Workshop: Health and Equity in a Green Transition

This invitation-only workshop, hosted by the Stanley Center for Peace and Security, the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard, and Health Care Without Harm as part of Harvard Climate Action Week, brings together a small number of scholars, practitioners, and advocates from around the world for a discussion on how health and human rights can be better integrated in discussions on a just transition.

The topic of just transition has a long history in practice and theory in the climate change space, and has reemerged toward the top of the agenda again with a number of high-level, multilateral partnerships on energy transition. Building on a policy paper authored by Health Care Without Harm, the workshop will take a particular focus on how to better integrate health and human rights considerations into the conversation, and advocate for expanding green technology without replicating inequities and harm inherent in the fossil fuel extraction model. For example, rare earth mining for cobalt has recently come under scrutiny for appalling mining practices in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and concerns around the potential impact of deep sea mining is increasing. A key question we hope to discuss is whether clean energy expansion is at risk of perpetuating extractive, colonial economic models, potentially at new costs to health, human rights, and justice. And if yes, what can be done.