CHAMPIONS OF INCLUSIVE TRANSITION

An inclusive and just transition served as the focal theme when WIN WIN Gothenburg Sustainability Award together with Reväst, Wexsus and Urban Futures convened for a conference on 18th April where the recipients of WIN WIN Award and WIN WIN Youth Award was announced.

The transition to a sustainable society demanded significant societal changes within a short timeframe. This, in turn, heightened the risk of uncertainty, conflicts, and resistance. To ensure success, it was crucial that these changes were both perceived and experienced as inclusive and just.

As expressed by Per Olsson, deputy science director from the Stockholm Resilience Centre, the phase-out of the old system emerged as the foremost challenge. Achieving comprehensive success necessitated society to embody dual roles: that of a skilled midwife, facilitating the emergence of the new, and concurrently, a dependable hospice, ensuring the dignified passage of the old.

Perhaps, as Jonna Bornemark, professor of philosophy from Södertörn University eloquently articulated, our societal progression often found itself ensnared in the complexities of rationalism and intellect. A society in flux required the courage to embrace the realm of 'not-knowing', allowing space for innovative ideas to thrive.

Winner of the WIN WIN Gothenburg Sustainability Award 2024: Just Transition Centre

The winner of the 2024 WIN WIN Gothenburg Sustainability Award is the Just Transition Centre, an international organisation founded in 2016 by the International Trade Union Confederation. Their mission is clear: to ensure workers actively participate in shaping the green transition. Despite limited resources, the Just Transition Centre provides knowledge, funding, and facilitates dialogue between workers, unions, employers, companies, and societal actors, identifying solutions that benefit both people and the environment.

– It is an honour to join a cohort of trailblazing pioneers and leaders in the struggle for a sustainable future for people and planet. The JTC strives to ensure that workers, their unions, and their communities are at the heart of efforts to transform our economies and societies to tackle the climate crisis, say Diana Junquera Curiel and Giulia Laganá.

Winner of the WIN WIN Youth Award 2024: Natur og Ungdom

Natur og Ungdom, the largest environmental and climate organisation for young people in Norway with over 5,300 members, is the recipient of the 2024 WIN WIN Youth Award, accompanied by a prize sum of 50,000 SEK.

In the spring of 2023, Natur og Ungdom and workers in the Norwegian oil industry presented "The Ten Commandments for Green Industry" outlining principles for an inclusive, rapid, and sustainable industrial transition that benefits workers, society, and nature globally.

– We are in a short period of time to undergo a much-needed green transition, and there is no time for polarization. I am thankful for the WIN WIN Youth Award and hope to see more collaborations like this all over the world. After all, we all work for the same cause – a safe future, says Gytis Blaževičius, leader of Natur og Ungdom.

The JTC and Natur og Ungdom will recieve their prize at the annual award ceremony in Gothenburg, 18 October.

The award ceremony is preceded by a WIN WIN Award week during which this year's laureates will participate in various activities and lectures to disseminate knowledge about their work and methods for an inclusive transition.