate mitigation, Climate Policy, 20:3, 373-386, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2020.1736490

Adrian Rinscheid, Silvia Pianta & Elke U. Weber (2020) Fast track or SloMo? Public support and temporal preferences for phasing out fossil fuel cars in the United States, Climate Policy, 20:1, 30-45, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2019.1677550

Sara Maestre-Andrés, Stefan Drews & Jeroen van den Bergh (2019) Perceived fairness and public acceptability of carbon pricing: a review of the literature, Climate Policy, 19:9, 1186-1204, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2019.1639490

Paul Stroik, D. Chakraborty, W. Ge, J. Boulter & E. Jamelske (2019) Effect of reciprocity on public opinion of international climate treaties: experimental evidence from the US and China, Climate Policy, 19:8, 959-973, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2019.1617666

Eva Kyselá, Milan Ščasný & Iva Zvěřinová (2019) Attitudes toward climate change mitigation policies: a review of measures and a construct of policy attitudes, Climate Policy, 19:7, 878-892, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2019.1611534

Niklas Harring, Sverker C. Jagers & Simon Matti (2019) The significance of political culture, economic context and instrument type for climate policy support: a cross-national study, Climate Policy, 19:5, 636-650, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2018.1547181

Charles A. Ogunbode, Gisela Böhm, Stuart B. Capstick, Christina Demski, Alexa Spence & Nicole Tausch (2019) The resilience paradox: flooding experience, coping and climate change mitigation intentions, Climate Policy, 19:6, 703-715, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2018.1560242

Adam Mayer & E. Keith Smith (2019) Unstoppable climate change? The influence of fatalistic beliefs about climate change on behavioural change and willingness to pay cross-nationally, Climate Policy, 19:4, 511-523, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2018.1532872

Sverker C. Jagers, Johan Martinsson & Simon Matti (2019) The impact of compensatory measures on public support for carbon taxation: an experimental study in Sweden, Climate Policy, 19:2, 147-160, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2018.1470963