A just transition – elusive and confusing?
For many people in traditional areas of carbon-intensive heavy industries in the UK, the term “just-transition” is not only elusive but confusing when talking about the challenge of industrial decarbonisation says a new study.
Led by Bennett Institute’s Benjamin Sovacool and colleagues and published in Global Environmental Change the study has captured in original data; the opinions of communities based across United Kingdom and revealed a strong sense of “place” related to industrial heritage pervades the community.
It shows the public have a low familiarity and appreciation of industrial decarbonisation options and express the least support for hydrogen or carbon-capture and storage (CCS) when compared to other options like renewables despite these being relied on most heavily by the UK Government in its industrial strategy and energy policy to achieve a net-zero industry.
Meaningful public consultation
The UK public remains uninformed or perhaps uninterested or ambivalent about a Just Transition. They don’t know what it means and seem to have other priorities. “Just transition” as terminology appears to be just very academic.
Although focused on the UK, the study also advances relevant findings for those in other locations, even those in the Global South or locations that are not Western, Industrialised, and Democratic. Namely, it shows that in a highly advanced economy, communities at the heart of the UK’ s industrial economy still hold strong feelings of sadness, resentment, and exclusion concerning industrial decarbonisation.
To move quickly and fairly toward UK climate mitigation goals, government, industry, and community actors must nurture political coalitions, instigate meaningful public consultation, and build public accountability mechanisms into net-zero policies and planning.
Read the full paper
This article is a summary of a research paper:
Benjamin K. Sovacool, Patrick Devine-Wright, Sarah Mander, Jordan Rowley and Stacia Ryder, Realising a locally-embedded just transition: sense of place, lived experience, and social perceptions of industrial decarbonisation in the United Kingdom, Global Environmental Change, 94 (October 2025) 103051.
Main Picture: Essar Refinery Merseyside, UK
