A place-based approach to measuring a just transition: Evidence from the north-east of Scotland

Daria Shapovalova; Keith A. Bender; John Bone; Tavis Potts

doi:10.1016/j.erss.2025.104236

A place-based approach to measuring a just transition: Evidence from the north-east of Scotland

Daria Shapovalova^* (Corresponding Author), Keith A. Bender, John Bone, Tavis Potts

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

The transition to sustainable energy systems necessitates not only technological but also societal transformations. For countries shifting away from fossil fuel production, Just Transition has become a central concept for planning and action. With many countries adopting Just Transition platforms, its operationalisation and measurement pose challenges, largely stemming from a lack of proven methodologies and complexity of social, economic and environmental data, as well as the diversity of stakeholder perspectives and narratives on contested futures. In this paper, we critically review the existing approaches for measuring Just Transition, challenges in indicator selection, implementation, and assessment. This paper presents a novel approach to developing principles for method and indicator selection for place-based measurement of Just Transition. We explore theoretical frameworks guiding indicator selection and the implications of different conceptualisations of Just Transition. We explore a case study of North East of Scotland (Aberdeen and its wider region) hosting the UK's oil and gas industry to illustrate how participatory research can be used to develop a place-based approach to transition measurement, emphasising the importance of community engagement and multi-stakeholder dialogue. Our findings underscore the importance of holistic, context-specific approaches to measuring Just Transition that evaluate jobs and skills, poverty and wellbeing, community revitalisation and participatory democracy.

Original language	English
Article number	104236
Number of pages	16
Journal	Energy Research & Social Science
Volume	127
Early online date	12 Aug 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2025.104236
Publication status	Published - Sept 2025

Bibliographical note

The authors are grateful to all participants of the knowledge exchange events for their insightful comments and suggestion that helped as formulate the themes and indicators. We thank Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeen City Library, Aberdeen University Special Collections, Cfine, and NESCAN Hub for providing or assisting with data on multiple indicators. Authors are additionally grateful to the steering group for the Rapid Evidence Assessment comprised: Brook Dambacher, Professor Alex Kemp, Dr. Leslie Mabon, Morag McCorkindale, Jake Molloy, and Alison Stuart. Authors are grateful to the team of reviewers, in particular Dr. Rachel Bray, Jeremy Cresswell, Gordon McIntosh, Professor John Paterson. We thank the team of research assistants – Jemma Healy, Tracy Asamoah-Boateng, and Henry Reeves-Turner. All mistakes remain our own.

Open Access via the Elsevier agreement

Data Availability Statement

Data will be made available on request.

Funding

Research for this article was funded through a research grant from Uplift to the University of Aberdeen for the project “Just Transition for Communities and Workers in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire”. The work on democratic participation, in particular, conducting and analysing the survey, was supported with funding from the Scottish Government Just Transition Fund for the “Just Transition Communities Project”.

Funders	Funder number
University of Aberdeen
Scottish Government

Keywords

Just transition
Monitoring and evaluation
Indicators
Community empowerment
Energy transition

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Shapovalova_etal_ERSS_A_Place-Based_Approach_VOR
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Final published version, 3.47 MBLicence: CC BY

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214629625003172

Cite this

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abstract = "The transition to sustainable energy systems necessitates not only technological but also societal transformations. For countries shifting away from fossil fuel production, Just Transition has become a central concept for planning and action. With many countries adopting Just Transition platforms, its operationalisation and measurement pose challenges, largely stemming from a lack of proven methodologies and complexity of social, economic and environmental data, as well as the diversity of stakeholder perspectives and narratives on contested futures. In this paper, we critically review the existing approaches for measuring Just Transition, challenges in indicator selection, implementation, and assessment. This paper presents a novel approach to developing principles for method and indicator selection for place-based measurement of Just Transition. We explore theoretical frameworks guiding indicator selection and the implications of different conceptualisations of Just Transition. We explore a case study of North East of Scotland (Aberdeen and its wider region) hosting the UK's oil and gas industry to illustrate how participatory research can be used to develop a place-based approach to transition measurement, emphasising the importance of community engagement and multi-stakeholder dialogue. Our findings underscore the importance of holistic, context-specific approaches to measuring Just Transition that evaluate jobs and skills, poverty and wellbeing, community revitalisation and participatory democracy.",

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AB - The transition to sustainable energy systems necessitates not only technological but also societal transformations. For countries shifting away from fossil fuel production, Just Transition has become a central concept for planning and action. With many countries adopting Just Transition platforms, its operationalisation and measurement pose challenges, largely stemming from a lack of proven methodologies and complexity of social, economic and environmental data, as well as the diversity of stakeholder perspectives and narratives on contested futures. In this paper, we critically review the existing approaches for measuring Just Transition, challenges in indicator selection, implementation, and assessment. This paper presents a novel approach to developing principles for method and indicator selection for place-based measurement of Just Transition. We explore theoretical frameworks guiding indicator selection and the implications of different conceptualisations of Just Transition. We explore a case study of North East of Scotland (Aberdeen and its wider region) hosting the UK's oil and gas industry to illustrate how participatory research can be used to develop a place-based approach to transition measurement, emphasising the importance of community engagement and multi-stakeholder dialogue. Our findings underscore the importance of holistic, context-specific approaches to measuring Just Transition that evaluate jobs and skills, poverty and wellbeing, community revitalisation and participatory democracy.

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A place-based approach to measuring a just transition: Evidence from the north-east of Scotland

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Availability Statement

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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Cite this