Pandemic Transitions

Harrington, Alexandra R. (2022) Pandemic Transitions. In: Just Transitions and the Future of Law and Regulation. Palgrave Studies in Environmental Transformation, Transition and Accountability (1). Palgrave Macmillan, London, 143–196. ISBN 9783031061813

Abstract

In this chapter, the book moves from analysing the ways in which just transitions have been, are currently being and should be used in future climate-responsive transitions apart from the coal extractives and energy sector to reviewing the ways in which just transitions as a concept has informed and will continue to inform pandemic response and recovery laws, rules and policies. These laws, rules and policies are collectively referred to as pandemic-response transitions because of the ways in which they represent a profound shift in the current and future understandings of the balance between emergency responses and just responses. It must be remembered that these are examples of laws, rules and policies made under extreme pressure and in the exigencies of an ever-evolving global pandemic which has reshaped many aspects of society, economy and governance practices in the space of two years. In this way, these enactments are indicative of how just transitions can function in times of stress and, as discussed in Chapter 5, the need for post-pandemic law and regulation that is responsive to the needs of recovery efforts and for disaster planning that involves just transitions. To provide essential framing, the remainder of this section provides background information on the pandemic and the world it entered at the end of 2019. The chapter then moves on to examine sectoral responses involving just transitions concepts at the international and national levels.