Seven principles to realize a just transition to a low-carbon economy

The report argues that a successful global low-carbon transition depends on addressing equity concerns to reduce resistance and ensure fairness. It distills seven principles from literature and historical case studies: actively encouraging decarbonization, avoiding carbon lock-in, supporting affected regions, supporting workers and communities, remediating environmental damage, addressing social inequalities, and ensuring inclusive planning. The authors emphasize that these principles must be pursued in parallel and that the need for social support does not justify delaying decarbonization. Historical analysis shows that poorly managed industrial declines lead to poverty, out-migration, and political instability, often with the public sector bearing the costs of private-sector environmental liabilities.

• The report establishes seven core principles for a just transition: 1) actively encouraging decarbonization, 2) avoiding carbon lock-in and the creation of more 'losers', 3) supporting affected regions, 4) supporting workers, families, and wider communities, 5) cleaning up environmental damage without transferring costs to the public sector, 6) addressing existing economic and social inequalities, and 7) ensuring inclusive and transparent planning.
• Decarbonization must not be delayed due to the potential negative impacts on carbon-intensive regions, as such delays are considered fundamentally unjust and would exacerbate the impacts of climate change.
• Historical industrial and mining closures demonstrate that poorly managed transitions result in diverse socioeconomic harms, including increased poverty, social instability, population decline through out-migration, and the rise of populist politics driven by existential insecurity.
• There is a recurring historical trend where the private sector transfers the financial burden of environmental remediation for contaminated lands and waterways to the public sector, violating the 'polluter pays' principle.
• Effective support for workers requires a combination of short-term passive labour policies (such as compensation and early retirement) and long-term active labour-market policies, including re-skilling, education, and mental health services tailored to local market characteristics.
• International financial and technical assistance for the transition should be prioritized for regions characterized by low financial capacity, high dependence on carbon-intensive activities, or lower historical responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions.

APA

Atteridge, A., & Strambo, C. (2020). Seven principles to realize a just transition to a low-carbon economy. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/seven-principles-for-a-just-transition.pdf

Chicago

Atteridge, Aaron, and Claudia Strambo. Seven principles to realize a just transition to a low-carbon economy. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2020. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/seven-principles-for-a-just-transition.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Atteridge |first1=Aaron |last2=Strambo |first2=Claudia |title=Seven principles to realize a just transition to a low-carbon economy |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=June 2020 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/seven-principles-for-a-just-transition.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{atteridge2020seven, author = {Atteridge, Aaron and Strambo, Claudia}, title = {{Seven principles to realize a just transition to a low-carbon economy}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2020}, month = jun, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/seven-principles-for-a-just-transition.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }