PLURALIZE: Pluralizing the just transition: Building principles and practices of just transitions in China

The global environmental crisis cannot be addressed without a 'just transition', a concept developed to capture deep and far-reaching social reconfigurations that place well-being and justice at their heart. China, as the world's second largest economy, largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and leading producer and user of renewable energy, will shape global transition trajectories. However, the concept of just transitions has not yet gained traction within China's political system. The aim of PLURALIZE is to respond to this gap, by identifying practices and principles of just transitions that can apply in China.

PLURALIZE has four objectives. First, the project will expand conceptualizations of just transitions by drawing on thought traditions, policy practices, and individual experiences in China. Second, PLURALIZE will document the evolution of local government practices for managing transitions in China to capture foundational principles that inform the possibilities for action today. The third objective is to identify principles and practices of just transitions in contemporary environmental policy in China, thus expanding the repertoire of discourses and instruments associated with the concept. Fourth, the project will examine how Chinese foreign investment shapes just transitions in cities across world regions.

PLURALIZE constitutes the first systematic attempt to bring together philosophical principles, historical analysis, contemporary policy, and foreign investment flows to explore just transitions in urban China. The project not only seeks to expand the geographical scope of just transitions research, but to construct a new theoretical toolkit that can transform our understanding of just transitions. This will enable new opportunities to address ecological breakdown and social wellbeing in an era of geopolitical transformation.