Calling for
JUST stories
The world is in a race against time to reach net zero.
Major industrial change is underway. But who are the people working together to ensure this change is just and fair?
The Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) is launching a global search for stories of people working together to advance just transitions.
These aren’t just stories, these are JUST Stories.
We believe that action is most effectively inspired through leading-by-example and stories that demonstrate the art of the possible.
We are looking for stories of meaningful partnerships between those leading public or private sector net zero transitions and those most impacted – local workers, Indigenous peoples, and communities on the frontlines of change.
This story series will seek to learn from and amplify the human dimensions of how these partnerships are being formed, how they work, how agency is being embedded in the process, how accountability can be maintained.
Whether transitions are ‘just’ will remain uncertain for decades to come, but what can we learn now from the realities of transitions - both successes and challenges - as they unfold?
What are
just transitions?
History is littered with examples of workers, Indigenous people and local communities being left behind in the wake of seismic economic and industrial shifts.
We cannot afford for net zero to become the next frontier of social conflict
In 2015, the landmark Paris Agreement put the imperatives of a just transition on the global climate agenda by acknowledging the importance of decent and quality jobs for the workforce, and opening the way for decarbonisation to deliver major social benefits.
Institutions everywhere face the urgent and daunting task of decarbonising in a way that does not harm – but actually creates opportunities for – the people at the heart of these transitions.
The voices of workers, indigenous groups, and local communities are key to delivering fast, effective, climate action that is fair and equitable.
What does JUST Stories hope to achieve?
This story series seeks to address the urgent need to amplify learnings from the experiences of those people working in partnership to advance just transitions.
The JUST Stories team will begin researching, examining and reporting stories throughout 2024 and 2025. The handful of stories we report will share practical and useful lessons on how to embed the agency of those most affected into the early stages of net zero transitions.
These stories may be hard to come by. Many decarbonisation projects will unfold over the next two to three decades. The stories we gather will attempt to share a snapshot of the needs, ambitions, and constraints faced by those involved; and how power and trust are brokered and maintained.
Transition strategies need to reflect unfolding realities: mindsets shift through trial and error and learning from experience. There will be successes and setbacks. By intentionally seeking out first-hand accounts from people involved in net zero planning and implementation, we hope to focus just transition narratives on the value of meaningful engagement to achieve net zero transitions that are truly ‘just’.
Visit our FAQs page to learn more about JUST Stories’ outcomes, our Advisory Council, story eligibility, and our approach to reporting.
JUST Stories is led by the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB), the leading global think tank working to make respect for human rights part of everyday business, and guided by an expert Advisory Council made up of worker, indigenous, finance, and decarbonisation experts. It is co-chaired by Mary Robinson former President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Sharan Burrow, former General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation.