Why we need to talk about just climate transitions: IGP at COP24

Global warming and prosperous futures 

The need for action on climate change is urgent and profound. World leaders must act, and must act now to limit global warming to below the 1.5˚C recently outlined as so crucial by the IPCC Special Report. However, this urgency should not overshadow the fact that careless climate action could also have profoundly negative impacts on those communities whose livelihoods, not to mention histories and cultural values, will be transformed by the move to decarbonised economies. While we must transform those communities engaged in the production of harmful greenhouse gases and other pollutants, we cannot blame those communities for the harm that has already been done. Rather, we must work with such communities to design alternative and prosperous futures. 

Mining Industries and the Sustainable Transformation of Towns with Circular Economy and Just Transition

On the 10th of December 2018, Institute for Global Prosperity (IGP) visiting Professor Sandra Piesik coordinated a panel at COP24 in Katowice, Poland, designed precisely to address the issue of 'just transitions' for communities engaged in extractive industries. The panel marked the launch of joint research activities by a consortium from across Europe and Africa including the IGP. The COP24 panel saw a range of contributions from the emerging project partners, covering topics such as the economic diversification of mining communities, the transition to circular mining economies, the uses and re-uses of mining waste, and the regeneration of mining landscapes. Dr Piesik in particular spoke about the successes of the Katowice Special Economic Zone (KSSE) in transforming its mining economy and landscape, supported by contributions from members of the KSSE administration and the mining union. 

The IGP 'Pathways to Prosperity: tool kit'

The event also marked an opportunity to develop and present the new 'Pathways to Prosperity: tool kit', designed by an IGP team led by Dr Piesik and in collaboration with designer Lewis Evans. The tool kit asks players to make choices about local prosperity priorities and then to map these choices to the stakeholders and industries that have the potential to deliver them. Using a series of colourful cards, players are then asked to link the choices made to the Sustainable Development Goals allowing them to consider how locally specific ideas and values interact synergistically with global frameworks. The tool kit had already been tested and refined by myself with students on the MSc in Global Prosperity but we were keen to see how the kit worked with a group of researchers and policymakers. Happily the COP24 delegates engaged enthusiastically, debating and discussing the choices they made, and using the kit to consider the local expressions of global challenges. 

Overall we were excited and inspired by our experience of COP24. We are very much looking forward to applying core IGP prosperity research to the important question of developing just climate transitions for communities around the world, especially in mining contexts. 

If you would like to know more about the IGP's work on climate change and just transitions please contact Dr Matthew Davies.

Consortium Partners include: Institute for Global Prosperity (UCL), Imperial College London, The Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Science (Krakow, Poland), The University of Cape Town (South Africa, 3 Ideas Ltd (London), the Katowice Special Economic Zone (Katowice, Poland), and supported by the Paris Committee on Capacity-building.