Towards a lexicon for just sustainability transitions: thinking with capabilities, epistemology, intersectionality, spatiality, and temporality

Scholars increasingly call for attention to the justice dimensions of sustainability transitions, recognizing that the burdens and benefits associated with these transitions differ over social groups, and that the goal of environmental protection can stand in tension with the goal of social justice. However, justice is an ambiguous concept and clarity about what justice in sustainability transitions can mean is limited, which is a problem for meaningful discussion and decision-making. In this paper we provide conceptual tools to elucidate what justice in sustainability transitions can mean, building on three justice dimensions developed in political philosophy (distribution, procedure, recognition) with five additional critical concepts: capabilities, epistemology, intersectionality, spatiality, and temporality. Drawing from theoretical and philosophical thinking in the social sciences and humanities, we discuss what each of these concepts entails, how they are relevant for sustainability transitions, and how they relate to distribution (outcomes), procedure (process), and recognition (interaction). We argue that together, the justice dimensions and concepts, and questions at the junctions between them, bring more comprehension to the analysis and articulation of justice in sustainability transitions. This lexicon contributes to a clearer understanding of justice, including the dilemmas undergirding sometimes contradictory demands. As such it brings questions of value and ethical considerations – in analytical as well as normative forms – front and center in sustainability transitions.