Robin Hids

Abstract: The Paris Agreement implicitly calls for phasing out fossil fuels to comply with targets of remaining below a 1.5-2 °C global temperature increase. In order to meet these internationally determined objectives and facilitate a fossil fuel phase out, an energy transition must occur. Although a rapid transition will strongly endorse climate change mitigation goals, it may adversely affect the global workforce in terms of job loss among the 18 million people currently employed in the fossil fuel sector. To limit human suffering and hardship caused by efforts to Leave Fossil Fuels Underground, it is crucial to account for those potentially facing unemployment due to energy transition endeavors. Therefore, a Just Transition of the workforce has been proposed and formalized in international policies and agreements. Although such agreements include helpful guidelines for constructing Just Transition plans, the need for establishing context-sensitive and country-specific Just Transition policies has frequently been expressed. Existing scholarship largely omits Just Transitions in oil and gas phase-outs, prospective Just Transitions, and Just Transitions in developing countries. This thesis aims to contribute to filling these lacunas by investigating the case study of Argentina’s Just Transition. The overarching question driving this research, is “how do international Just Transition guidelines compare to Argentine Just Transition policies, and what key opportunities and challenges does Argentina face in a prospective inclusive and Just Transition away from fossil fuels?” The study adopts a social inclusiveness approach and aims to illuminate which challenges and opportunities present themselves in the case of Argentina’s prospective Just Transition. Through a combination of content analysis and semi-structured interviews, several challenges and opportunities emerge. In terms of opportunities, Argentina’s Just Transition strategy greatly focuses on job creation and –transformation through re-training and skill-learning programs. This appears a viable possibility because Argentina has huge potential for renewable energy generation and the creation of green jobs. If implemented accordingly, this could contribute to Just Transition objectives, although renewable energy development is not enough to LFFU. Challenges were also identified and include the phasing out of oil and gas jobs as these workers are currently among the best-paid workers in the country and enjoy favorable work conditions strongly protected by labor unions. Considering these unions are highly influential and strongly aligned with the oil and gas sector, they are believed to prove unsupportive of a transition for labor. Another challenge concerns Argentina’s minimal Just Transition policy, where Just Transition is predominantly treated as a climate issue, although international Just Transition guidelines urge governments to consider it a cross-sectoral issue.