September saw high-level meetings seeking to steer the course of human civilization’s future amid multiple global challenges. 

More than 190 member-states of the United Nations came together for the annual UN General Assembly in New York. In the same city, governments, corporations, and civil society organizations participated in the subsequent  Summit of the Future and the Global Renewables Summit, collectively recognizing and reaffirming the growing global consensus that a transition away from fossil fuels is necessary for the world’s survival.

The transition away from the production and consumption of fossil fuels presents an urgent and enormous challenge. Our economies and societies are built to be very dependent on fossil fuels. A rapid fossil fuel phase-out that is needed to save people and the planet from climate catastrophe may cause massive disruptions and dislocations if not carefully planned, fully funded, and carried out in an equitable and just manner. 

Social movements, communities, and labor movements are coming together not only to press for much more ambitious and rapid climate action, but also to demand and call for an equitable and just transition—that is, a transition that addresses potential dislocations and disruptions, guarantees the protection and promotion of the rights and welfare of people, and ensures that the costs as well as the benefits of the transition are shared fairly.

A just transition will require the mobilization of massive amounts of resources for a whole set of policies and processes geared at not only transforming our economies, but also ensuring that no one is left behind. These policies and processes include social protection, reskilling/upskilling, retooling of infrastructure and machinery, massive increase of alternative green jobs and livelihoods, relocation, resettlement and alternative housing, ecological restoration, peoples’ participation and economic restructuring and diversification. 

There must be adequate climate finance not just for funding the costs of climate change mitigation, adaptation, and loss and damage, but also for funding a just transition. Thus, the call for the full delivery of climate finance obligations by developed countries—in the trillions, not just billions, of dollars—is inextricably linked with the demand for a rapid, equitable, and just transition.

The energy transition also presents challenges unique to developing countries like the Philippines. The people in developing countries are not only severely vulnerable to climate change’s impacts; as well, they struggle with poverty and the oppressive impacts of structural problems which are legacies of colonial history and hallmarks of the neoliberal global economic order. These include economic and political inequalities within and between countries, economies oriented to produce for the world market rather than for domestic needs, and financial systems that are driven by private profit accumulation rather than for development and climate action. 

Colonialism and imperialism subsumed most Global South economies under the global capitalist system that facilitated the development and industrialization of the developed countries and molded developing countries into providers of raw materials and cheap labor, perpetually relegated to low value-added locations in the global economy. 

Even today, the international financial architecture and global trade regime dominated by wealthy countries—enforced by the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organization and other institutions—continue to keep our economies indebted, heavily reliant on imports and foreign currencies, and lacking access to vital and socially necessary technologies. According to some studies, net outflows of resources from Global South countries to the advanced economies of the Global North are estimated to be over $10 trillion per year.

This global system severely restricts our ability to cater to both domestic needs and climate action sufficiently. It propagates patriarchal and racial systems that relegate women, other genders, indigenous peoples, and people of color to the margins of society.

The historical processes that subordinated billions of people to the interests of elites and corporations and rendered them vulnerable to multiple crises are the same processes that have fueled ecological devastation and are now threatening the world’s existence. The wealthiest, most developed, and most industrialized countries, along with the multinational corporations and international financial institutions they dominate, are responsible for most of current and historical GHG emissions. Recent data shows that collectively, the Global North is responsible for 92% of excess GHG emissions.

As Northern and Southern governments grapple with the daunting task of transitioning away from fossil fuels while also upholding equity and justice, they must be compelled to understand that there can be no equitable and just transition without a confrontation with the systems and structures that threaten both the development and survival of all nations and peoples.

Luke Espiritu is a lawyer, labor organizer, and climate activist. He is the national president of the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (Solidarity of Filipino Workers).

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