Just transitions under pressure: from early visions to new proposals and trajectories in the Global South

Yanis Rihi ()
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Yanis Rihi: SOURCE - SOUtenabilité et RésilienCE - UVSQ - Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines - IRD [Ile-de-France] - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement

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Abstract: Just transition has gained salience in international climate governance, yet its meaning remains mainly defined by institutional and academic frameworks of the Global North. Here, I trace the concept's genealogy, exploring how its meaning has shifted over time, and examine its too-often underexplored contemporary uses in the Global South. A transregional and multi-scalar analysis of Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America, drawing on heterogeneous sources, reveals three recurring, overlapping just transition articulations: technocratic policy approaches centred on energy-sector restructuring; grassroots environmental justice mobilisations emphasising human rights and territorial protection; and systemic transformation discourses highlighting the (geo)political-economic constraints shaping multilevel climate policy. They underscore intertwined structural barriers to transformative measures, such as epistemic exclusion, governance asymmetries, climate finance injustices, and growth-oriented economic rationalities. Finally, I highlight how they mirror, differ from, or expand early conceptions from the Global North, thereby advancing a conceptual cartography of just transitions in global climate politics.

Keywords: Environmental justice; Climate finance; Governance; Global South; Just transition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-07-28
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-05316005v3
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Published in Environmental Politics, 2026, pp.1-23. ⟨10.1080/09644016.2026.2710465⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-05316005

DOI: 10.1080/09644016.2026.2710465

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