A guide to just transitions for communities in Aotearoa NZ

This guide was created to help communities and organisations run their own just transition processes in response to challenges like climate change, rapid technological change, employment changes in regions and the transition to renewable energy in a way that fairly shares both the positive and negative effects.

The guide was commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and developed by a team of over 25 contributors led by Motu Research. The team tested the structure and content in the guide with members of different communities from around Aotearoa New Zealand in dialogues co-funded by the Aotearoa Foundation through Motu’s programme Shaping New Zealand’s Low-Emission Future.

The guide is research based and action oriented. It offers practical ideas, methods, and tools enabling communities to come together to solve problems in ways that work better for everyone. It draws on tikanga and mātauranga Māori and includes brief case studies of transitions led by iwi, hapū and Māori communities as well as other communities around Aotearoa. 

Download the guide from the top right panel on this page - and from the MBIE website (where the guide is also available in HTML). 

The co-authors of the guide (in alphabetical order) are Will Allen, Troy Baisden, Jonathan Burgess, Sophie Crawford, Lisa Ellis, David Hall, Trish Hall, Ushana Jayasuriya, Merata Kawharu, Hannah Kotula, Catherine Leining, Sasha Maher, Oscar Montes de Oca, Ana Pueyo, Janet Stephenson, Sara Walton and Krushil Watene. The project’s advisors included Shaun Awatere, Anna Berka, Jonathan Boston, Kate Mitcalfe, Sofia Robinson and Katharina Ruckstuhl. Production of the guide was led by Katie Brown at Social Good. Mary-Jane Rivers from Powerdigm facilitated the Just Transitions Dialogue.

Alongside the guide, Motu has developed the following documents, also available in the top right panel on this page :

• Motu Note - Just Transitions: From Theory to Practice
• Motu Note - Insights from Motu’s 2022-23 Just Transitions Dialogue 
• Just Transitions bibliography

We delivered an online seminar on 7 August 2023 to present the guide. A recording is now available.

Read this related journal article from Policy Quarterly (2021): “Developing a Policy Framework with Indicators for a ‘Just Transition’ in Aotearoa New Zealand”.