Adebayo Majekolagbe

Adebayo Majekolagbe

Doctoral Candidate
Marine and Environmental Law Institute
Schulich School of Law
Dalhousie University

My work focuses on decision making and just transition, particularly in fossil fuel dependent economies. Currently, I am investigating how impact assessment (IA) can be a useful decision making tool through the design of a just transition impact assessment (JTIA) framework. I do not consider JTIA as another type of IA, but rather a contextualized reconsideration and synthesis of existing genres of IA. At the conference, I would be turning my attention to the process of law making and implementation and how this impacts on public acceptance and legitimacy of climate policies.

Alberta and Saskatchewan oppose the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and ClimateChange and the sustainability-centric new Impact Assessment Act. Saudi Arabia blocks the unanimousacceptance of the IPCC special 1.5oC report. Poland mounts a defense for its coal industry despitehosting a climate conference. Australia dials back on climate commitments. And, on andon it goes.Asides their opposition to sustainability and climate initiatives, a commonality among these jurisdictionsis their dependence on fossil fuel (oil, gas, and coal). It is, however, clear that to meet the goal of 1.5oC–2oC contained in the Paris Agreement, the world must wean itself from the exploration and use of fossilfuel which contributes about 65% of the total global greenhouse gas emissions. At both the internationaland domestic levels, the law has been deployed as a tool of decarbonisation and transition. Suchlegislative and/or judicial tools have been met with diverse reactions–opposition, indifference, and insome cases, support.

What informs the acceptance or rejection of ‘transitional’ laws and policies? Arethere comparative transitional examples from whence lessons for the making and implementation offossil ‘transitional’ laws can be derived?What effect does the process of law-making andimplementation have on the response of the populace to transitional laws? This socio-legalresearch, apart of a broader work on Impact Assessment and the Sustainability Transition of fossil fuel dependenteconomies (FFDEs), focuses on these questions. I reflect on the works of Jurgen Habermas, ElinorOstrom, and Jane Mansbridge in seeking answers. Using Canadian provinces (particularly-Alberta,Saskatchewan, Ontario, and British Columbia) as case studies, I argue that the success or otherwise oftransitional law making is dependent on how participatory it is both at its making and implementation phases.

Overcoming Inertia: Decision Making and the Role of the Law in the Sustainability Transition to Fossil Fuel Dependent Economies