Just transitions and Green New Deals: concept synthesis of the qualitative literature

Global discourses surrounding the low-carbon transition increasingly feature calls for equity and justice. Momentum behind just transition principles is growing, evolving significantly from their introduction by U.S. trade unions in the 1980s. Recently, just transition principles have begun shaping policies and governance strategies internationally. Some approaches focus narrowly on worker protections in industries undergoing structural change (e.g., fossil fuel extraction), while others take a more macro-transformative approach (e.g., the U.S. Green New Deal and EU Green Deal) with broader social agendas. The concept has also been adopted by a range of development and social actors, and notably featured in the phase-out centered JETP investments for South Africa, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Meanwhile, calls for a just transition are spreading to other decarbonizing sectors (including agriculture and food systems, waste and recycling, construction, and transportation). The proliferation of these concepts in recent years requires careful study to understand how new and competing interpretations inform development of socially just climate policy. This paper will map and compare the usage of just transitions, Green New Deals, inclusive green growth, and related emerging concepts across the literature. Using qualitative analysis methods, we code for various aspects, including concept definitions (consisting of motivation, process, and outcomes) and frameworks proposed by different actors as well as policies and governance strategies tied to just transitions (including public support for energy transition policies). Relative to prior reviews of these concepts, our review contributes the most thorough and updated mapping of the literature, comparing conceptual framings across disciplines, actor interests and perspectives, and just transition policy efforts.