Lately I’ve had even more reason than usual to reflect on big picture questions about where we are heading as a country. Out of the blue one morning I opened an email from Glasgow Caledonian University letting me know I’m to receive an honorary doctorate on Tuesday in recognition of what they call my “remarkable contribution to supporting the voice of the disadvantaged and marginalised groups and challenging inequality in Scotland and the UK”. I’ll even get a special ceremonial hat, made to measure.

You don’t get into my line of work for the money or the power (or the hat), but I’ll admit this kind of public recognition will make for a memorable day out with my family and a nice breather. It’s also a chance to take stock of what I’ve learned from decades working with the poorest and most marginalised groups in our society and how to apply these lessons to our future.

In Scotland we are trying to do our bit to tackle the climate emergency and adapt to seismic changes to our economy. My first lesson here is obvious: we need credible plans. Good plans can help fire the economic and social renewal we so badly need. The Scottish Government recently put a draft plan for Grangemouth out for consultation – a welcome step, but one we really needed to take a decade or more ago. Still, the second best time is right now, so let’s get cracking.

Lesson two is you can’t retrofit equity and justice to industrial transitions. These must be baked in from the beginning. Scotland has reduced emissions and expanded renewable power generation over the past two decades. But lately we’ve seen a clear and unmistakeable pattern of stagnation on child poverty, absolute poverty and social inequality, while on fuel poverty we are now going backwards at an alarming rate.

Up next are the hardest bits of the move to a low carbon economy: how we keep our homes warm, move around, eat and use our land. We need fairness priced in to these changes as a primary strategic goal right from the start to ensure we make the most of them in terms of good jobs, new skills and a better quality of life, as well as ensuring costs and benefits are shared fairly.

Lesson three is that we need a true whole-systems approach. Yes, workers need credible pathways to new roles as our oil and gas industry inevitably phases down. A jobs gap of the kind on the cards at Grangemouth is a sign of failure and something we cannot accept. But it isn’t as simple as finding “clean” jobs for those currently employed in high carbon ones. A just transition needs to look at our economy in the round, including its structural weaknesses.

A big weakness is what I call our “social infrastructure”. Scotland’s social infrastructure primarily includes the care, health and education services that underpin economic performance and sustain the entire workforce. We will undoubtedly rely on these even more to see us through the climate crisis, just as we did during the pandemic. Essential workers are critically undervalued. They tend to be women, migrants and ethnic minorities. People more dependent on social infrastructure include women, children, people with disabilities, and the elderly.

As plans for a National Care Service recede, it may be an unfashionable thing to say, but one way or another we must significantly expand the number of jobs, skills and pay in a sector that’s ultra-low emission and can deliver mega social and economic returns.

This Tuesday, as I put on my new hat, I’ll be thinking about what more I can do to help Scotland achieve a genuinely just transition.

Satwat Rehman is Co-chair of the Just Transition Commission and Chief Executive of One Parent Families Scotland