Rättvis omställning? En poststrukturalistisk policyanalys av Sveriges klimathandlingsplan

Abstract

Discourses play a particular role in shaping reality and has real life effects on how we frame societal problems and goals. This study highlights the importance in investigating the knowledge that shapes climate action towards sustainable development. The study adapts a poststructural analytical lens with the purpose to get a further understanding on how a just transition is articulated in the Swedish climate action plan from 2023. The theoretical frames used in this report surrounds environmental justice, as well as the conflicts between a just transition and a just transformation. Ciplet and Harrisons (2020) framework of the possible tensions between justice and the pursuit of sustainable development, will also be used to exemplify practical contradictions of principles of justice in a transition. Through a discourse analysis based on Carol Bacchis “What’s the problem represented to be” (WPR) approach, two dominant discourses of just transition could be identified in the Swedish climate action plan. Firstly, the result showed a justice transition as continued economic growth and a preservation of the contemporary lifestyle. Secondly, the other identified discourse around just transition was expressed as increased global efforts and Swedish climate aid. Conclusively, the discursive articulation of justice in the climate action plan could have consequences for the achievement of a just climate transition in practice. The study will be written in Swedish.