Challenges to the Re-Organisation of Global Production for Net Zero and Just Transition: The Case of Green Work in Sustainable Horticulture

The twin challenges of working towards net zero and pursuing just transitions for regions suffering most from climate crisis within the Anthropocene, require radical change to the organisation of production and work at the global level. Sociology has a key role to play in understanding these challenges from a historical and evidence-based perspective. On one hand, just transition addresses the need to acknowledge power imbalances that have caused structural inequalities and the need to develop strategies so those more responsible for environmental crisis to make reparation. On the other hand, the pressing need to transform carbon emission to achieve net zero, necessitates new ways of structuring networks of production and supply to ensure workers, materials and goods are more locally based and move around the world less.

The twin crises of global capitalism, ecological disaster and class polarization (Sklair, 2002), can be seen reflected in the case of sustainable horticulture, the focus of this paper. The global cut flower market is worth more than $36 billion, with countries like Britain importing about 90% of their blooms. This paper identifies key environmental and labour rights impacts from the flower industry and sets out the dilemmas faced when global supply chains have created dependency and structural inequalities where workers and natural resources are devalued. The work is precarious and thirsty flowers need water in production and transportation. Many are grown in hot, drought-prone regions such as Ethiopia and Kenya, where food production is the priority for local communities. The flying of flowers, usually north, also brings ‘sky-high’ carbon footprints that consumers are still often unaware of. Research on more sustainable trends in horticulture is presented and piloted innovations for the scaling up of local, seasonal and smaller scale growing and the role of green jobs is explored.