"The authors argue that national governments and international governance institutions and processes need to intervene with the right policy mix and planning in order to achieve a just transition to a low-carbon economy. Similarly to adjustment processes induced by trade liberalization, a just transition needs governments to take policy measures, affirmative economic action, introduce requirements but also restrictions to eliminate carbon emissions and build climate resiliency. The introduction or removal of trade tariffs is similar to the introduction of carbon-pricing measures and emissions trading, feed-in tariffs, and carbon taxes, in that these measures are politically motivated and have asymmetric economic and distributional repercussions. The article examines the existing literature on social and employment impacts of trade opening and identifies accompanying policies or adjustment policies that have been or can be used to address such impacts. The article further examines the effects of trade reform on structural transformation and identifies policies that would facilitate structural transformation and economic development. Similarly, for a just transition to a low-carbon economy it is necessary to implement accompanying policies for those workers affected by changes and to promote coherence among climate, trade and industrial policies, in order to ensure a sustainable or green structural transformation that enables economies to simultaneously move to higher value added and diversified as well as clean production structures. The just transition is a transformation that the world's governments and global governance must accelerate as soon as possible. With imminent threats to climate stability, the authors suggest a policy mix for the just transition to a low-carbon economy."

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