A special issue in the Cambridge Business and Human Rights Journal, Beyond Just Transition: Advancing Responsible and Rights-Based Business Practices in the Energy and Extractives Sector (May 2025), provides a range of articles related to just transition. There is a summary of all of the articles provided by Damilola Olawuyi, Claire Bright, Samentha Goethals and Qaraman Hasan (available here) and the full list of articles is available here.
Human Level’s Take
- The need for a just energy transition is the clearest it has ever been. There are a wide range of human rights impacted as the world transitions to clean energy, ranging from deepening social exclusion, worsening energy poverty, and limiting access to land and resources, to modern slavery, child labour, discrimination, environmental degradation, land grabs and forced displacement
- We already have a roadmap: the holistic implementation of existing international human rights norms and standards—particularly the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs)—offers a clear pathway to achieving a just, rights-respecting energy transition
- But what does this look like in practice? The articles in this special issue offer grounded insights through case studies from around the world—highlighting what’s working, where the gaps remain, and what still needs to be done. Whether your focus is Africa, Asia, or Latin America, or you're looking more specifically at sectors like wind or solar power, take a look at the full list of articles (detailed in our summary) to see what has been written here to inform your approach
- What these contributions collectively reveal is that bridging the gap between climate action and human rights requires much more deliberate effort. The good news is that we have case studies to learn from, of what to do, and what not to do
- So companies, how are you leveraging your existing human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD) efforts to advance a just transition?
Some key takeaways:
- Human rights concerns connected to clean energy transition programs: The articles delve into the human rights concerns of a number of clean energy transition programs. Concerns are growing around how the design and implementation of clean energy transition programmes could unintentionally deepen social exclusion, worsen energy poverty, and limit access to land and resources—especially for already marginalised and low-income communities. Some energy transition projects have been associated with serious human rights violations, including modern slavery, child labour, discrimination, environmental degradation, land grabs, and the forced displacement of Indigenous Peoples from their ancestral territories. In addition, the global race to secure critical minerals and raw materials—such as copper, lithium, nickel, manganese, cobalt, graphite, phosphate rock, zinc, and rare earth elements—needed for renewable energy technologies and infrastructure has raised major concerns about human rights risks linked to the extraction of these transition minerals. The lack of transparency and clarity in how transition programmes are designed and delivered has also contributed to rising concerns about misleading or inaccurate reporting—commonly referred to as greenwashing.
- Implementation of the UN Guiding Principles to advance a just and human rights-based energy transition: The summary highlights how recent literature (including a 2023 report by the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights) have explored how the holistic implementation of existing international human rights norms and standards, particularly the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), could advance a just and human rights-based energy transition. There is an important role for governments. Governments need to address the regulatory gap and stop treating human rights and climate change separately. They need to adopt a holistic regulatory framework on energy transition that is human-rights based. Companies also play an important role. The summary underscores the important role of the concept of risk-based due diligence in just transition: “it is a cornerstone of the just transition, as it can serve a dual purpose. First, it can enable extractive sector companies to identify and address the climate-related human rights and environmental impacts arising out of their activities as well as those of their business partners. Second, risk-based due diligence can enable extractive sector operators to evaluate the human rights implications of their energy transition plans.” The summary also discusses how the expectation for a transition plan in the current text of the EU CSDDD (Article 22) is connected to a just transition: “Although Article 22 does not explicitly mention human rights, it could be argued that companies are implicitly required to take into account the implication of their transition plans on rightsholders given the overarching goal of the CSDDD to achieve a just transition, as explicitly mentioned in its recitals, and companies’ overall obligation to conduct risk-based human rights and environmental due diligence.” It also delves into the importance of using five key principles of justice to guide the path to a net zero era: procedural, distributive, restorative, recognition and cosmopolitan justice. This entails moving beyond a focus on procedural justice only.
Case studies to illustrate lessons learned from implementing a just transition in practice: The special issue delves into a range of different case studies:
- Abe – Towards a Human Rights-based Approach to Energy Transition in Africa: emphasises the need to centre human rights—particularly community engagement and gender equality—in African energy transition efforts to avoid reinforcing existing inequalities
- Agbaitoro and Ekhator – Just Energy Transition in Africa: Towards Social Inclusion and Environmental Rights-based Imperatives: proposes a practical framework for achieving just energy transitions in Africa through legal reforms and inclusive governance
- Götzmann and Dicalou – Towards a Feminist Energy Justice Framework: introduces a feminist energy justice policy framework that provides a policy tool for ensuring that energy transitions actively contribute to gender equality in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Kilimcioğlu – Leave No One Behind? What Can We Learn from South Africa to Make Our (Just) Energy Transitions More Just?: uses South Africa’s coal-dependent context to explore lessons for making just transitions more inclusive and participatory
- Karamanian – International Investment Agreements, Human Rights, and the Path to Net Zero: What Role for Corporate Codes?: investigates the tensions between international investment law and corporate responsibility, and what can be done about them
- Macchi – Corporate Responsibility and Deep Seabed Mining (DSM): The Limits of Due Diligence: critiques the insufficient due diligence standards in deep-sea mining regulations, urging stronger protections for marine environments and human rights
- Cambou and Buhmann – Responsibility of Wind Energy Developers Concerning the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: uses three legal case studies to argue that wind energy developers have clear obligations to respect Indigenous rights and cannot ignore them in pursuit of clean energy
- Burcu and Jackson – China’s Solar Dominance: Worker Rights in the Pursuit of a Just Transition: exposes how exploitative labour practices underpin global solar supply chains and proposes policy responses to uphold worker rights
- Symington – What are the Success Factors for a Just Transition in Critical Mineral Extraction? Analysis from the Lithium Triangle: identifies key factors—especially community empowerment—that determine whether mineral extraction can contribute to a just transition in Latin America
- Aspinwall – Human Rights, Social Resistance, and Mining Firm Behaviour in Latin America: shows how legal and institutional frameworks shape corporate behaviour in response to community resistance, underscoring the power of litigation and strong governance.
- Saskam and Agbaitoro – Mapping Human Rights Violations Connected to Renewable Energy Development in India: presents a case study of the Oran Land in the Thar desert, affected by the country’s energy transition agenda
- Bailey and Lavite – Litigating Climate Justice in Renewable Energy Projects: Reflections from Unión Hidalgo v EDF: reflects on the civil claim filed in France under the French Duty of Vigilance Law by members of the Union Hidalgo community in Mexico against the energy company EDF
- Morfea – The Norwegian Transparency Act, Renewable Energy and Extractive Industries: Towards a Just Transition for Indigenous Sámi People: assesses how Norway’s transparency act can support Sámi rights amid growing renewable and extractive industry pressures
- Bijlmakers and Jägers – A Just Transition in the Energy and Extractive Industries: A Perspective from the Netherlands: analyses two draft Dutch due diligence laws and their potential in the context of a just energy transition
