THE year 2023 was marked by symbiosis between the labour and climate movements. Workers across industries and geographies loudly declared that a world in which their safety and well-being are disregarded is even more dangerous to them and to others in a time of energy transition and climate crisis.

After decades of hesitancy, several major unions recognised an urgent need to organise those who will do the hard work of decarbonising the nation’s economy. It doesn’t hurt that public sympathy, and policy, have grown friendlier toward them.

As a result, calls for a just transition rattled union halls and corporate offices as organised labour in the US enjoyed one of its most active years in recent memory and environmental organisations, long uncertain about where unions stood, found new allies.