How a just transition can strengthen corporate net zero strategy

Trust is one of the most revered, earned reputations for brands. One way that companies can earn the trust of consumers is to do well by the communities which they affect. As companies advance net zero plans, it’s important to shine a light on how companies can embed the principles of a just transition in their operations to maximize business value and corporate social responsibility.

The transition toward a net zero future opens the opportunity for companies to engage with communities more authentically. In a new video, Lauren Johnson explains how companies can integrate a just transition into corporate sustainability work.

Q&A with Lauren Johnson, Manager of Climate Solutions at EDF

Q: What is a “just transition”?

A: A just transition looks different in every cultural and economic context. Traditionally, in a U.S. context, the concept of a just transition has focused on how to support workers and communities impacted by polluting industries, like oil and gas workers and the communities in which these facilities are located. But if we take a wider view, a truly just transition goes beyond labor issues. In a more global context, a just transition also includes engaging entire communities – particularly those impacted first and worst by climate change and pollution – in the transition toward thriving, sustainable economies and livelihoods Every sector, every business, has a role to play in that engagement. By integrating just transition efforts with broader environmental goals, companies can create more equitable, impactful, and durable solutions that benefit both people and the planet. This kind of work doesn’t just benefit communities but benefits all of us.

Q: What steps can companies take to start turning these principles into practice?

A: As you’re planning for your 2030 and 2050 goals, there are a few big opportunities to integrate a just transition into your climate goals. Companies can get started today with key themes that align well with sustainability work. Here are a few steps from EDF’s Net Zero Action Accelerator on the topic of just transition planning:

1. Support efforts to retain and upskill workers affected by the transition while ensuring a safe and healthy working environment.
2. Conduct an impact assessment to identify the possible negative or positive impacts that your company’s climate strategy could have on local communities, employees, suppliers, or other stakeholders.
3. Engage with all affected stakeholders early and authentically. Prioritize inputs from communities in a non-extractive way and use them as guiding principles to design and co-create more inclusive and durable solutions.
4. Reducing harm to marginalized communities and those communities most at-risk of climate impacts and involving them at every level of decision-making must be central to net zero work.

Just transition efforts are most effective when companies acknowledge and avoid perpetuating historical and ongoing injustices imposed on communities and work actively to engage and co-create with affected stakeholders, ensuring equitable distribution of costs and benefits and generating solutions that meet local needs. But to do this, trust must be built gradually, and work must be driven by community priorities and co-created goals to move beyond a purely transactional relationship. For more, explore EDF’s Just Transition Framework.

Q: What are some of the business benefits of adopting principles of a just transition and focusing on environmental justice?

A: The benefits of prioritizing a just transition are numerous. You have a powerful opportunity to contribute to a just and equitable future, engage your employees, produce social co-benefits for affected communities, get ahead of regulation, advance community priorities, and ensure business continuity in a rapidly changing environment.

Q: What are a few resources you can recommend for companies just starting on this journey?

A: These resources can help companies get started now:

• Net Zero Action Accelerator Pathway to a Just Transition
• Net Zero Action Accelerator Pathway to Foster Equity, Justice and Community Engagement
• EDF’s Justice and Equity Vision and Principles
• EDF’s Climate Vulnerability Index
• Forum for the Future, B Lab Global, and B Lab U.S. & Canada’s Business Guide to Advancing Climate Justice

In conclusion, ensuring your business and climate strategies are just, equitable, responsible, and informed by stakeholders is not just the ethical thing to do – it also can ensure the long-term sustainability, durability, and profitability of your business. Factoring in considerations for a just transition is meant to fortify, not delay, a company’s decarbonization efforts and ensure efficient, durable, and positive long-term economic outcomes and co-benefits for both people and the planet.

About the author

Lauren Johnson leads qualitative research on net zero and environmental and climate justice and translates its findings to inform EDF+Business strategy. She also leads the development and execution of community training for EDF’s Climate Vulnerability Index. A former high school chemistry teacher for Teach For America, Lauren published on the health co-benefits of climate mitigation and organized a health and air quality applied sciences team for NASA during graduate school. She began her journey at EDF as an EDF Climate Corps fellow before joining the Justice & Equity team as a subject matter expert working to advance environmental and climate justice.

Additional staff contributed to this work: Ellen Shenette, Director of the Net Zero Action Accelerator and Chloe Hoang, Coordinator of the Net Zero Action Accelerator.