A global energy consumption reduction is essential to address the many dimensions of the current ecological crisis. In this paper we have compiled the reasons that justify the necessity to start this energy descent process in the countries of the global North, where the annual per capita final energy consumption was 118 GJ in 2017. Based on recent research, we approach the necessary redistribution of energy consumption at the global level and the elements that should be present in energy descent strategies. We establish an approximate threshold of minimum and maximum per capita final energy consumption, between 15.6 GJ and 31.0 GJ for the year 2050, which serves as a reference for evaluating scenarios. We continue with an analysis of two ecological transition scenarios for Spain between 2020 and 2030, Green New Deal and Degrowth. Based on a schematic calculation model defined in “Labor Scenarios in the Ecosocial Transition 2020–2030” report, we evaluate the variations in energy consumption for 86 sectors of economic activity. Results show an annual final energy consumption per capita in 2030 of 44.6 GJ and 36.8 GJ for each scenario. We conclude by analyzing the hypothetical main drivers of this sharp decline in energy consumption.

This article critically analyzes the ecomodernist approach to Just Transition, widely adopted by trade unions in the Global North. We develop three critiques that limit its effectiveness: the reproduction of imperialist logics, the weakening of trade union power under neoliberal offensive and the obstacles that economic stagnation imposes on the energy transition. To examine these limits, we describe CCOO’s ( Comisiones Obreras , Workers’ Commissions) environmental project in Spain since 1990 alongside its trade union practice during the same period. We argue that the defense of competitiveness pacts, the dependence on institutional power and the commitment to social dialogue penalized CCOO’s environmental project when the 2008 crisis hit. In contrast, we show how during the same decades ELA ( Eusko Langileen Alkartasuna, Solidarity of Basque Workers) and LAB ( Langile Abertzaleen Batzordeak, Patriotic Workers’ Commissions) successfully developed in the Southern Basque Country a trade union renewal based on confrontation. We conclude by describing LAB’s commitment to an ecosocialist trade unionism and some common elements in recent labor environmentalism convergence experiences.