Green transition as selective (im)mobilities: towards a political economy of mobility justice

Green transition policies increasingly reshape how people, goods, workers and communities move, adapt and remain in place. This article argues that the green transition should be understood as a reorganisation of the social conditions under which mobility and immobility are produced, governed and distributed, extending analysis beyond decarbonisation targets and technological substitution. Existing debates on sustainable mobility and mobility justice do not fully capture how transition selectively enables some forms of movement while constraining, delaying or devaluing others. The article introduces selective (im)mobilities as an analytical framework for examining how green transition redistributes capacities for movement, adaptation and staying. The framework brings together five theoretical strands: the mobilities paradigm, the politics of mobility, mobility justice, motility, and political economy approaches to uneven development, spatial restructuring, labour and work. It develops a four-dimensional typology of infrastructural, economic, spatial and labour selectivity, showing how these dimensions interact to shape uneven mobility futures across places, households and workers. By reframing mobility justice around structured capabilities rather than formal access alone, the article conceptualises green transition as a political economy of differentiated mobility futures and provides a framework for tracing how transition burdens and opportunities are distributed across social and spatial positions.