Problem

Energy company SSE's transition from a mix of electricity generation technologies with a high proportion of unabated fossil fuels, to one increasingly dominated by renewable energy growth, took over a decade. The company closed its last coal-fired power station in March 2020, and is now one of UK’s largest generators of renewable energy, operating around 4 GW of capacity, mostly in wind and hydro power, with a pipeline to develop an additional 9 GW by 202.

Employing more than 10,000 people, this required planning for how the transition would affect its workforce, many of who had worked in fossil fuels their entire career.

Responses

Up until 2018, SSE’s climate plan has been focusing on emissions reduction. The incorporation of just transitions into the company’s climate targets was prompted by its involvement in Scotland’s Just Transition Commission, which was created in 2018 to help produce and monitor the Scottish Government’s just transition planning.

In 2020, SSE became one of the first companies to design and implement a just transition strategy as part of its net zero plan. The strategy covered five aspects based on 20 principles explaining how the company will both transition out of unabated fossil fuels and transition into a net zero-compliant business model. The key factor in developing this strategy was the collaboration and mutual understanding between SSE’s two key investors: Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) and Friends Provident Foundation (FPF). RLAM and FPF, together leading SSE’s engagement on just transition tabled a question on SSE’s board’s willingness to adopt just transition during their Annual General Meeting. This question helped raise the profile of this issue and developed into a growing support among internal and external stakeholders. 

The company has since then reported on how the strategy has been implemented, primarily with qualitative disclosures. In 2024, SSE undertook an evaluation of strategy through multistakeholder engagement, including with unions and the government, and published an updated strategy with an added focus on place-based strategies and quantitative metrics. SSE’s example has helped to encourage wider efforts on just transition at both the sector and national levels by providing important lessons on business strategy, market frameworks, metrics and stakeholder dialogue.

Find out more: SSE, Grantham Research Institute, IHRB