By John Challen

Liani Baglietto Castellares, Transport Planner at Arup and a CIHT EDI Advocate believes the context of a ‘just transition’ – a fair, inclusive and sustainable approach to decarbonisation – is as important as its implementation.

“I think any definition of a just transition to net zero must be context-based, considering the different levels and sectors,” she reasons. “At the national level, it requires examining what a just transition means within the broader policy agenda. In the UK, that naturally leads to thinking of the Equality Act, which already outlines groups of protected characteristics. However, in South America, the definitions we use differ and we prioritise distinct groups based on our own regional context. 

“Often in our field, we are very aware of what needs to be implemented, but we haven't really spent a lot of time questioning where these definitions came from,” says Baglietto Castellares. “This leads to countries aligning national priorities with international obligations, funding sources, and capacity-building initiatives. In the case of Peru, gender equity and indigenous people's rights resonate a lot with international environmental texts such as the Paris Agreement.”

Measuring progress

Coming back to the UK, Baglietto Castellares says it is important to take each definition of a just transition in its wider context.

“If we consider transport in particular, an interesting issue emerges where the nine groups of protected characteristics identified in national policy don't really cover rural communities, or they don't cover lower income households,” she explains. “But those areas are still very important to consider when we look at transport, and especially when we develop measures that may impact those groups that are potentially already living in transport poverty.

“Developing this identification is really context-dependent and a useful way to do this is by considering both the sectoral scale while also leveraging expertise at the national, regional, local and community levels. Always having all these groups of protected characteristics as sounding boards is important to make sure that we are covering all of their needs and expectations.”

For the measurement of a just transition to net zero, availability of data is arguably the biggest factor, concludes Baglietto Castellares: “As transport planners, we look at the general, cumulative data, but that rarely tells the story of those people that are not usually captured under those common statistics. Recently, I’ve seen more studies working with a range of personas and taking a more differentiated approach to data gathering, which is quite useful.

“But in terms of monitoring, first we need that disaggregated data. We also need to be very clear on the outcomes that we are trying to attain and ensuring that these outcomes have been agreed. Not only by the communities that we are aiming to serve, but also by the agents involved in the delivery. It is not worth having very, very ambitious objectives that people within the industry may not agree with [and] your delivery partners may not be fully on board with, because then just you're setting yourself on the wrong track from the start. Ultimately what we’re after is strong partnerships for the delivery of shared outcomes.”

Read more from CIHT: Ensuring a just transition to net zero transport policy brief.

Image: rural road enclosed by nature. Credit: Shutterstock.