Guiding Principles
Two core guiding principles for The Climate Center are Climate Justice for frontline communities and a Just Transition for workers. These principles inform our Climate-Safe California campaign.
Climate justice for frontline communities
The impacts of climate change are hitting harder and faster than expected, posing grave threats to human health and well-being. Lower-income communities are disproportionately affected by exposure to pollution from our fossil fuel economy through proximity to oil and gas wells, oil refineries, major highways, and other industrial areas. These frontline communities are also more vulnerable to climate impacts such as heatwaves, drought, floods, and food insecurity.
For many decades the Environmental Justice Movement has been fighting back to stop the injustices of over a century of fossil fuel extraction, transportation, processing, and end-use that disproportionately impact these communities. The Climate Center stands with these advocates and strives to always embed climate justice in our policy work to ensure that everyone can enjoy a healthy, vibrant, and climate-safe future.
A just transition for workers
As we move toward a clean energy economy in California and globally, we must also ensure that it is a just transition and that workers and communities dependent on fossil fuel industries are included. Transforming our energy system will mean re-imagining thousands of jobs in the fossil fuel sector. Retraining and job placement will be vital for California to make the transition in an equitable way. California policymakers must ensure workforce and community security, including proactive approaches to pensions, retraining, housing, and healthcare.
A just transition of labor means training fossil fuel workers and those disproportionately impacted by the fossil fuel industry in clean energy jobs. This ensures that those who rely on the now dying industry will not be left behind and that people directly affected by fossil fuel impacts have a chance to benefit economically from the new system. The fossil fuel industry is firmly entrenched in the economy nationwide and many communities rely on tax revenues from the sale of fossil fuels. The transition away from fossil fuels must incorporate community benefits for schools and other public services to help shore up the coming tax revenue shortfall. This will require planning.
One of the most important aspects of a just transition is to ensure good-paying jobs for fossil fuel workers who are transitioning to clean energy work. Comparatively, fossil fuel industry workers are typically paid more than their clean energy counterparts. By working together, labor unions, and other groups can help secure the rights of workers through the transition.
Access to healthcare will also be critical for workers transitioning away from the fossil fuel industry. These workers often live in frontline communities with air and water pollution and thus, are likely to suffer from more health problems because of exposure to pollution. These residents also tend to be people of color, making the current fossil fuel system an inherently racist one.
The Climate Center is a member of the Labor Network for Sustainability, which lays out criteria for a just transition, including ensuring workers the following:
- Initial social safety net
- Workplace transition plan
- Wage guarantee/insurance
- Education and job training
- Priority job placement
- Pension and benefit support
- Health care
- Community investment
Resources for a Just Transition
- UC Berkely Labor Center Analysis of Diablo Canyon: A Just Transition for Workers and the Environment
- Labor Network for Sustainability: Just Transition
- We can’t wait for Washington’s Green New Deal. California needs a Just Transition now. by California Environmental Justice Alliance
- No Worker Left Behind in the Green New Deal
- A Roadmap To An Equitable Low-carbon Future: Four Pillars For A Just Transition
- This Zero Hour: A Just Transition
- Labor Unions Must Lead a Just Transition from Fossil Fuels to Clean Energy
- Climate Justice Alliance Just Transition Principles
- A Superfund for Workers: How to Promote a Just Transition and Break Out of the Jobs vs. Environment Trap
Take action for climate justice:
- Urge your legislators to put people and public health first
- Take action to protect communities from oil and gas drilling
- Healthcare professionals can show their support for equitable climate action
Policy recommendations for a just transition:
- A Roadmap to an Equitable Low Carbon Future: Four Pillars For a Just Transition_Final_Report (2019)
- California Building Decarbonization- Workforce Needs and Recommendations (2019)
- Clean Transportation – An Economic Assessment of More Inclusive Vehicle Electrification in California (2020)
- Inequalities in How Climate Change Hurts Americans & How to Close the Gap
- World Employment Social Outlook 2018
Recent News
- Oil Companies Are Profiting From Illegal Spills. And California Lets Them. , Sept 18, 2020
- Unions Back Plan to Protect Workers in Culver City Oil Plant Closing, Sept 1, 2020
- The Case for an Ecosocialist Rank & File Strategy in the Building Trades, Nov 28, 2019
- Calling All Union Members, May 20, 2019
- Diablo Canyon: A Just Transition for Workers and the Environment, Nov 30, 2018
Webinar – Climate Justice: The California reality and what you can do
Resources for Climate Justice
- U.S. Climate Action Network’s Vision for Equitable Climate Action
- Grassroots Power and Vision in the Time of COVID-19 by Climate Justice Alliance
- Advancing Climate Justice in California: Guiding Principles and Recommendations for Policy and Funding Decisions
- Connecting the Dots Between Environmental Injustice and the Coronavirus
- A Superfund for Workers: How to Promote a Just Transition and Break Out of the Jobs vs. Environment Trap