Putting Reproductive Labor at the Center of the Just Transition

Today’s energy transition has been called upon not only to be urgent but also just. The call for a just transition originated from labor movements demanding responsible solutions to communities’ social and environmental struggles, particularly for workers with high stakes in greenhouse-gas-intensive sectors. These workers seek secure job opportunities in low-carbon industries while addressing the urgent need to combat climate change. While debates around just transitions have considerably increased concerning energy democracy, participation, phasing-out, and new technologies, climate initiatives still place insufficient attention to the intertwined nature of labor regimes, resource extraction and the entrenched neocolonial endeavors. Indeed, land, workers and raw materials located in resource-rich regions will be essential to the realization of transitions everywhere in the world and these regions continue to face high levels of inequality and the largest consequence of climate change. This study aims to examine the role of social reproduction by looking at labor regimes connected to the supply chains of raw materials in the energy transition. I argue that the energy transition in industrialized rich societies is benefiting from essential reproductive and care work, largely done by marginalized, poor and exploited women. This reproductive work subsidizes and makes the energy transition financially profitable within the current capitalist system of accumulation. If the discussion ignores reproductive labor, what is "just" about the energy transition? An effective just transition goes beyond merely greening energy systems, it must put social reproduction at the center of the transition.