Visions, innovations, and justice? Transition contracts in Spain as policy mix instruments

Coal phasing-out policies and the consequent closure of large coal infrastructures (mines and thermal power plants) have put coal dependent areas at a crossroads. This empirical study applies the policy mix analytic framework to discuss how transition contracts, as new instruments in Spain, could accelerate socio-technological regime change and promote a just transition; all of which from the analysis of the barriers for the economic, political, social, technological and environmental spheres. From a mixed research design, information from 43 stakeholders was collected, first to qualify just transition barriers and then to quantify their relevance and intergroup variance. The resulting policy implications highlight three essential factors, a strategic vision, an innovation approach and a transversal notion of justice. These factors must be considered in order to increase consistency, coherence, comprehensiveness and credibility of transitional contracts.