IChemE Matters: Achieving a Just Transition

An IChemE workshop has highlighted several ways the Institution can help facilitate a just transition, including two immediate priorities: building climate justice issues into the curriculum and helping members fill the skills gaps needed to move to other industries. Andrew Jamieson explains more

IF WE are to address climate change in an ethical way, we need to ensure that the transition we make – not just in how we use and produce energy, but across all industry sectors – is carried out in a way that is just.

The “just transition” has been defined by the International Labour Organization as “Greening the economy in a way that is as fair and inclusive as possible to everyone concerned, creating decent work opportunities and leaving no one behind”.

A workshop, held in late 2023, explored what this means for chemical engineers, and how IChemE can facilitate the just transition.

The workshop aimed to address the following issues:

1. What is meant by a “just transition”, and how can chemical engineers help ensure that the transition to net zero carbon emissions is “just”?
2. Alongside the opportunities, how are chemical engineers likely to be adversely affected by the transition towards net zero energy systems, processes, and products?
3. How can IChemE help avoid those “unjust” consequences, potentially in collaboration with others?

The workshop was well attended, with broad representation from IChemE members as well as external participants from industry, academia, and other professional organisations.

What does the just transition mean to chemical engineers?

The consensus view was that we will have achieved a just transition if we ensure social equity as well as sustainable development, which includes reducing carbon emissions to net zero, with an equitable distribution of benefits and risks across countries and communities. Or, stated more pithily: “Avoiding catastrophic climate change without causing catastrophic damage to people’s lives and livelihoods.”

The types of justice considered included:

• ensuring fair procedures for deciding on and implementing net zero actions
• recognising the rights, needs, and capacities for change of local communities, particularly in the global south, and the responsibilities of developed industrial nations
• fairness in the distribution of cost and benefits, and the compensation and retribution for nations disproportionately exposed to the consequences of climate change and other previous environmental injustices

This gave rise to several ethical issues regarding IChemE’s overall position. Is it appropriate for IChemE to concern itself with the social justice aspects of the transition as well as its technical realisation? How can IChemE decide where technical change should be linked to social responsibility? Should IChemE focus on the work and role of its members, or should it look beyond to all who work in the chemical engineering profession, at all levels – including semi-skilled and manual workers who are not professional engineers?

The workshop leaders looked to IChemE’s objectives, which are set out in the Royal Charter, for guidance. It states that IChemE’s role is “…furthering, in a responsible manner, both scientific and economic development and the application of sustainable processes…to help bring about or contribute to the benefits of the global community”. This supports the view that IChemE has a right to take a broader view and a right to consider social aspects and communities outside its membership.

It is interesting to note that COP28, also held in late 2023, spent a great deal of time discussing the just transition, with a focus on equity and equality. Global thinking is moving towards a combination of “leave no one behind” and an application of the precautionary principle (“first do no harm”). Built into the discussions were considerations of circular economy, nature, and biodiversity protection, as well as the ethics/people aspects.

Is it appropriate for IChemE to concern itself with the social justice aspects of the transition as well as its technical realisation? How can IChemE decide where technical change should be linked to social responsibility? Should IChemE focus on the work and role of its members, or should it look beyond?

Priority recommendations

The workshop produced some very rich thinking and a significant number of recommendations. IChemE would like to consider all recommendations in due course. However, some degree of prioritisation is needed to ensure we deliver against the most urgent and achievable recommendations first.

Since the Board of Trustees asked for two recommendations to be brought forward as priorities to address, staff identified a couple of actions which they felt were most achievable and relevant to IChemE while delivering maximum benefit to society.

The first chosen recommendation was to review existing accreditation guidance, and work with accredited universities as appropriate to explore whether and how climate justice issues can be built into the curriculum. At the same time, we will encourage universities to include (by replacement) content relevant to the new processes and materials of the net zero transition, including their sustainability and social justice implications.

This recommendation was chosen because changes to accreditation guidance are a powerful mechanism for guiding the education and outlook of the next generation. It must be supported by teaching materials that reflect net zero and ethical standards. Some of those teaching materials are already available, for example through the charitable Engineering for One Planet initiative, which has produced a broad range of free resources. Meanwhile, IChemE’s Education SIG is exploring with Heads of Chemical Engineering UK and other special interest groups how we can help universities acquire new teaching and learning resources to replace some of the largely oil- and gas-centred case studies used in the past. This ongoing work could be expanded to help universities access case studies that also support a just transition.

The second priority recommendation was to identify the potential technical skills gaps and required enhancements, and the associated needs for continuous professional development, especially for members needing to transition to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

This is well aligned with existing trends, as sustainability and energy are already expansion areas for IChemE’s training offering. Free-of-charge introductory training and discounted advanced training enhance the value of membership, while bite-sized courses should be particularly attractive to SMEs.

We will be working with our communities – our academic networks and those planning and delivering accredited chemical engineering courses, our members in our technical networks, and the staff and members engaged in developing and delivering training courses – to deliver on these priority recommendations. Once they are delivered, we will come back to the full list of recommendations to consider further steps.

IChemE’s position statement on climate change sets the Institution the challenge “to develop detailed positions and action plans for economically sustainable and secure transitions to net zero carbon emissions in all areas of chemical engineering practice and regions where members are active”.

It’s a big ask. But together, step by step, we will make it happen.

---

The full report and its recommendations are available at https://www.icheme.org/just-transition-report