The Taskforce on Net Zero Policy published Interconnected Justice: Understanding the Cross-Border Implications of Climate Transition Policies (November 2024). The Taskforce is a group of international agencies convened to advance net zero-aligned policies and further the work of the High‑Level Expert Group on the Net Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities. The report provides proposals for policymakers and non-state actors on how to recognise and act on the cross-border implications of net zero policies — towards a truly just global transition.
Human Level’s Take:
- Nature and climate change span national borders, and so should a just net zero transition. The Taskforce on Net Zero Policy makes clear that a just transition requires policymakers, companies and financial institutions to adopt a broader, interconnected definition of justice that considers how one region’s transition impacts another.
- The Taskforce calls on companies and governments to adopt this broader definition of justice and to go beyond simply obtaining social licence to operate. This means balancing the principles of “do no significant harm” and “do more good” to both manage the negative impacts of the net zero transition on people, and at the same time actively promote social equality and climate action.
- To achieve interconnected justice in the net zero transition, companies will need to prioritise inclusive, equitable stakeholder engagement in their decision-making processes. They will also need to acknowledge and address the inherent power imbalances between themselves and rightsholders.
- The report also recommends that companies participate in multi-actor dialogues with policymakers and rightsholders to identify the impacts and opportunities of a just transition; build coalitions for shared learning and policy coordination across jurisdictions; and co-design frameworks to analyse cross-border impacts of the net zero transition and to ensure policies are tailored to local contexts while addressing global justice challenges.
Some key takeaways:
- Adopting a broader definition of justice: To achieve a just transition, policymakers and companies must adopt a broader concept of interconnected, cross-border justice: the concept that “one place’s just transition affects another place’s just transition.” This approach helps policymakers and companies fully understand the scope of existing injustices in the net zero transition across countries and across the world. It also enables the design of policies that address cross-border issues while respecting the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities — the concept established at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit that all countries have a shared responsibility to address climate change, but their actions should be based on their individual circumstances. To achieve interconnected justice, the report calls on companies to balance two core principles: “do no significant harm” and “do more good.” This means preventing, mitigating and remediating the negative impacts from the transition at the same time as actively addressing social inequities and climate impacts, especially in developing countries. Both principles are critical for a just net zero transition and one principle can’t be implemented to the exclusion of the other. For their part, governments should increase their coordination to tackle global risks and opportunities and implement strong human rights and environmental due diligence policies together with climate policies. All of this should be underpinned by a transition from an extractive to a circular economic model.
- Inclusive stakeholder engagement and decision-making are key: The concept of interconnected justice depends on inclusive decision-making practices by both governments and companies. Inclusive decision-making fully respects the rights and voices of affected stakeholders in transition processes. Adhering to international human and labour rights is essential to inclusive engagement and decision-making. In practice, this goes beyond ensuring that companies have a social licence to operate; the report points out that achieving social licence alone “does not simply equate to the delivery of justice.” Companies need to make sure their engagement processes are equitable. This requires acknowledging and redressing the inherent power imbalances in consultations with rightsholders. Companies can use collective dialogues — rather than top-down approaches — to ensure justice in the net zero transition is interconnected and tailored to the local context. Policymakers must identify all affected stakeholders and implement policies that protect community rights through environmental and social safeguards. Successful engagement involves co-developing and co-owning policies while adapting them to local conditions.
- Recommendations for companies and other non-state actors: The report includes recommendations for different actors, including some specific to companies. First, along with policymakers and stakeholder communities, companies can participate in multi-actor dialogues and help to build "coalitions of the willing" to advance research, experimentation and knowledge sharing in policy design, implementation and monitoring for interconnected justice. These dialogues can create a forum for shared learning and policy coordination to address just transition challenges at the local level and systemically. Coalition-building should run alongside efforts by policymakers to engage companies at all stages of the just transition process, not just the leaders and early adopters. Second, companies, policymakers and affected stakeholders can collaborate to co-design and pilot an "Interconnected Justice Opportunities and Risks Assessment Framework.” The goal of the framework is to analyse the cross-border effects of net zero-related policies and actions. Multi-actor dialogues can support this process by identifying and addressing common interconnected justice challenges at local, global and systemic levels. This approach will help policymakers and companies better understand and mitigate the varied impacts of their transition actions on vulnerable stakeholders across different levels.
