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The COP30 decision also confirmed that Just Transition must take a whole-of-society and whole-of-economy approach – covering mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, and finance – a broad scope that observers said marked a significant step forward for the process. 

Delegates described the outcome in the city of Belém as a rare convergence of political will, technical facilitation and years of groundwork by civil society and governments.

For Indian women workers, a just transition means surviving climate impacts with dignity

The decision also places stronger emphasis on the social and economic foundations of transition than many observers had expected. The text links Just Transition explicitly to poverty eradication and decent work, and recognises the need for just energy transitions as part of implementing the Global Stocktake – including the transition away from fossil fuels.

Finance provisions were also firmer than in previous drafts, with governments agreeing that support for Just Transition should prioritise grants and non-debt-creating instruments, a framing long pushed by developing countries and civil society.

Civil society kept the issue alive

The Work Programme on Just Transition, launched in 2022, remained low-profile across several COP cycles. Unions, youth networks, feminist groups, social movements and environmental organisations continued refining proposals and pushing negotiators even when political attention was limited – while activists also took to the streets across the world calling for a Just Transition. 

As momentum built toward COP30, these groups began referring to their proposal as the Belém Action Mechanism – the “BAM” – signalling the level of institutional ambition they believed the process required. Alongside this sustained organising, unions stressed that Just Transition had to move beyond principles and into practice. 

Key governments shifted earlier than expected

As colourful activists danced and chanted “We want the BAM!” in the COP30 conference centre, a key moment arrived on day two, when the G77+China group of developing countries came out early and clearly signalled its support for establishing a Just Transition mechanism. This leadership was widely described as the turning point that made an ambitious outcome possible.

The EU followed at the end of the first week, tabling a “bridging proposal” in the form of a Just Transition Action Plan. From that point, civil society campaigns intensified across the Global North, aimed at shifting governments that had so far resisted any new institutional arrangements.

COP30: Spain’s unions say just transition means renewing communities beyond jobs

The UK – initially identified by observers as the main hold-out – faced sustained campaigning, including an NGO sign-on letter and direct engagement with ministers. The political shift became visible inside the talks when Ed Miliband signalled support for the EU plan during the High-Level Ministerial Roundtable.

That shift extended beyond the UK. Canada, previously quiet on new institutional arrangements, began describing itself as “open to options” after targeted domestic media coverage. Australian civil society leveraged the country’s COP31 bid to draw attention to the need for coordination institutions, while NGOs in Belém maintained pressure on Swiss negotiators.

The push for the mechanism reached the highest level of the UN system. After a meeting with civil society, UN Secretary-General António Guterres added his voice of support for the mechanism and urged COP30 to operationalise a Just Transition aligned with 1.5°C.  

Facilitators and ministers closed the gaps

Last year at COP29 in Baku, the Just Transition track ended without an outcome partly because no ministers were mandated to land one. Belém took a different approach: Mexico’s Alicia Bárcena and Poland’s Krzysztof Bolesta were appointed as ministerial leads and played a central role in balancing strong rights language with the institutional detail.

Technical co-facilitators Joseph Teo of Singapore and Federica Fricano of Italy were credited with producing a clear, workable draft that helped bridge divides. Delegates said its readability – unusual for UNFCCC text – helped maintain trust. UNFCCC secretariat staff supported the process with rapid revision work through the second week. 

Brazil’s presidency and the significance of place

Brazil made Just Transition one of its three priorities, ensuring the track remained visible amid wider disputes.

The signal came early: at Climate Action Network’s Annual Strategy Meeting in Rio de Janeiro in February, attended by more than 170 climate justice activists, COP30 President Ambassador André Correa do Lago and COP30 CEO Ana Toni told participants that Just Transition would be a “vital” issue for COP30. The presidency also guided parties toward addressing the issue of “institutional arrangements” during the Pre-COP.

“Water is worth more than lithium,” Indigenous Argentine community tells COP30

Belém’s context also mattered. The region is a long-standing focal point for debates over livelihoods, extractivism and environmental protection, grounding negotiations in lived realities.

A symbol of this was the People’s March on the streets of Belém, with over 50,000 people participating, and thousands more across the world. The message of the Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon was clear: a Just Transition cannot be designed about them or around them – it must be shaped with them, and how transition minerals are managed is central to this. 

What the decision changes

The final text sets out principles for rights-based, inclusive transitions and establishes a global mechanism to support countries in implementing these principles – elevating the mechanism to a structural component of how climate action will be delivered in the Paris Agreement era.

The agreement also reinforces the expectation that social and economic dimensions must be central to national climate plans, not appended to them. 

A just transition for renewables: Why COP30 must put people before power

The work starts now

Civil society will remain closely engaged as the mechanism takes shape, arguing that its effectiveness will depend on whether it reflects the realities facing workers, communities and families in transitions already underway. 

The next phase will hinge on the operational details governments agree in the months ahead. Key questions include the design of the committee, what form secretariat support will take, and whether civil society and trade unions will have a formal seat in its work.

Parties will also need to decide whether the mechanism should help convene a wider network of practitioners. Its first workplan, the identification of support needs, and clarification of how it will interact with existing UNFCCC bodies, will shape how effective it becomes – with decisions expected at COP31.

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“When a power plant closes in a rural area, you don’t just lose jobs,” said Manuel Riera of UGT, one of Spain’s largest unions. “You risk losing the life of the place – the families, the neighbours, the school, the bus line. To keep people rooted, we have to rebuild whole economies.”

The end goal is to safeguard workers, diversify rural economies, and keep families rooted.

Spain’s breakthrough: dialogue and territorial pacts

Spain is among the few countries to have managed coal closures through negotiated territorial pacts. Since 2018, 15 agreements have been signed between national, regional and local governments in areas hit by mine and power plant shutdowns. The government also reached tripartite accords with unions and coal companies, guaranteeing solutions for affected workers.

“For the first time, workers and their communities had a seat at the table. It demonstrated that a just transition is possible and that social dialogue with trade unions must be the first step” Riera said. “That gave people dignity in a moment of loss.”

These frameworks funded retraining, supported job-creating projects and ensured public participation. They became an international reference for how social dialogue can guide decarbonisation.

A just transition for renewables: Why COP30 must put people before power

Lessons learned: from energy to social transition

But the experience has also exposed key limits. Job creation alone has not been enough to sustain rural life.

“Again and again we heard: in addition to employment, what decides if families stay is whether there is transport, housing, health care, education,” Riera said. “That is what keeps a territory alive. We have to move from an energy transition to a social transition.”

Judit Carreras Garcia, director of the Instituto para la Transición Justa (ITJ), reflected on the government’s efforts to respond to these challenges:

“Over the years, we have sought to make the just transition a reality through concrete policies and actions — walking the talk through a wide range of measures that include employability schemes, training, funding lines for job-creating business initiatives, just transition energy tender grids, municipal support programmes and environmental restoration,” she explained.

“All of them aim at minimising the impacts of decarbonisation and optimising outcomes based on participation and social dialogue. This effort has come with its own challenges — from managing timing gaps to addressing very different territorial starting points — but our commitment remains firm.”

Both unions and government acknowledge that anticipation is crucial: closures must be aligned with new opportunities, and support must adapt to vastly different territorial realities – from regions facing depopulation to those with stronger infrastructure.

The next phase for just transition

UGT is now working with its federations to shape Spain’s next Just Transition Strategy (2026–2030). Visits to pact areas, including Aragón, where a coal plant closed in 2020, reveal a rising sense of frustration.

“People are tired of waiting,” Riera said. “We have projects on paper, but they don’t see them materialising. Without effective coherent planning, workers retrain and then have to move to Madrid or Barcelona. That is not territorial justice.”

The unions’ demand: keep the territorial approach, but expand it across ministries and sectors, ensuring that services and infrastructure grow alongside jobs.

For Indian women workers, a just transition means surviving climate impacts with dignity

Behind the technical debates lies a deeper fear: the hollowing out of rural Spain, where thousands of villages have already lost their young people and their future. A mishandled transition could accelerate that trend.

“This is not only about jobs,” Riera said. “It is about whether towns survive at all. When a power station shuts, it’s not just the jobs inside the gates that disappear. The bus stops running, the school risks closing, the clinic can’t keep going, housing starts to deteriorate. Families leave, and a town empties. And once they leave, they rarely come back.”

Sharing lessons internationally

In September, Riera met unions from around the world to share Spain’s experience. His message was simple: we must fight for social dialogue and territorial agreements, but these are the beginning — not the end — of a just transition.

“If decisions are only made in the capital, they miss what life is like in a village. What Madrid sees as energy policy, a small town sees as survival: will there still be a bus, a clinic, a school? That is why workers and communities must always be in the room.”

For Riera, the work that goes into the just transition is also a chance to imagine something new.

“We can use this moment not just to protect people from loss, but to renew rural life — to make villages places where families want to stay, where children can imagine their future. This is about dignity, but also about love: love of place, love of community, love of life itself.”

“Water is worth more than lithium,” Indigenous Argentine community tells COP30

A call for Belém – and beyond

Now in Belém for COP30, Riera is bringing a clear message to world leaders: Spain’s experience shows that the just transition must be built from the ground up. The Belém Action Mechanism that has been proposed, he argues, should require cross-sector transition plans – not just energy policies; guarantee participation from workers and communities; and secure public finance capable of delivering not only jobs but the services that sustain life around them.

“The Global South faces the same challenge: how to transition without abandoning people. Without public finance, that is impossible,” he said. “If we treat the just transition as a bargaining chip, we betray them. But if we take it seriously, we can create hope — from Spain to Brazil, from Santander to Belém.”

“This is not only about closing coal or opening renewables,” he added. “It is about whether people can imagine a future for their children. That is what the just transition means.”

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In Kenya, poor consultation with local communities led to a landmark ruling that revoked the licence for a proposed geothermal project. In India, a 1-gigawatt (GW) solar project funded by the Asian Development Bank was cancelled in 2025 after protests by tribal communities, who reported a lack of proper consultation and faced the displacement of 20,000 people.

In Chile, wind farms built for green hydrogen exports are meeting resistance as residents say such projects threaten ecosystems and livelihoods. In the Philippines, the Tumandok Indigenous people oppose a mega-hydropower project. They say the project risks flooding their ancestral lands and sacred sites, and has violated their right to free, prior and informed consent. And in Pakistan, the 4-GW Dasu Hydropower Project has already uprooted more than 7,000 people, leaving 34 villages abandoned. 

With clean energy mega-projects becoming the norm, as shown in a recent report by CAN International, such conflicts are only likely to increase in number unless things change.

Growth without justice

Despite record expansion, deployment of renewables remains far too slow and far too unequal. Many developing countries are constrained by debt and limited fiscal space, while rich nations continue to over-consume energy.

Even where renewables are rising, the benefits often flow to foreign corporations. And power fed back into national grids frequently enriches independent power producers while leaving consumers with high bills.

For Indian women workers, a just transition means surviving climate impacts with dignity

Egypt illustrates the dilemma. To meet its green hydrogen targets and bring in hard currency to service its debt, the country needs to install 41 GW of renewable capacity by 2030 and 114 GW by 2040 – five to fifteen times its current renewable capacity. Four percent of Egypt’s land has been designated for green hydrogen production, even as droughts and water scarcity worsen.

Under the EU-led Global Gateway initiative, some of this electricity could be exported to Europe through the GREGY interconnector. Meanwhile, Egypt is becoming a hub for ‘green’ data centres, even as rural areas and public healthcare facilities face rolling blackouts.

“Some of the world’s largest solar projects are in Morocco and Egypt – but they’re built mainly for export, not to meet domestic needs,” says Mohamed Kamal, executive director of Greenish, an Egypt-based civil society organisation. “The real challenge now is governance: how to ensure that new investments serve local people first, especially in regions that still lack the infrastructure for consistent energy supply.” 

“As we build the renewable energy economy, we must not repeat the mistakes of the fossil fuel era,” he adds. “We cannot look to those failed models for inspiration or replicate their structures of control within the renewable energy value chain.”

A just transition mechanism for renewables at COP30

At COP30 in Belém, civil society networks including Climate Action Network are calling for the Belém Action Mechanism (BAM) for a Just Transition under the UN climate process to make a fair transition real.

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BAM would bring together the many initiatives now working in isolation, from practitioner alliances to community projects or programmes led by intergovernmental organisations. This will help countries change course by removing structural barriers such as debt, unfair trade rules and limited technology transfer that keep developing countries at the bottom of renewable supply chains.

It will also unlock public finance to support worker upskilling, green industrial policies and inclusive ownership models and distributed renewable systems. Furthermore, it can create structured dialogue between governments, workers and communities to share best practices, strengthen participation and scale up solutions that deliver. 

Such a mechanism could help countries develop not only more renewables, but better ones – people-centred, community-led and domestically owned.

Restoring trust, accelerating transition

Globally, the world is not on track to triple renewable capacity by 2030 – as agreed at COP28 – and fossil fuel emissions remain stubbornly high. Unless the renewable transition becomes fairer, it will also become slower.

From rooftop-solar schemes in India that cut bills and spare land, to initiatives in the Philippines, where a coalition of civil society, faith-based and industry groups has launched a “Ten Million Solar Rooftops” challenge, examples are emerging across the world of what fair, people-centred renewables can look like.

In Canada and Australia, projects led by communities or Indigenous people are showing the same spirit. In Western Australia, the Aalga Goorlil “Sun Turtle” Community Power Project – led by the Djarindjin Aboriginal Corporation – aims to reduce the community’s reliance on non-renewable energy and has already become a symbol of self-determination since the community’s official recognition last year. In Bolivia, solar power is strengthening food and economic security for local farming and fishing communities.

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A global just transition mechanism could scale up such efforts, restoring trust and placing equity at the centre of decarbonisation and access to quality energy for everyone.

“Justice isn’t an add-on,” says Mohamed Kamal. “It’s the condition for progress. Without it, the transition won’t hold.” As negotiators prepare for COP30, the question is not only how fast the world can build renewables, but who they are built for and how.

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Representing 3.2 million informal workers across 18 states – street vendors, waste pickers, construction labourers, home-based producers and small farmers – SEWA has spent more than five decades fighting for rights and recognition.

“This is what ‘just transition’ must mean for us,” says Mansi Shah, senior coordinator at SEWA. “It is not only about future green jobs or phasing out polluting industries. For women workers on the frontlines, it is about surviving heatwaves, floods and crop failures today – and doing so with dignity.”

SEWA’s own surveys underline the urgency. More than 90% of women workers report livelihood losses from climate shocks, while 74% say their children’s education has been disrupted. Over 80% of households face water insecurity, 62% food insecurity, and nearly 40% report mental health impacts.

“When people talk about adaptation or resilience, it sounds abstract,” Shah says. “For our members, it means the difference between feeding your children and selling your dignity.”

“On one side, hungry children. On the other, her respect”

One member – a smallholder farmer – told SEWA organisers what happened when a prolonged heatwave dried her fields and wiped out any possible work as an agricultural labourer. With children to feed and no savings, she went to a local moneylender.

The terms were brutal: extortionate interest and demands for sexual favours.

“She had to choose between her children’s hunger and her own respect,” Shah says. “That is the kind of choice no woman should ever face. But climate change is forcing it every day.”

By chance, the woman had been enrolled in SEWA’s pilot parametric heat insurance scheme – designed to trigger automatic payouts when temperatures cross preset thresholds, providing fast, predictable relief when heat destroys livelihoods. On the very day she faced the moneylender, the insurance activated and 1,800 rupees (about $20) landed in her account – enough to buy food for two weeks, enough to walk away.

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Women-led solutions prove just transition works

For Meenaben, a SEWA smallholder in Kutch district, the blow came from unseasonal rain and hail. Her 1.5-acre rain-fed millet crop, almost ready for harvest – and crucial fodder for her cattle – was shredded overnight.

“Government relief can take months to reach a village,” Shah explains. “So women like Meenaben are pushed toward debt – often predatory – just to survive the gap.”

SEWA’s answer is speed and self-help. Through its Livelihood Recovery & Resilience Fund (LRRF) – a blended pool seeded by one day’s wage per member per month, matched by philanthropy – women can access rapid loans within 14 days of a climate shock, long before state compensation arrives. The fund kept Meenaben’s household afloat, paid for inputs for the next sowing, and avoided a spiral into debt.

“We can’t wait for others to save us,” says Shah. “So SEWA women build their own safety nets – and get back to work.”

From Gujarat to the Global South

After piloting its member-owned LRRF a decade ago, SEWA shared its results at a global women leaders’ meeting in 2023 with Secretary Hillary Clinton, Ambassador Melanne Verveer and women’s organisations from Africa and Latin America. The message was clear: women workers across the Global South face the same shocks and the same finance gap.

On the strength of that model, SEWA partnered with the Clinton Global Initiative to launch the Global Climate Resilience Facility (GCRF) in February 2024. Its framework is complete and fundraising is underway. Once capitalised, it will support frontline women’s organisations to run LRRF-style funds, expand parametric insurance, and scale women-led adaptation and clean-energy solutions across the Global South.

From rural daughter to solar entrepreneur

If these stories show the cost of climate shocks, Payalben Munjpura’s shows what investment unlocks.

Payalben grew up in a village of 250 households in Surendranagar district. Her father was an electrician. Like most rural daughters, she was expected to stay indoors – until SEWA persuaded her parents to let her train as a solar PV technician.

She completed a three-month course and certification, then formed a team of four. Drawing on her father’s skills, she brought him into the enterprise, saving costs and rooting the work in local expertise. Together, they now install rooftop solar systems in nearby villages through India’s new PM Surya Ghar scheme, which offers households subsidies covering up to 60% of installation costs.

Her income has transformed the family: she helped reclaim their mortgaged farm, paid for her younger brother’s education, and rebuilt their home.

“Women are always seen as energy users,” Shah says. “Payalben shows they can be owners, managers and distributors. If skills are brought to their doorstep, women will turn the climate crisis into opportunity.”

The women-led solutions already in motion

SEWA’s members are not waiting for policy promises – they are already building resilience from the ground up. Through its Building Cleaner Skies campaign, SEWA links local experience with a broader strategy of women-led adaptation.

Its Climate School turns climate science into simple visual lessons, training grassroots leaders as climate educators. Its Green Villages initiatives bring clean cooking, biogas, drip irrigation and rooftop solar – all managed by women handling finance, vendors and repairs.

Brazil’s environment minister urges heads of state to address fossil fuels at COP30

The movement also nurtures young women climate entrepreneurs who deliver adaptation technologies and green livelihoods. And when shocks hit, SEWA’s insurance and finance schemes move faster than the state, trigger quick payouts and provide loans within 14 days.

“These are not abstract pilots,” says Shah. “They are working now, in villages across Gujarat. The problem is not solutions. The problem is finance.”

Lessons for COP30

A just transition must also confront the realities of climate impacts. For informal women workers, it is not about distant promises of green jobs, but about surviving the effects of warming now – and building social protection systems that can secure their livelihoods.

SEWA’s experience shows that women-led action works. From grassroots insurance schemes to rooftop solar enterprises, women are already designing and scaling climate solutions that protect both their income and dignity.

To take these efforts further, finance for just transition policies must be deployed – and made accessible to women on the frontlines. The Belém Action Mechanism (BAM) for a Global Just Transition – proposed by civil society as a key deliverable for COP30 – could help bridge that gap by aligning governments, international institutions and community movements, creating clearer pathways for funding and technical support to reach grassroots initiatives directly.

But whatever happens in Belém this November, for millions of women like SEWA’s members, the transition has already begun.

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As the European Union accelerates its path towards climate neutrality, 2025 marks a critical juncture for one of its most socially sensitive climate policies – the EU Emissions Trading System for buildings and road transport (known as ETS2). Without quick action from member states, this new climate policy could have regressive social impacts.

Set to launch in 2027, ETS2 will put a price on carbon emissions from household heating and road transport, resulting in inevitable price increases in those two sectors. To help mitigate its impact on the most vulnerable households, transport users and micro-enterprises, 25% of the ETS2 revenues will flow into a Social Climate Fund (SCF).

The SCF can be viewed as Europe’s financial safety net for the most vulnerable people, designed to ensure that, as Europe pushes fossil fuels out of homes, cars and cities, it doesn’t push people into poverty. Therefore, ETS2 and the SCF are two sides of the same coin: while ETS2 imposes a necessary climate cost on carbon-intensive activities, the Social Climate Fund is meant to make that transition affordable and just.

To benefit from the SCF, the EU’s member states are required to submit detailed Social Climate Plans to the European Commission, proving that their policies are inclusive, purpose-oriented and based on high-quality data.

However, until now, only a handful of draft plans have been put out for public consultation within EU countries, and most have yet to submit their plans to the Commission. Without binding plans in place, it’s becoming increasingly unclear how, or even whether, that social shield will be deployed in time.

Without robust Social Climate Plans, the revenue collected from the new emissions trading system risks becoming a regressive tax, disproportionately hitting low-income households and transport users – particularly those already suffering from increased energy and transport poverty.

Uneven progress across countries

A joint analysis by E3G and CEE Bankwatch Network, published in mid-June, revealed significant disparities in the progress of Social Climate Plans across eight Central and Eastern European countries.

Some of them – most notably Estonia, Latvia and Poland – have published draft Social Climate Plans outlining how they will channel their SCF allocations to fund building renovations, clean mobility and direct income support.

Poland, for instance, proposes allocating 37% of its SCF share to direct income support, 39% to energy-efficient housing, and 21% to transport, while Estonia commits a striking 76% of funds to building renovation and 21% to public transport.

Latvia’s plan foresees investments in energy-efficient apartment buildings and social housing, as well as support for connecting single family homes and social housing to renewable or district heating systems. In the transport sector, the country opts for micro-mobility, such as bicycles and electric bicycles, as well as investments in public transport and cycle-route expansion.

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While these examples deserve praise, the wider picture looks far from ideal, as illustrated by an evolving SCF tracker, which is a collaborative effort of more than 40 EU and national-level civil society organisations. Several countries, such as Hungary, are vocally fighting against the implementation of ETS2 – and by extension, the SCF it would finance.  

Meanwhile, drafting of the Social Climate Plans is not moving at the necessary pace or with sufficient inclusion. Civil society participation has remained severely limited or non-existent in several countries. And critically, there is growing concern that the window for meaningful reforms is closing fast.

New EU budget loosens guardrails for just transition

Another challenge lies in the EU’s new funding priorities. The European Commission unveiled its draft proposal for the 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) in July, asking governments to construct detailed national and regional partnership plans. On paper, the MFF presents an opportunity to address social vulnerabilities, integrating existing initiatives like the SCF.

This is evident in the fact that member states are obliged to include a dedicated chapter in their respective national and regional plans outlining their planned investments under the Social Climate Fund. However, this exercise is descriptive and is not intended to provide further food for thought on how the MFF could better address growing social vulnerabilities.

More importantly, by shifting the focus towards increasing competitiveness, instead of much-needed climate and environmental action, the proposal for the EU’s overarching financial framework loosens the very guardrails that would safeguard a just energy transition.

While the new draft EU budget legislation acknowledges the importance of a just transition and regional equity, it introduces several structural shifts that raise red flags – including the proposed discontinuation of the EU’s Just Transition Fund as a standalone instrument, and the elimination of the LIFE programme which has long supported environmental and climate action.

In doing so, the budget proposal fails to support initiatives that have proven to be successful from the environmental and social point of view, while opening the door to big players without the strong environmental and social rules needed to hold them to account.

Lessons from early plans can be scaled up

Despite the mounting risks, there are valuable lessons to draw from countries that have moved ahead with their Social Climate Fund planning. Early frontrunners like Poland and Estonia offer examples that are worth scaling up.

The existing draft plans show how the SCPs can address both emissions and energy poverty. It is clear from the analysis that when backed by political will and high-quality consultations, Social Climate Plans can be more than bureaucratic checklists.

They can – and should – become tangible action plans, topped up by additional revenues from ETS1 and ETS2 to maximise their transformative potential. To enhance transparency and increase implementation quality, monitoring committees should be appointed in all member states. 

Workers and grassroots groups push Just Transition agenda at Bonn climate talks

Without a broader strategy for mainstreaming, ensuring a socially just and fair transition across the EU will remain highly challenging.

Such a transition requires equity considerations at all levels of climate and energy policy-making – not just in targeted compensation mechanisms. This includes embedding social impact assessments into regulatory frameworks, fostering inclusive governance, and aligning labour, housing and education policies with climate goals.

Unless a holistic approach is adopted, there is a real risk that vulnerable groups will continue to bear a disproportionate cost burden, undermining both public support and the long-term sustainability of the green transition.

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The G77+China umbrella group of developing countries is calling for critical minerals and access to energy to fall within the scope of the Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP) at the UN climate negotiations and any advice-sharing mechanism that may emerge from COP30 in Brazil in November.

“We see critical minerals as being one of the priorities that we have been trying to address when we look into the just energy transition,” said Egyptian negotiator Khaled Hashem, the G77 group’s lead on this issue, adding that mineral production presents “challenges and opportunities” for developing countries.

Raw materials like copper, cobalt, lithium and nickel are key to green technology like electric vehicle batteries and wind turbines, with large reserves found in developing countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chile and Indonesia.

These countries say they want to maximise the benefits of producing minerals and metals for the clean economy – by creating local jobs with high wages, revenues for the government and domestic processing industries – while minimising potential downsides like environmental degradation caused by mining and abuses of workers’ rights.

‘Whole economy’ approach

The concept of “just transition” emerged from labour union movements and has traditionally focused mainly on ensuring that workers in polluting industries, including fossil fuel extraction and power production, and their communities are treated fairly as those jobs disappear.

Hashem said this aspect is important. But, since the launch of the Just Transition Work Programme under the UN climate talks two years ago, developing countries have moved beyond this narrow concept to talk about broader transition issues such as critical minerals, energy access and energy poverty.

Hashem said developing countries are united on this approach, adding that developed-country stances would become clearer at a dialogue taking place in the Ethiopian city of Addis Ababa during UN climate week in early September – but added that he didn’t expect much resistance.

Antonio Hill, an advisor with the Natural Resource Governance Institute, supports the push for COP30 to recognise critical minerals as a key element of the just transition.

Dialogues between governments have also considered how to adapt to climate change in an equitable way, he said. “So we have already gone beyond the green jobs and the workforce, and we are now discussing broader just transitions that encompass the whole of an economy,” he explained.

In particular, the energy transition expert wants this theme to be connected to the COP28 agreement to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030 – as renewables growth is “what’s behind the rush on critical minerals at the moment”.

This demand, he said, is not particularly controversial, but there is a risk it could be used as leverage in other negotiations at COP30. “I can imagine countries saying ‘well, we’re not going to support this unless…’ – fill in the blank,” he said. Some nations might also argue that critical minerals should be discussed somewhere other than the climate talks, he warned.

Hill said governments at COP30 should agree to support stronger global governance of transition minerals to ensure fair trade and address the social and environmental impacts of their extraction.

Call for new mechanism at COP30

Campaigners and some governments are pushing for a decision at COP30 to set up a new just transition body to advise, coordinate and accelerate action on the issue, which would potentially be called the “Belém Action Mechanism”.

Anabella Rosemberg, senior advisor on just transition at Climate Action Network International, which represents hundreds of NGOs working on climate issues, said such a mechanism “can become an anchor of fairness in the global climate transition”, turning the concept of just transition “from rhetoric into a real architecture” at COP30.

“If it is done soon and right, it will provide countries with the support and accountability needed to ensure that workers and communities are at the centre – and knock down the barriers countries face to change their economies,” Rosemberg added.

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The race to secure minerals and metals used to manufacture clean energy technologies has ushered in a new era for mining and natural resource diplomacy.

However, the world is at risk of trading one crisis for another without robust regulations and practices to ensure that mineral extraction and processing doesn’t come at the expense of environmental protection and respect for human rights.

At Climate Home News, we want to investigate ideas, innovations and practices to clean up mineral supply chains while holding actors that cause social and environmental harm to account. This work is part of our Clean Energy Frontier series.

What we are looking for

We are looking for news stories and more in-depth pieces that robustly examine ways to address social and sustainability challenges in the minerals supply chain, track global governance efforts and hold large players accountable for harms to people and the environment.

This could include:

• Technological advances in extraction and processing, supply chain traceability, battery technology and recycling that help limit the environmental impact associated with producing clean energy technologies and ease pressure for new mining.
• Policies designed to address sustainability challenges and social conflict in mineral supply chains.
• Efforts by countries to add value to their mineral resources and ensure local people meaningfully engage with, and benefit from, mineral extraction and processing. We also want to know what is being done globally to support these efforts.
• Best practice examples of how local communities can effectively and equitably benefit from mining projects and where benefit-sharing has gone wrong.
• Developments in the global governance of mineral supply chains, such as regional or international agreements.
• How global trade deals and restrictions are reshaping minerals supply chains and who stands to benefit (or lose out).
• Financial flows and mechanisms to support developing countries’ green industrialisation agendas and the development of clean energy manufacturing.

The ideal story will have an original angle that captures the attention of our international audience.

Most of the articles we are seeking to commission are news stories. However, we are also open to pitches for investigative reporting.

We are accepting pitches on a rolling basis.

What we are not looking for

• Stories about community opposition to a renewable energy project
• Stories about opposition to mining projects which fail to robustly investigate the reasons for the opposition or fail to engage with local authorities and mining companies
• Stories about start-ups and technological innovations that fail to robustly examine the company’s claims
• Stories about technologies that cannot be scaled or are still at very early pilot stages
• Stories about the challenges posed by end-of-life technologies that don’t address solutions to reduce and mitigate waste
• Stories focusing solely on social and environmental challenges in the mineral supply chain that don’t explore ways to address these issues
• Stories already covered in other media outlets
• Stories that we have already covered

Who can pitch

We welcome pitches from journalists with at least three years’ experience.

You must have fluent spoken and written English. Journalists from all countries are welcome to apply.

We will prioritise reporters who have experience covering climate change, energy, mining or business stories. It helps if you have worked with international media before.

How to pitch

Your pitch should include:

• The top line of the story and essential context in no more than 250 words. If we like the idea, we will ask for more detail
• The sources you would interview (we expect at least three sources for a standard news story)
• Any travel requirement for deeply reported and investigative pieces
• A short summary of your journalism experience, including links to three recent stories you are proud of

We can offer a rate of $0.46 per word for news stories up to 800 words. Fees for investigative and deeply reported stories are agreed on a case by case basis. Travel costs will be negotiated in advance and reimbursed subject to valid receipts.

Please send your pitches with the word ‘Pitch’ in the subject line to project editor Chloé Farand by emailing chloe.farand[at]outlook.com.

The use of AI

We are committed to producing accurate, fair, balanced and independent reporting at all times. Original reporting lies at the heart of what we do. It is the reason why our readers have continued to trust us to produce high-quality and public interest journalism.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be a tool to support research. However, we ask journalists contributing to Climate Home not to use AI to write pitches and stories. We will not respond to pitches that appear to be AI-generated. When contacting us for the first time, please provide clear evidence of your track record as a journalist so that we can verify your identity.

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The post Bonn bulletin: Just transition talks find firmer footing appeared first on Climate Home News.

As climate action comes under attack from populist elites and Big Tech billionaires, decision-makers must shift gears – climate policy must start delivering for those who keep our societies running: working people.

From factory workers and waste-pickers to Indigenous leaders and feminist economists, dozens of groups have come together under the banner, “Just Transition Rising”, to insist that real climate action must start from the ground up.

“A transition is happening, but justice is nowhere to be found,” said Boitumelo Molete of South Africa’s trade union federation COSATU. “Not enough support is going to communities to find alternative livelihoods nor to workers to find decent jobs – we need recognition, finance and space to lead, especially for South Africa’s women workers who are the first affected by the climate crisis.”

Of the US$12.8 billion pledged to support South Africa’s transition away from coal, only about US$1.9 billion has so far been disbursed – and just US$676 million of that was in the form of grants.

An analysis of roughly half of these grants (US$330 million) found that less than a quarter went to South African entities, while the bulk was channelled back to foreign implementers – most based in the donor countries themselves.

Picket-nicking with purpose: People before profits

Wednesday’s rally outside the World Conference Center Bonn took the form of a picnic – with a twist. Called a “picket-nic” to reflect the participation of workers and unions and the fighting spirit of the convergence, the event featured music, food, a massive banner for people to gather around, and a clear call: climate policies must put the workers and communities on the frontlines of the transition first.

Organisers hope the event will also help build diplomatic consensus – by reminding government negotiators to focus on the needs of their people, not just rehearse entrenched positions.

This mobilisation builds on an online assembly held in May, which brought together more than 1,000 participants from across the globe. Workers and community leaders shared powerful stories of resistance, reinvention, and leadership in the face of the climate crisis.

Challenging global economic rules

Italian workers from the GKN automotive factory described how they turned a mass layoff into a cooperative of 100 workers focused on building low-carbon transport technologies. “We weren’t just fighting job loss,” said GKN worker Dario Salvetti. “We were asking: What should this factory build for society?”

Members of India’s Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) explained how informal women workers contribute up to a month’s income into collective climate resilience funds to protect their communities from floods and droughts. Mansi Shah explained, “Last year, when the temperatures crossed 40 degrees and it became unbearable to work in the field, it was the payout from SEWA’s parametric heat insurance that helped with sustaining families and provided two square meals per day.”

Speakers also challenged the global economic rules that block fair transitions. Feminist and Indigenous economists offered alternative models rooted in care, reciprocity and community self-determination.

Youth, disability rights advocates and children’s representatives joined the call, insisting that realising their rights is not peripheral but essential to truly transformative climate action.

Five demands on the table

As communities demand real change, these and other grassroots organisations are advocating for the Just Transition agenda as a pathway to turn that demand into actionable policy – anchored in finance, inclusive governance and international cooperation.

Emboldened by the spirit of the global online assembly, a collective of groups active in the UN climate process (UNFCCC) has put forward five concrete proposals, with the hope that they will be reflected in the draft decision on Just Transition emerging from Bonn: 

1. Protect the core values of Just Transition: Ensure that Just Transition is aligned with the Paris Agreement and rooted in human rights, labour rights, inclusion, social dialogue and public participation, and international cooperation.
2. Make Just Transition financeable: Recognise Just Transition policies as eligible for climate finance, acknowledging their critical role in enabling higher ambition.
3. Integrate Just Transition into national planning: Embed Just Transition strategies into Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), national adaptation plans and long-term development strategies.
4. Institutionalise participation and co-creation at the national level: Establish formal spaces for consultation and co-design of Just Transition pathways – bringing in workers, communities and civil society.
5. Launch the Belém Action Mechanism (BAM) for a Global Just Transition: A multilateral initiative to accelerate and support country efforts to transition, making funding and technical support more accessible, taking action to remove barriers to the transition, such as trade or debt, and build a global peer network for shared learning and collaboration.

“Communities and workers aren’t waiting for permission,” said Gina Cortés, a Colombian feminist and a member of the Women and Gender Constituency at the UN talks. “What we need is for governments to stop ignoring the people who sustain the world with their work when moving ahead with climate plans – the international process can move us closer to getting things done better and accelerate a movement that is gaining pace on the ground.”

Eyes on Belém

These proposals are intended to shape the road to the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil – a milestone moment for advancing the UNFCCC’s Just Transition Work Programme.

“The UN process didn’t invent the concept of Just Transition,” said Tasneem Essop from Climate Action Network. “But it has the opportunity to contribute to its realisation and help scale it – if it listens to the people.”

After Baku setback, activists call for ‘just transition’ to be front and centre at COP30

At a time when nationalism and climate action delay are gaining ground, campaigners see Just Transition as a rare point of convergence.

“It’s more than a policy space,” said Lidy Nacpil, from the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD). “It’s a way to connect our struggles – to show that climate justice isn’t just possible, it’s already happening.”

Whether that message reaches negotiators remains to be seen. But for those gathering in Bonn this week, Just Transition Rising is only getting started.

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