How can we speed up the necessary transition of our economies and societies to a condition of sustainability – by which we mean the possibility of preserving human well-being through time subject to the constraints represented by ecological factors? First of all, by achieving clarity about the nature of the social changes that need to be introduced and by jettisoning, as a first step to this end, two mistaken representations of these changes.
The primary aim of this short guide is to tie the ecological transition firmly to the simultaneous demand for social progress. As the authors see it, such social progress must be erected upon the tripod of equality, employment and social protection. These are the three pillars of the edifice required to produce a social-ecological transition. Simply put, the social-ecological transition answers environmental change with social progress.
This paper is a translation of the essay published by Les Petits matins in cooperation with the Veblen Institute under the following title: Pour une transition sociale-écologique – égalités, emploi, protection sociale