What is Just Transition?
If you’ve seen a Just Futures presentation or explored our website, you have probably seen us mention the Just Transition framework. It is a guide for people who want to help move society from our current economy, which largely extracts resources from workers and our one planet, toward an economy that is regenerative. The Just Transition framework is foundational to how Just Futures operates.
Our current economy is largely extractive: a small number of powerful people use a large amount of resources, for example, land, water, and workers’ labor. They don’t let the resources replenish. One sign that we are in an extractive economy is the extreme climate events we see happening around the world.
Over time, this group of powerful people has created financial systems that move resources so they get more and more compared to everyone else. In the United States, for example, the richest 1% of households own 30 cents of every dollar.
As we move toward more balance, we hope to enter a “restorative” phase. In this phase, people would share resources equitably. Meanwhile, we would manage our natural resources in a way that allows them to replenish. Empty riverbeds would begin to refill, and everyday people would have plenty of time to enjoy leisure activities, for example.
Finally, we hope to reach regeneration. In this kind of economy, we would create more wealth – for each other and for our planet – than what we consumed. This would be a state of true growth. The natural world would flourish, and so would we!
The regenerative economy will be very different from our current economy. This chart gives just some examples of the differences between our current extractive economy and the kind of economy Just Futures is helping build:
Extractive Economy vs Justly Transitioning Economy
Features of an Extractive Economy | Features of a Justly Transitioning Economy | |
Main energy source | Oil & gas owned by giant corporations (e.g., Chevron, Shell). | Community-owned renewable energy (solar, wind, hydraulic, etc.). |
Consumers' preferred bank | Large banks that fund climate chaos and other harmful business practices (e.g., Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase). | Community credit unions and other local banks that serve poor and working-class communities of color. Find a mission driven institution (MDI) or community development financial institution (CDFI) near you here. Find a credit union near you here. |
Politicians (and the laws they make) are accountable to | Wealthy corporate donors and their lobbyists. | Everyday people. |
Workplaces | Worker wages are a tiny fraction of C-suite wages (e.g., in 2024, Chevron paid CEO Michael Wirth more than 775 times what it pays its average gas station attendant). Workers don’t have much power to influence workplace practices. | Workers enjoy living wages and expansive benefits, e.g., health insurance, parental leave, and paid time off. Through unions and worker-owned cooperatives, workers collectively build workplaces that benefit workers, communities, and our one planet. |
Production & consumption | Corporations barely pay workers (often children) in poor countries to make products. They then send the products around the world to sell, which pollutes the environment. | Corporations pay living wages and sell products close to where the workers make the products. Americans consume less, e.g., fewer cars, less “fast fashion.” |
Hungry for more knowledge? Read on to learn how shareholder advocates are supporting Just Transition through inside-the-boardroom actions.
If you don’t have a retirement investing account, or if your employer contracts with a different retirement plan provider, we’d love to show you Just Futures’ services! Contact us: info@justfutures.com.
~Lisa, Manager of Coalitions and Worker Power