New European research project to improve understanding of marginalised communities in the climate transition

New European research project to improve understanding of marginalised communities in the climate transition

RMIT has been named a partner in a new €3.8 million European research project named BOLSTER – Bridging Organisations and Marginalised Communities for Local Sustainability Transitions in Europe.

Funded by the European Union’s prestigious Horizon Europe funding scheme and led by Tilburg Law School in the Netherlands, BOLSTER will bring new insights on how marginalised communities are affected by, and can engage with, European Green Deal related policies.

With the European Union aiming for a fair prosperous society and climate neutrality by 2050, the new project will examine the intersections of these aims, with particular reference to marginalised communities, participatory governance and policy plans to achieve a just transition.

It will deliver new scientific evidence on decarbonisation transition strategies and how they intersect with various dimensions of inequality, such as gender, race, age and class.

Multi-actor forums in seven regions with a high concentration of carbon-intensive industries will explore how the needs of marginalised groups can be accommodated in transition plans and processes, so as to foster a more just transition.

RMIT researchers will lead the mapping of key actors, decision-making processes and institutions that shape the governance of just transition processes in the target regions, and the possibilities and capabilities of representatives from marginal communities to engage with and influence.

RMIT's Professor Ralph Horne will lead RMIT's work on the project with RMIT Europe's Nevelina Pachova.  

Ralph Horne's portrait
Our aim is to better inform structural, policy and program measures to ensure the post-carbon transition leaves no-one behind.

– Professor Ralph Horne

Horne said that the work involves documenting the unfolding post-carbon transition in the lives of marginalised communities, and the actual and perceived challenges and opportunities it entails.

"Our aim is to better inform structural, policy and program measures to ensure the post-carbon transition leaves no-one behind," he said. 

BOLSTER has 12 key research partners and another 23 key stakeholders from across the European Union including knowledge institutions, governmental institutions, NGOs and members of the business community.

The project will run from 2022-2025.


Story: Karen Matthews

EU funding acknowlegment
30 March 2022

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RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Luwaytini' by Mark Cleaver, Palawa.

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