Armoring the Just Transition Activist

The fossil fuel energy system, reinforced by oppressive policies and practices, has disproportionately harmed poor people, Indigenous people, and Brown and Black people and driven the global climate crisis. A just transition, which displaces fossil fuels and redistributes renewable energy resources, requires policies that are rooted in equity and shift power back to the hands of the most vulnerable. Just Transition Activists, leaders, organizers, and changemakers in the just transition movement, must develop transformative skillsets necessary to radically reimagine our world and dismantle the current unequal system of law and policy. This analysis explores the skills, attributes, beliefs, and attitudes for Just Transition Activists required in the pursuit of systemic change in the energy system. Section I discusses the lessons learned from the environmental justice and climate justice movements, which have yet to create the transformative change in the energy system required for a just transition. Section II describes the Just Transition Framework that provides a reimagined path forward to justice in the energy system. And Section III explores a transformative skillset for Just Transition Activists engaged in the energy justice movement. These recommendations were crafted for activists and advocates to build upon lessons learned from earlier movements and develop the skillsets necessary to achieve a truly just society.