Negotiating just transitions: power and interest dynamics in insurgent sustainability coalitions

Politics and power are increasingly central to the study of sustainability transitions, including just transitions. One line of research differentiates between incumbent coalitions that resist and insurgent coalitions that promote these transitions. More recently, there has been attention on the politics and power within these coalitions and the implications of who participates and how for the kinds of policy preferences that emerge. Here, we focus on how insurgent coalitions of relatively marginalized social forces negotiate differences in interests and power. We do so by comparing insurgent just transition coalitions in two US states, Washington State and Colorado. Our study also highlights the variability amongst actors within categories, whether labour or environmental and community justice, thus challenging their homogenization implied in the ‘jobs vs environment’ and green and blue framings. We believe that our research contributes to the politicization of sustainability transition research, including just transitions.