Sustainability transitions and inequality

Abstract

Discussions of the need to transition to climate neutrality and environmental sustainability are gaining traction, particularly in industrialised countries. The European and American ‘Green New Deals’ and ‘Anti‐inflation Act’ epitomise the concretisation of policy proposals and state‐funded investment programmes aimed to accelerate the transition. Irrespective of the plans’ varying ambitions and timelines, given their comprehensiveness, their effects will be –or already are– felt across all economic sectors and areas of life. While explicitly aimed to make the transition socially and economically viable, they are yet accompanied by fears that already existing social inequalities will be intensified, e.g. through increasing costs of living (e.g., for electricity, food) or the disappearance of certain branches of industry and related jobs. Furthermore, the effects are likely not restricted to the geographic scopes of the political programmes (e.g., EU, USA), but stretching out to other parts of the world. In particular, countries in the global South which have specialised in exporting commodities that in various ways form a core part of the transition to climate neutrality will be affected; examples include countries exporting mine minerals (needed for electrification), palm oil and soybean (used for biofuels), as well as countries asked to not cut rain forests or to keep fossil fuels in the grounds. The relationship between sustainability transitions and social inequality is therefore a crucial area for further research. It is clear that the changing political economy of sustainability transitions and climate neutrality holds the risk for increased social inequalities, but also an opportunity for reducing them. Such risks and opportunities exist at multiple levels, from the municipal to the international, in both the Global North and the South, and they are reshaping state‐society relations as well as the nature and intensity of social inequalities. This panel seeks to examine the various implications that sustainability transitions have for social inequality. We invite proposals for papers which study the link from various angles and in different contexts. This can include a look at actors, approaches or initiatives in different regional contexts, socio‐economic sectors, or at different levels. The ambition is to develop together a better understanding of the social implications of sustainability transitions. Possible questions that the panel seeks to address include, but are not limited to: What main social risks and trade‐offs come along with public policy programmes, and with the sustainability transition and the aim of decarbonisation in general? What initiatives are there to address such risks and trade‐offs? If, and if so how, can an environmental transition be achieved that is socially inclusive and just, within and beyond national borders? And lastly, to what extent and in which ways does a sustainability transition reshape state‐society relations in different country contexts, and in relation to different social and economic spheres (e.g., mobility, food, etc.)?

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