By Sam Walby, April Doner, Jack Becher, Tchiyiwe Chihana, Sam Gregory, and Peter Pula
This story was originally published in Nonprofit Quarterly on September 22, 2025: nonprofitquarterly.org/what-is-a-just-transition-and-how-can-we-pursue-it/
State of the Movements is a recurring NPQ column dedicated to tracking the pulse of social movements and the solidarity economy in 2025.
In our movements, we often focus on actions—the next protest or next policy initiative. But building a theoretical framework for what we want is an equally important part of movement work.
So, what is a “just transition”? As a framing term, just transition offers a critical awareness of the historical context of colonialism and extraction, as well as the baked-in systemic violence of our current systems and the necessary personal transformations required for tangible, meaningful change.
Like any term, “just transition” is at risk of being co-opted or sanitized. There is also no consensus on what a just transition is. From the personal to the planetary, justice means different things in different settings. But at its heart, the notion of a just transition speaks to the importance of centering human dignity and democratic control.
From trade union organizing to environmental movements, from global reparations to local adaptations, there is an abundance of ideas and a rich history behind the term. Through a set of possibility-oriented interviews—what we at Generative Journalism Alliance (GJA) call an “inquiry”—we’ve discovered deeply personal perspectives on what just transition means to people working in the field.
In the spirit of the GJA’s shared commitment to story as a tool for healing, truth-telling, and transformation, our inquiry on just transition is rooted in the possibility that humanity can transition to livable, sustainable, and equitable systems that prioritize basic needs and human thriving while being grounded in the material realities and constraints that we face as a species.
What Do We Mean by “Just Transition”?
Very early in our inquiry, we realized that we were likely to hear as many definitions of “just transition” as the number of conversations we hosted.
“It means so many things to so many people, and a bit of a dangerous phrase for that reason. I’ve come to, in a way, hate the term,” said Jenny Patient, an experienced climate campaigner based in Sheffield, United Kingdom (near Manchester), who specializes in trade unions. Patient thinks there is a risk of it becoming an empty catchphrase and often uses “climate justice” as an alternative.
At its heart, the notion of a just transition speaks to the importance of centering human dignity and democratic control.
Several interviewees note that the concept of just transition is rooted in historic labor organizing, particularly Latin American workers’