A spatial perspective on just transitions between global climate justice and local social justice claims

Low-carbon policy measures bring to the fore conflicts that reveal discrepancies over perceptions of direction, ambition, and scale and scope of transitions. In affected regions in the Global North, not only democracy as an “essentially contested concept” (Gallie 1956) is a bone of contention, but so is justice. The rise in interest both in academic debates as well as in policymaking for organizing ‘just transitions’ is proof to that. This contribution departs from the idea that contradicting demands regarding the overlapping dimensions of distributive, recognition-based, and procedural justice create tensions and conflicts in these transition regions. In the low carbon transition, different groups advocate for contradicting goals. Between climate justice activists with a global perspective and local groups seeking social justice for those suffering from job loss and identity crises, multiple intertwined ideas of what a just transition should entail are formulated. Thus, while these groups are often depicted as prototypical conflict partners, the reality is more diffuse and characterized by a multitude of overlapping justice concerns. For some citizens, populist narratives of blaming national and global elites for the energy transition become persuasive; for others, rapid transitions are an occasion to experiment with novel forms of citizen engagement and direct action in the ecology of participation (Chilvers et al., 2018). Many are torn between an abstract support for the energy transition and an awareness for the specific upheavals and injustices that it may bring about for certain groups. Political representatives are reluctant and insecure in responding to these demands and engage in modes of navigating different spatial and moral claims (Gürtler and Herberg, 2021). At the same time, we observe the institutionalization of novel arenas in which contradicting justice claims are debated. These arenas are marked by power and knowledge inequalities and mechanisms of exclusion, but also by new alliances and modes of negotiation. This contribution focuses on the scalar aspects that surface when scrutinizing justice claims. It aims to enrich the surging debate on just transition by applying a spatial lens to it. It therefore includes a review of scalar considerations in environment-related justice literature (cf. Bouzarovski and Simcock, 2017; Gough, 2010). Furthermore, conceptual elements from the fields of political geography (cf. Soja, 2010) and political theory (cf. Fraser, 2009) are introduced. The aim is to create a framework that is suited to analyze claims on the scale as well as on the substance of justice conjointly. The contribution is informed by empirical work in a coal transition region in East Germany (Gürtler et al., 2021a, 2021b), yet the focus lies with the development of a framework for future research.