Chile’s state-owned copper producer Codelco, the world’s largest, announced last year that it would close its Ventanas smelter in the highly polluted area of Quintero, in the central region of Valparaíso. The decision to close came after yet another air pollution incident that affected hundreds of people and forced the closure of schools in the area. Chilean President Gabriel Boric said he was “ashamed” of the level of environmental degradation in Quintero.
In response to the announcement of the smelter’s closure, Ventanas workers called a strike, claiming that they had not been consulted about the decision and that shutting up shop would lead to widespread job losses in Quintero. After days of tension, they agreed to end the protests when the government promised to support the workers who would lose their jobs.
What happened in Chile is being repeated across Latin America. The transition to sustainable, low-emission economies is forcing polluting industries to change. But experts say how this happens is just as important as when, to avoid increasing inequalities.
Trade unions and environmental and social organizations have championed the concept of a “just transition,” to ensure that the shift to a climate-neutral economy happens in a way that is fair to all. While the idea has been around for decades, it has gained popularity in recent years, given the urgency of the climate crisis.
“The concept is gaining momentum,” says Javiera Lecourt, advocacy coordinator for the Just Transition in Latin America project. “Transition is not the destination, but the journey. It is about changing work cultures and deeply rooted forms of development. It will not happen overnight. There are people who [work in mining] and don’t know how to do anything else.”
For the International Labor Organization (ILO), just transition means “greening the economy in a way that is as fair and inclusive as possible for all stakeholders, creating decent work opportunities and leaving no one behind.” While this captures the general idea, the definition varies across countries and sectors, with each bringing its own perspective.
For instance, for the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA), an alliance of 48 labor organizations in 21 countries, just transition means changing the production and consumption models. “There has to be a fundamental discussion that includes workers,” say TUCA spokespersons. “Just transition is about creating a new economic model.”
The origins of just transition on climate discussions
American trade unions introduced the concept of just transition in the 1980s. At first, it simply referred to a program to help workers who lost their jobs because of environmental protection policies. Over time, however, it took on a much broader meaning, coming to be understood as a gradual transition to sustainable jobs and economies, with an emphasis on leaving no one behind.
As awareness of the climate crisis grew, trade unions began to link just transition to climate change action. They started campaigning for the concept to be included in international UN agreements, such as the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming.
They had some success. In its preamble, the agreement recognizes “the imperatives of a just transition of the workforce and the creation of decent work and quality jobs in accordance with nationally defined development priorities.” Moreover, the concept of a just transition is linked to 14 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of targets adopted at the global level in 2015.
In the same year, the ILO, in consultation with governments, trade unions, and businesses, established a set of guidelines for a just transition. These state that the transition should be based on a solid social consensus, respecting workers’ rights, and adapting policies to the realities of each country and its economy.
Community and environmental organizations have also developed their own guidelines. The Just Transition in Latin America project, for example, calls on governments and companies to provide opportunities for workers to retrain, to diversify their energy use, to compensate those negatively affected by the changes, and to engage in a broad conversation at all levels of society.
“There is no single recipe for a just transition,” says Catalina Gonda, climate policy coordinator at the Environment and Natural Resources Foundation (FARN), an Argentinian NGO. “There are different lists of principles, but it is a concept that needs to be adjusted to local conditions. Each place needs specific approaches for its just transition.”
Moving beyond fossil fuels
Of all the economic sectors in transition, energy is undergoing the greatest change. Energy accounts for nearly half of Latin America’s greenhouse gas emissions. Oil, gas, and coal are used in electricity generation, transportation, and industry, with associated environmental costs.
The energy transition refers to the gradual shift away from fossil fuels as a source of energy, replacing them with renewable sources such as wind and solar. Experts say it is a significant but necessary move to avoid further increases in global average temperatures, which have already risen by at least 1.1 degrees Celsius since the Industrial Revolution.
But the transition to renewable energy cannot be done haphazardly, community and environmental organizations and trade unions agree. That is why they are calling for a “just energy transition.” This means not only developing cleaner energy sources, but also a system that is fairer, more democratic, and respects the rights of workers and communities.
“The energy sector is one of the [main contributors to] environmental conflict and human and land rights violations,” TUCA and campaign group Friends of the Earth said in a 2022 report. To that end, they warn that the same mistakes made with fossil fuels should not be repeated as renewable energy is rolled out across Latin America.
In Mexico and Brazil, wind farms have faced opposition from rural communities where projects have been sited, who claim they were not consulted beforehand. In Ecuador, the demand for balsa wood — one of the main materials used in the construction of wind turbine blades — has increased pressure on Amazonian forests.
Employment in a just transition
Well-managed transitions to environmentally and socially sustainable economies can boost job creation, improve job quality, and reduce inequality, according to the ILO. Latin America lost 26 million jobs during the Covid pandemic, exacerbated by pre-existing problems such as lack of stable employment and inequality.
Decarbonizing the region’s economies could create 15 million net jobs, according to a report by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the ILO. While 7.5 million jobs would be lost — mostly in the fossil fuel sector — as a result of the transition to renewables, 22.5 million jobs would be generated in solar and wind energy, forestry, and construction, among other sectors.
Many of the workers who would lose their jobs could transfer their skills to new industries, the report’s authors argue. But for this to happen, companies and governments will need to implement retraining programs and set up skills development mechanisms to help workers through the transition.
This is especially important for Latin American cities and towns whose economies depend heavily on polluting industries such as fossil fuels, say researchers at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) in Colombia. Diversifying the economy requires investment, technical support, and political commitment, they add.
In Argentina, for example, thousands of people have migrated to Vaca Muerta in search of jobs in the oil industry. Economic activity in the western province of Neuquén revolves around the geological formation that holds some of the world’s largest shale gas deposits.
Jonatan Nuñez, a researcher at Argentina’s National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (Conicet), argues that the relationship between jobs gained and lost in the transition raises questions. “What happens in one sector isn’t always the same in another sector,” he says. “And jobs are not necessarily created and lost in the same place.”
Mr. Nuñez believes that Latin America must use the energy transition to reimagine its place in the world. The region has significant reserves of minerals that are in demand as countries move away from fossil fuels — the best example being lithium, which is used in electric-car batteries. But if minerals are only extracted and exported overseas, the potential to create new jobs will be very limited, the researcher adds, compared to if the minerals were instead used in domestic industries.
A long way to go for climate just transition
The concept of just transition is beginning to appear in the public policy documents of Latin American governments, says José Vega Araujo, a research assistant at the SEI in Colombia. “But there is still a long way to go,” he adds. “Each country must clearly define what it understands by transition and incorporate it into concrete policies.”
Of the 170 countries worldwide that have already updated their climate action plans, 65 (38 percent) make reference to a just transition, according to UN analysis published last year. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the list includes Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Paraguay, and Antigua and Barbuda.
In Chile, the Boric government created the Office of Socio-Ecological Just Transition within the Environment Ministry at the end of last year. The goal is to encourage people living in communities with polluting industries to work with the private sector and the state to transition to a sustainable economy, according to a ministry statement.
To this end, it is working on transition plans for so-called ‘sacrifice zones,’ cities or towns whose quality of life and environment have been affected by industrial activity. The term, coined by civil society organizations, refers to the impact not only of the coal industry but also of copper, cement, and chemicals, among others.
At the COP27 climate change conference in Egypt last November, Colombia announced its roadmap for a just energy transition. The country’s government, led by President Gustavo Petro, will seek to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources based on the principles of “equity, gradualism, and community participation,” according to a document presented at the summit.
As the country’s second-largest export, coal is the most important mineral in the Colombian economy, sustaining more than 130,000 jobs. The government has assured the sector that these workers are not at risk, as the transition will be gradual and the tourism and agriculture sectors will be able to absorb those left unemployed by the coal industry. According to Mr. Petro, Colombia still has a decade of fossil fuel exports left.
Trade unions and social and environmental movements in Latin America acknowledge that the transition is already underway in most countries in the region. But they say there is still time to shape how it takes place, and are calling on governments and industry to open a dialogue to find common ground on the best way forward in the most inclusive way possible.
“Cleaning up polluting industries for the sake of an energy transition doesn’t have to mean creating new inequalities or deepening already existing ones,” says Ms. Gonda.
“Everyone needs a seat at the table to discuss what a just transition means to them, considering the specific needs for each sector – from communities to industries to governments.”
Originally published by Diálogo Chino and republished with authorization.
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