CLIMATE ACTION WEEK: Professor Hakan Karaosman is still asking: “Where are the workers’ voices?”

Big Closets Small Planet

Hakan Karaosman, whose mother was a garment worker, is a Professor in supply chain management from Cardiff University. Six years ago, Hakan and his colleagues asked “Where are the workers' voices in the discussions and decisions about climate strategies?” At that time no one was looking into fairness, inclusion, and justice in the context of climate action. Since then his research has uncovered inconvenient truths and best practices. In this conversation Michael and Hakan explore what is a “Just Transition” both theoretically and in practice. Hakan presents conclusions from his research, including his and his colleague’s work on what they call the transition archetypes, while arguing that technological and efficiency paradigms will not solve the problem. Hakan also suggests alternative approaches.

“Just transition is not happening. Strategies are still top-down. We're trying to shoehorn social justice into systems designed for profit.”

“Decarbonisation is framed around technology and efficiency. But what we need is democracy, inclusion, and behavioural change.”

“Unless we talk with people from the beginning, we will keep creating policies that harm the very communities we claim to protect.”

For more information about this podcast and our guest expert, or to listen to other podcast conversations, please visit: https://sustainablefashionacademy.org/stica/climate-action-week-2025/