Co-Host Plenary Session - Reimagining Transitions

Co-hosted by Research Centre Bath

There is an urgent need to decarbonise existing social and economic systems to limit global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial temperatures (IPCC 2022). It is equally imperative that this transition to more sustainable futures will be implemented in equitable ways and will result to more just socio-economic arrangements. For some political actors, the transition to ‘net zero’, ‘post-carbon’ or ‘decarbonised’ futures presents a unique opportunity to pursue aggregate economic growth, attract investment, and advance technological innovations (European Parliament 2022, IMF 2023). Yet for others, the ‘green transition’ could result to the exacerbation of socio-economic inequalities across local, national, and global scales, as well as across multiple layers (gender, race, class). As decisions around transitions are shaped by values and norms that can undermine social wellbeing and environmental resilience (Newell et al 2021), there is a particular concern that historical injustices could continue to shape power relations and dynamics.

The challenge of ‘just transitions’ opens up pathways for re-imagining the processes and outcomes of transitions. If the ‘green transition’ is to also be ‘just’, then it is crucial that climate coloniality (Sultana 2022), green colonialism (Lang et al 2024), and climate-related oppressions more broadly (Mikulewicz et al 2023) are properly identified, acknowledged, and addressed. This would require a re-evaluation of the norms that inform transitions thinking, a widening of the spectrum of knowledges accepted and included in designing transitions, as well as a reconsideration of material and ethical priorities. It would require, in other words, the mobilisation of imagination and transformative forms of thinking.

This roundtable will provide a forum for the exchange of ideas around the importance of re-imagining transitions. We will be discussing challenges and opportunities related to the transition to sustainable futures; forms of knowledge that can inform transitions thinking; existing barriers to rethinking transitions and how to overcome them. We are particularly interested to create a space where less-frequently views are discussed, including marginalised ideas and concerns, alongside perspectives that call into attention creative ways of thinking about transitions. As our intention is to make this a meaningful and inclusive opportunity for dialogue, we have invited participants from different disciplinary and socio-cultural contexts.