Pathways to Just Transitions for a Sustainable Common Future  

Macquarie University City Campus, Level 24, 123 Pitt Street, Sydney
and Online

This event has now concluded.

Climate change is one of the most critical challenges of our times: it poses an existential threat to both people and nature. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in its 2023 Synthesis Report noted that human-caused climate change ‘has led to widespread adverse impacts on food and water security, human health and on economies and society and related losses and damages to nature and people’. 

In addition to impacting all human rights, climate change will continue to result in loss of biodiversity and threaten food security. It is also likely to exacerbate existing inequalities and social exclusions. There is a risk that the push for a zero-carbon economy would leave behind many marginalised or vulnerable people and groups (especially in the Global South), who may not have access to necessary finance or technology to adapt to climate-related disruptions. Moreover, climate mitigation or adaption decisions that we take would have a bearing on the human rights of children and future generations, who often lack a say in these decisions.

To deal with some of these concerns, just transition is emerging as a principled approach to move away from the current models of economic development, consumption and excessive reliance on fossil fuel. However, many issues remain unresolved. How to attribute and enforce the historical responsibility of developed states and fossil fuel companies for causing climate change? How should a just transition look, normatively and in practice, in relation to access to healthy food and renewable energy? How to facilitate equitable access to green technologies and finance needed for decarbonisation? How to ensure that renewable energy is also responsible? How to pre-empt disproportionate impacts of climate change on children, women, workers and indigenous peoples? How to hold states and companies accountable for causing or contributing to the current climate catastrophe?  

As we mark the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 30th anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, it is fitting to conduct a holistic examination of these issues with a view to build an inclusive and sustainable future for all. In particular, the role and responsibilities of states, intergovernmental bodies, international financial institutions, development banks, national human rights institutions, companies, investors, universities, consumers and civil society organisations should be interrogated. 

Against this backdrop, Macquarie University’s Centre for Environmental Law (CEL) is organising an international conference to bring together leading scholars and practitioners to discuss pathways to just transitions. The Conference will take place in a hybrid form (in Sydney and online) on 1-2 November 2023. It will mark the 40th Anniversary celebrations of CEL, Australia’s oldest continuously running centre of environmental law. 

Contacts  

For any queries about the conference, please contact the CEL Director, Prof. Surya Deva at surya.deva@mq.edu.au or CEL Admin Assistant, Mr Pushkar Anand at CEL@mq.edu.au.