Just Transition in Spain - ‘Best in Class’?

This paper talks to the RC10 call for papers on the theme of Climate Justice and Trade Unions in Global Perspective. It focuses on the case of Spain drawing from a wider research project examining the role of labour in just transition policy making globally. Spain is a country that has strongly embedded the concept of just transition within wider climate policy and could be viewed as a ‘best-in-class’ example of efforts to address justice issues within climate mitigation if the ILO's Just Transition gudelines (2015) are used as a benchmark. Set amongst contradictory assessments over the potential impacts of climate mitigation strategies on employment in Southern Europe, the role of labour and other social actors becomes of interest in how just transition policy and practice are formed. This paper considers how unions and other key stakeholders have engaged in multi-level dialogues over climate and just transition policy and the resultant form that ‘transición justa’ takes in Spain. It traces how Spanish unions have framed the challenges of climate change and decarbonisation and worked to build coalitions with other actors, notably the state. The paper considers the inherent contradictions and tensions within state-led and labour perspectives on the nature-employment nexus and the implications for wider climate justice within the green tranistion in Southern Europe.