Just transition(s): continuity or rupture with the sustainable development paradigm?[Transition(s) Juste(s) : continuité ou rupture avec le paradigme du développement durable ?]

Just transitions, originating from American labor and environmental movements of the 1970s, have become central to discussions on sustainability in both the Global North and South. This article critically examines the literature on sustainable development, highlighting the gaps contributing to its waning interest and the construction and interconnection of socio-environmental inequalities, which are often overlooked. Drawing on academic and institutional publications, declarations, instruments, agreements, and national and international legislative frameworks, the article traces the emergence and recent rise of just transitions through a historical timeline. By analyzing this conceptual shift from sustainable development to the theoretical framework of just transitions, the article questions the sustainability of our production, consumption, and governance models. It finally paves the way for new perspectives in alternative political economy, integrating issues of social, environmental, and climate justice and rethinking the historically situated asymmetries between the Global North and South.