June Article of the Month

In our June Article of the Month - 'Towards a framework articulating justice and development for evaluating just transition policies', Francesco Laruffa and Bénédicte Zimmermann offer a powerful new framework for understanding what truly constitutes a “just transition” in the face of the ecological crisis. Moving beyond narrow, jobs-focused approaches, the authors argue that transition policies must integrate broader dimensions of social-ecological justice. Including distributive, procedural, intergenerational, ecological and planetary justice while also rethinking dominant growth-driven models of development. Drawing on the capability approach, the article places democratic participation and collective co-production at the centre of transformative change. Through a critical evaluation of the International Labour Organization’s just transition guidelines, Laruffa and Zimmermann demonstrate how many current policy approaches remain constrained by economic growth imperatives and limited conceptions of justice. The article calls instead for deeper democratisation, broader participation and new alliances of knowledge that include workers, communities and ecological perspectives in shaping sustainable futures. This timely contribution makes an important intervention in debates on climate transition, democracy and social transformation, highlighting the need for transition policies that are not only green, but genuinely just.