Description
In response to the climate emergency the world is facing, there is an urgent need to decarbonise. Technological innovation is considered the main instrument to realise emission reduction but is also likely to involve significant social and economic disruption. Industrial decline and technological innovations are known to impact the lives of one vulnerable group in particular: workers in carbon intensive (e.g. steel) and fossil fuel (e.g. oil and coal) industries. A key demand raised by e.g. trade unionists is therefore that the climate transition should involve a just transition. This demand is incorporated into the European Green Deal (EGD) and is being implemented at the regional level through a Just Transition Mechanism.The current just transitions literature mainly distinguishes distributive (De Vries, et al., 2024; Banjeree & Schuitema, 2022; Newell & Mulvany, 2012), procedural (Banjeree & Schuitema, 2022; Newell & Mulvany, 2012), restorative (Banjeree & Schuitema, 2022), and recognition (Wood, et al., 2024; Schlosberg, 2007; Honneth, 1995) (in)justice, yet the ways in which workers in these industries are treated in epistemically unjust ways remains underdeveloped. Through interviews with workers in the oil, gas and coal industries (United Kingdom) and trade unionists in carbon-intensive sectors (the Netherlands and France), we seek to refine and enrich both the philosophical concept of ‘epistemic injustice’ (Fricker, 2007) and identify concrete instances of workers/trade unionists being wronged in their capacity as knowers.
Our interview material suggests that workers’ expertise and knowhow is not being recognised by managers and policy makers and (hence) destroyed altogether. Trade unionists, in turn, experience various practices of discrediting and exclusion of their knowledge throughout the implementation of the EGD, including: not being invited to the table altogether; merely being considered a recipient of information; and being considered a nuisance. Ultimately, we argue that a just transition should include epistemic justice.
| Period | 17 Jun 2025 → 18 Jun 2025 |
|---|---|
| Event title | Just Climate Transition Network – Annual Workshop: Climate Change and Vulnerability |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Berlin, GermanyShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |