The challenges of energy transition and balancing perspectives - scholar insights

We recently caught up with 2021 CMF Scholar, Sari Ohsada, who completed her MSc with distinction at Oxford University, looking at how we navigate through the complex transitions to low carbon economies. As an Albertan herself, Alberta was the focus of her research. She outlines the three various methods of “just transitions” (distributive, procedural and contextual) to a low carbon economy and concludes that we must achieve greater conceptual clarity about them, while also suggesting that a greater emphasis on balancing the three equities is crucial. We read this as suggesting we must work harder to include more and varied voices and perspectives in agreeing on a way forward. What do you think? Please join the conversation below with your comments and suggestions.

The Value of Multidimensional Equity Frameworks in Relation to the Just Transition to a Low Carbon Economy

Sari Ohsada: Canadian Memorial Foundation Scholar, 2020-2021, University of Oxford

Just transition is a broad concept that is concerned with how transitions to a low carbon economy are inclusive, recognizing the different burdens and benefits that different individuals and societies face. The original concept, defined by the Oil Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union in the 1980s, was that “workers who lose jobs to environmental protections should receive relocation assistance, full wage replacement until they retire or find comparable jobs, four years of free higher education, and stipends if no jobs are available after retraining” (Morena et al., 2019). Since then, the concept has become popularized beyond its labour movement origins, entering the realm of environmental organizations, global labour institutions, governments, the private sector, and researchers. While many of them have published a series of high-level guidelines that explain how to implement a just transition, there is no single definition or approach to implementing one. Therefore, there is a significant gap around what exactly ‘just’ and ‘transition’ means and for whom.

As a CMF scholar from the oil-dependent province of Alberta, Canada, I became deeply interested in exploring the social justice aspects around decarbonization. I felt both motivated and challenged to learn about key opportunities and global innovations around environmental change while understanding the conflicting economic, social, and environmental struggles in my home province.

As a result, I used my research opportunity at the University of Oxford to explain how dominant framings of just transition are used by different stakeholders involved in Alberta’s thermal coal phase-out. Between 2012 and 2019, a series of political decisions were made to transition away from coal-fired electricity production in Alberta by 2030. Affected by these decisions were frontline communities that have been experiencing devastation, fear, and uncertainty about their jobs and livelihood. Using McDermott et al.’s (2013) equity framework, my research involved comparing and contrasting the distributive, procedural, and contextual equity framings used by key stakeholders and policymakers through 24 in-depth semi-structured interviews and textual analysis. Results show that government policymakers used distributive equity framings the most in contrast to community members who placed more emphasis on procedural and contextual issues. The results from the interviews support the literature that just transition needs greater conceptual clarity, while also suggesting that a greater emphasis on balancing the three equities is crucial.

Through this research, I learned that the experiences that have unfolded in Alberta’s coal phase-out can inform transitions occurring in other sectors. In terms of Canada’s continual efforts around just transition, Alberta’s oil and gas sector is currently a significant focus. While transitioning away from coal was relatively easier in terms of its declining economic viability and smaller political pushback, finding ways to transition away from oil and gas will be politically, economically, and socially difficult. The scale of the challenge for oil and gas is much larger, as the sector employs around 140,000 workers, let alone the significant groups of secondary businesses that rely on this sector. Based on the outcomes of this study, the oil and gas just transition will likely take the most economic and politically quick pathway using distributive equity framings at the cost of a more holistic equity approach.

While advocating for distributive equity framings of clean jobs and worker compensation provide some means for coal workers to transition into a low carbon economy, these solutions overlook the systemic issues that created labour precarity and community instability from the first place. Just transition, approached more holistically, involves dismantling the procedural norms of neoliberal governance that prioritize macroeconomics over the social wellbeing and cultural identity of affected communities. Moreover, it means engaging with marginalized communities such as First Nations who have fundamentally different epistemologies and ontologies that value relationship-building over Western information-sharing.

Thanks to CMF’s financial support and the various networking opportunities my year abroad have given me, I was fortunate to earn Distinction on my final dissertation and I look forward to publishing these findings in an academic journal. Undertaking this scholarship has given me the opportunity to gain world-class knowledge, theories, and practices at the University of Oxford amongst 34 classmates from across six continents, and I’m proud to have now returned home to Alberta to share and build on these learnings. Despite the challenges of COVID, my year abroad was an unforgettable experience and I’m grateful to continue my professional journey back home while staying connected with the UK.