This has become the just transition movement. The idea is that in the event of major environmental change, such as the banning of a high-volume feedstock chemical, the workers in the industry are protected by way of full income and benefits, access to new jobs, educational assistance, and support for affected communities. For us, the biggest barrier to sustainability is the failure to consider workers' livelihoods as the major part of the equation. But there are other barriers and obstacles too. The biggest of these is what has been called globalization.
Globalization can mean many different things.
Transnational corporations have their own agenda and programme over standards and regulations, including environmental regulations. Under international trade law, all standards have to be international standards wherever possible. These standards are not put in place to protect the public and the environment, only to remove what are called technical barriers to trade. If standards are truly global, they will apply to everyone, creating a level playing field for trade. What is left over from this process are national standards, codified in systems of national regulations.