Mind the gap: the global governance of just transitions

Transitions away from fossil fuels need to be governed, financed,regulated, and coordinated, patterns of production and innovation needto be steered and shaped by rulemaking bodies at all levels of authority.For this to happen across a highly uneven international system, globalinstitutions have a vital role to play in supporting and implementing justtransitions (JTs) that align with principles addressing the procedural,distributional, intergenerational, and recognition-based aspects of justiceand which help to address the temporal and spatial aspects oftransitions. In this paper, we critically assess the ways in which globalinstitutions are involved in the governance of JTs. We illustrate the rolesthese institutions are playing through three key areas vital to JTs: the (i)governance of finance (ii) labour protection and (iii) mobilisingtechnological alternatives. To make sense of the diverse and unevennature of these engagements and their implications, we explore in turnfour key gaps in the way global institutions are approaching the issue ofJTs. Global Policy For Review OnlyReviewer comment ResponseI understand that the authors want to examinethe role of IGOs in the governance of JTs. Iwould start with the second part - the four gapsand illustrate them with the practices of IGOs.In some cases the information/references arequite dated, e.g., Torres (2008) on ILOUrpelainen and Van de Graaf for IRENA._________Thank you. Whilst we appreciate thissuggestion, we have not started with the fourgaps since in our view these can only beunderstood in light of the preceding analysis ofwhere those gaps come from. Since this wasalso not a change recommended by the originalreviewers, we would prefer to keep thestructure as it is. The four gaps are neverthelesssummarised on pages 2 and 3 in order to orientthe reader as the read the analysis that follows.In the previous round of revisions, we updatedreferences to each of the main globalinstitutions explored here (IMF, ILO and IRENA).You can see in both the text of the paper andreference list that many of them cite reportspublished in the last 2-3 years – alongsideearlier ones exploring the historical approachtaken by those institutions to the question ofjust transition, as requested by the previousreviewers.The contextualising discussion could berestructured and clarified:The content of the introduction, section 2 andthe first part of section 3 in many ways overlapas they all present competing JT narratives orconceptualisations from different perspectives.This contextualising discussion could berestructured to provide for a short history of JTas a policy concept and a systematicassessment of the different JTconceptualisations that have emerged since.This initial overview could provide for a clearersetting, against which to discuss the differentgovernance approaches to JT and lay out thecritique presented throughout the analysis.Thank you. In the last round of revisions, wewere asked to identify competing JT narrativesand note how they related to the approaches ofkey institutions which we have done (see page3).In terms of providing a short history of JT as aconcept, on pages 4 and 5 we have severalparagraphs providing some brief background tothe concept before looking at how differentIGOs have engaged with it. We would bereluctant to expand the discussion further,however, given constraints on space and theneed to devote most space to how differentglobal institutions have engaged with the issue.Competing dominant narratives of justtransition are discussed in the precedingsection (p.3) which concludes with thestatement that ‘just transition as a governancestrategy is how we seek to make sense of theseinterventions, albeit not viewing governance asa managerial and institutional fix for deeperand more profound imbalances of powerbetween (and within) the global institutions weexplore here’.The article’s key argumentative thread could bebrought out more clearly:Thank you for this suggestion. We have movedand reframed the text on page 3 to page 1 to Page 1 of 48 Global Policy