CLIMATE JUSTICE ALLIANCE JUST TRANSITION PRINCIPLES 1

CLIMATE JUSTICE ALLIANCE
Just Transition Principles
This short paper aims to articulate the shared analysis & principles held by members of the Climate Justice
Alliance, recognizing that a Just Transition will look different in different places.1

What Do We Mean By Just Transition?

Just Transition is a vision-led, unifying and place-based set of principles, processes and
practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy2 to
a regenerative economy. This means approaching production and consumption cycles
holistically and waste free. The transition itself must be just and equitable; redressing past
harms and creating new relationships of power for the future through reparations. If the
process of transition is not just, the outcome will never be. Just Transition describes both
where we are going and how we get there.

“Just Transition is a principle, a process and a practice.”
— Just Transition Alliance

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History & Context

Just Transition strategies were first forged by labor unions and environmental justice groups, rooted
in low-income communities of color, who saw the need to phase out the industries that were harming
workers, community health and the planet; and at the same time provide just pathways for workers to
transition to other jobs. It was rooted in workers defining a transition away from polluting industries in
alliance with fence line and frontline communities.

The environmental justice (EJ) movement grew out of a response to the system of environmental
racism where communities of color and low-income communities have been (and continue to be)
disproportionately exposed to and negatively impacted by hazardous pollution and industrial practices.
Its roots are in the civil rights movement, and are in sharp contrast to the mainstream environmental
movement, which has failed to understand or address this injustice3. The EJ movement emphasizes
bottom up organizing, centering the voices of those most impacted, and shared community leadership.

Building on these histories, members of the Climate Justice Alliance, many of whom are rooted in the
environmental justice movement, have adapted the definition of Just Transition to represent a host of
strategies to transition whole communities4 to build thriving economies that provide dignified, productive
and ecologically sustainable livelihoods; democratic governance and ecological resilience.

Jose Bravo,
Just Transition Alliance

Connie Tucker, Southern Organizing
Committee for Economic & Social Justice

Richard Moore, Southwest Network for
Environmental and Economic Justice

and Los Jardines Institute

Tom Goldtooth, Indigenous
Environmental Network

Tony Mazzocchi, Oil, Chemical &
Atomic Workers International Union

Pam Tau Lee, Chinese
Progressive Association

Some of the movement leaders who have built a strong
foundation for just transition

CLIMATE JUSTICE ALLIANCE JUST TRANSITION PRINCIPLES 3

Analysis, Framework and Strategy

After centuries of global plunder, the profit-driven industrial economy rooted in patriarchy and white
supremacy is severely undermining the life support systems of the planet. Transition is inevitable.
Justice is not.

We must build visionary economy that is very different than the one we now are in. This requires
stopping the bad while at the same time as building the new. We must change the rules to redistribute
resources and power to local communities. Just transition initiatives are shifting from dirty energy to
energy democracy, from funding highways to expanding public transit, from incinerators and landfills
to zero waste, from industrial food systems to food sovereignty, from gentrification to community land
rights, from military violence to peaceful resolution, and from rampant destructive development to
ecosystem restoration. Core to a just transition is deep democracy in which workers and communities
have control over the decisions that affect their daily lives.

To liberate the soil and to liberate our souls we must decolonize our imaginations, remember our way
forward and divorce ourselves from the comforts of empire. We must trust that deep in our cultures
and ancestries is the diverse wisdom we need to navigate our way towards a world where we live in just
relationships with each other and with the earth.

Regeneration

Cooperation

Deep Democracy

Sacredness

Ecological &Social
Well-being

Caring &

WO
RLDVIEW

RES
OURCES

GO
VERNANCE

PURPOSE

+

WORK

Exploitation

Consumerism &
Colonial Mindset

BUY!

Militarism

Extraction
Dig, Burn, Dump

Enclosure of
Wealth & Power

WO
RLDVIEW

RES
OURCES

GO
VERNANCE

PURPOSE

+

WORK

Extractive Economy Regenerative Economy

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CJA Just Transition Principles

There are existing principles, including the Principles of Environmental Justice and Jemez Principles for
Democratic Organizing, that have been important in guiding our work. The Just Transition principles below
are an attempt to consolidate and synthesize various Just Transition principles from among CJA members and
allies, built off the deep work and discussions amongst ourselves. Understanding that Just Transition will look
different in different places, we believe a core set of shared principles can strengthen our collective work.

A Just Transition moves us toward Buen Vivir
Buen Vivir means that we can live well without living better at the expense of others. Workers, community
residents, women and Indigenous Peoples around the world have a fundamental human right to clean,
healthy and adequate air, water, land, food, education and shelter. We must have just relationships with
each other and with the natural world, of which we are a part. The rights of peoples, communities and
nature must supercede the rights of the individual.

A Just Transition creates Meaningful Work
A Just Transition centers on the development of human potential, creating opportunities for people to
learn, grow, and develop to their full capacities and interests. We are all born leaders, and a regenerative
economy supports and nurtures that leadership. In the process, we are transforming ourselves, each
other, our communities, and our society as a whole. Meaningful work is life-affirming.

A Just Transition upholds Self Determination
All peoples have the right to participate in decisions that impact their lives. This requires democratic
governance in our communities, including our workplaces. Communities must have the power to shape
their economies, as producers, as consumers, and in our relationships with each other. Not only do we
have the right to self determination, but self determination is one of our greatest tools to realize the
world we need. The people who are most affected by the extractive economy — the frontline workers
and the fenceline communities — have the resilience and expertise to be in the leadership of crafting
solutions.

CLIMATE JUSTICE ALLIANCE JUST TRANSITION PRINCIPLES 5

A Just Transition equitably redistributes Resources and Power
We must work to build new systems that are good for all people, and not just a few. Just Transition must
actively work against and transform current and historic social inequities based on race, class, gender,
immigrant status and other forms of oppression. Just Transition fights to reclaim capital and resources
for the regeneration of geographies and sectors of the economy where these inequities are most
pervasive.

A Just Transition requires Regenerative Ecological Economics
Just Transition must advance ecological resilience, reduce resource consumption, restore biodiversity
and traditional ways of life, and undermine extractive economies, including capitalism, that erode
the ecological basis of our collective well-being. This requires a re-localization and democratization of
primary production and consumption by building up local food systems, local clean energy, and small-
scale production that are sustainable economically and ecologically. This also means producing to live
well without living better at the expense of others.

A Just Transition retains Culture and Tradition
Capitalism has forced many communities to sacrifice culture and tradition for economic survival. It has
also defaced and destroyed land held as sacred. Just Transition must create inclusionary spaces for all
traditions and cultures, recognizing them as integral to a healthy and vibrant economy. It should also
make reparations for land that has been stolen and/or destroyed by capitalism, colonialism, patriarchy,
genocide and slavery.

A Just Transition embodies Local, Regional, National and International Solidarity
A Just Transition must be liberatory and transformative. The impacts of the extractive economy knows
no borders. We recognize the interconnectedness of our communities as well as our issues. Therefore,
our solutions call for local, regional, national and global solidarity that confronts imperialism and
militarism.

A Just Transition builds What We Need Now
We must build the world we need now. This may begin at a local small scale, and must expand to begin to
displace extractive practices. We must build and flex the muscles needed to meet our communities’ needs.

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What Just Transition is NOT: Avoiding False Solutions

We understand that as frontline
communities, we are often faced with
navigating many contradictions. We
have seen that the fight against climate
change has now become a big business
opportunity. In this context, it is important
to recognize approaches that will only
worsen our ecological and economic crises.
We call these ‘false solutions.’ The following
definitions of false solutions offer a political
compass for our movements, knowing that
we will engage more deeply in the nuances
of various solutions in front of us in our
regional and organizational contexts.

False Solutions extract & further concentrate wealth and political power
Carbon trading and other market-based incentives are presented as “economically and politically viable”
strategies to address the climate crisis. Unfortunately, this makes the false and dangerous assumption
that the laws of nature are subordinate to the laws of capitalism. These undemocratic mechanisms
prioritize maximizing profit for those at the top at the expense of the earth and people. These do not
move us toward a just transition.

False Solutions continue to poison, displace, and imprison communities
Nuclear, fracking, “clean coal”, incineration and even prisons are offered as economic transition
solutions to the climate crisis, but only continue to harm the health of people and the planet. The path
of extracting, transporting, processing, and consuming these technologies is paved with communities
riddled with cancer, reproductive and respiratory disease, among other devastating health impacts.
These false solutions turn low-income communities, communities of color and indigenous communities
into sacrifice zones. These do not move us toward a just transition.

False Solutions reduce the climate crisis to a crisis of carbon
The climate ‘crisis’ is a symptom of a deeper crisis: resource intensive industrial production of the
dominant dig, burn, dump economy. Addressing only carbon emissions without challenging the growth-
at-all-costs economy doesn’t resolve the real crisis. This is not to say that carbon doesn’t matter, but
it is not the only thing that matters. Techno-fixes like titanium oxide cloud seeding or injecting carbon
into the sea bottom are solutions for making money off of the climate crisis more than than they are
solutions to the climate crisis. It is unclear that these technologies will even work. It is highly likely that
they’ll have unintended consequences. These efforts avoid the real solutions of reducing pollution at the
source. These do not move us toward a just transition.

CLIMATE JUSTICE ALLIANCE JUST TRANSITION PRINCIPLES 7

Solving the Climate Crisis:
It is possible. It is necessary. There are no shortcuts.

There’s no silver bullet. As we know, it will look different in different places. And let’s remember:
Transition is inevitable. Justice is not. Let’s get to work.

Endnotes
1. The drafting process involved consolidating various principles developed by CJA member organizations —

Just Transition Alliance, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, and Movement Generation — and discussions
by CJA pilot site anchor organizations. CJA staff developed a first draft and got feedback from CJA member
organizations at the Growing Our Power national convening in St. Louis and through online comments. A
drafting team made up of CJA members and staff, with additional input from the Steering Committee and Pilot
Site reps, finalized this working draft.

2. By extractive economy, we mean an economy that relies on the extraction of labor, of natural resources, of
culture and of community.

3. Robert D. Bullard, Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality (Westview Press, 2000).

4. By whole communities, we mean to include workplaces, homes, schools, implying that we are workers, we are
community members, we are whole people.

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Climate
justice
alliance

www.ourpowercampaign.org

Acknowledgements
CJA would like to acknowledge and show
appreciation for the work and leadership of
the Just Transition Alliance, the CJA Steering
Committee, the CJA Pilot Site organizations, and of
the drafting team: brandon king of Cooperation
Jackson, Sara Pennington of Kentuckians for
the Commonwealth, Mateo Nube of Movement
Generation and Hannah Jones of the Center for
Story-based Strategy.

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