Climate change is accelerating, threatening lives, livelihoods and economies across the world. In response, countries are stepping up efforts to manage climate risks and shift away from carbon-intensive industries. But alongside the technical and financial challenges posed by this climate transition lies a political and social reality: Without proper attention to the distribution of the costs and benefits of the transition, there may be heightened inequality and political resistance that undermines the transition itself.
A just transition approach directly addresses this risk and builds a fair, stronger and more resilient pathway to prosperity. By anticipating and managing the social and economic impacts of decarbonization, just transition policies help ensure that the costs of change are not borne disproportionately by vulnerable communities.
Done well, just transition policies can unlock broad participation in the new green economy, support social protection and reskilling, strengthen local resilience to climate shocks, and mobilize non-state actors behind national climate goals. Neglecting social and equity considerations, by contrast, risks slowing progress, provoking contestation and leaving people more vulnerable to both transition risks and climate impacts.
To deepen understanding of what enables effective just transitions, WRI supported a series of national dialogues across eight countries: Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Rwanda and South Africa. Five common themes emerged as critical levers: participation and inclusion; assessing and managing the social and economic impacts of the transition; aligning policies across sectors; strengthening governance and institutional capacity; and mobilizing finance at scale.
Illustrative case studies from each country shows the evidence is clear: Where these enabling factors are supported, just transition efforts can gain traction and accelerate; where they are neglected, transitions risk stalling. Drawing lessons from country experiences, these five levers can advance equitable, resilient and politically viable climate action.
1) Participation and Inclusion
Inclusive and participatory stakeholder engagement is not just a matter of fairness — it is central to building the legitimacy, acceptance and momentum needed for a successful transition. Ensuring meaningful representation of impacted stakeholders, especially women, youth, informal sector workers and Indigenous communities, allows policies to respond to lived realities while broadening the constituency for climate action. Bottom-up approaches that localize problems and solutions build trust, reduce conflict and ensure that communities most affected by the transition can shape its direction.
Kenya offers valuable lessons in this regard. Localized engagement — whether through research co-designed with communities, dialogues held in local languages or forums that amplify the voices of women and marginalized groups — has proven effective in grounding policy responses in lived experience. Projects such as Future Yetu in Nairobi’s informal settlements used storytelling to link climate impacts with community-driven solutions. Pastoralist Community Initiative and Development Assistance in northern Kenya mobilized pastoralist communities through culturally appropriate methods, ensuring climate plans reflected local priorities. Women’s climate forums in Kwale County demonstrated how targeted spaces can surface practical solutions — from drought-resistant crops to sustainable energy — that might otherwise be overlooked. The lesson is clear: Inclusive engagement strengthens both the quality and relevance of policy outcomes.
Brazil has experimented with scaling inclusivity to the national level. Through the Brasil Participativo platform, citizens are invited to propose, debate and vote on ideas feeding into the country’s updated national climate plan. The process has already drawn tens of thousands of participants and generated over a thousand proposals. While challenges remain — particularly in reaching communities without internet or reliable energy access — the initiative shows how participatory democracy can be harnessed to embed just transition principles across national strategies.
Taken together, these experiences highlight that participation and inclusion are not only about protecting vulnerable groups; they are also about broadening the social base for climate action. When communities see their priorities reflected in policies, they are more likely to support and defend them. In this way, inclusion strengthens both the equity and the political durability of the transition, ensuring it can move forward with legitimacy and momentum.
2) Assessing and Managing the Social and Economic Impacts of the Transition
A just transition depends on understanding who wins, who loses and how benefits and risks are distributed as economies shift. Without this knowledge, climate policies can create unintended consequences that undermine livelihoods, deepen inequality and provoke resistance. By contrast, careful analysis of social and economic impacts allows governments to anticipate risks, design targeted protections and unlock the full growth potential of a green economy.
India’s experience in the brick-making industry illustrates both the risks and opportunities. Pollution-reduction policies are driving a shift away from traditional kilns, which employ large numbers of informal workers with limited safety nets. Introducing cleaner technologies such as fixed chimney bull’s trench kilns can reduce emissions and health impacts, but their success depends on investment in training for both workers and owners. This example demonstrates how climate policies must be accompanied by strategies to reskill vulnerable workers and adapt technologies to local contexts. Otherwise, environmental gains risk being offset by social dislocation.
Ethiopia demonstrates the power of investing in modelling and data to guide decision-making. By building technical capacity in systems dynamics modelling, the government has projected the potential costs and benefits of different transition pathways. These analyses revealed opportunities for growth in renewables, transport, forestry and climate-smart agriculture, while identifying risks in traditional agriculture and industry. The results directly informed the country’s long-term low emissions development strategy and nationally determined contribution (NDC), embedding social and economic considerations into national development planning. This kind of rigorous modelling can help governments manage risks proactively while aligning climate strategies with growth and jobs.
Across these cases, it is evident that deliberately seeking to understand the social and economic impacts of climate policies is a prerequisite for socially responsive policies. Careful data gathering, robust analysis and continuous monitoring enable policymakers to design measures that cushion vulnerable groups, seize new opportunities and ensure that climate action contributes to shared prosperity.
3) Aligning Policies Across Sectors
Managing climate transitions is not the responsibility of any single ministry. The impacts of decarbonization span energy, industry, labor, agriculture, transport and social protection, therefore, achieving a just transition requires coordinated action across government. Ministries responsible for economic planning, labor markets, industrial policy and social protection must work hand in hand with sectoral line ministries. A robust national framework that explicitly integrates climate and just transition principles can provide the foundation for this alignment — ensuring that economic, social and environmental goals reinforce rather than contradict each other.
Colombia shows how integrated frameworks can create coherence. Its long-term climate strategy (E2050) and NDC embed just transition principles at the national level, while sectoral roadmaps provide more detailed guidance. The Ministry of Mines and Energy’s Just Energy Transition Roadmap outlines plans to decarbonize the energy sector, expand renewables and diversify local economies in coal-dependent regions. Complementing this, the Ministry of Labor is developing a phased National Just Transition Workforce Strategy to drive green job creation and reskilling across sectors, starting with energy and moving progressively into agriculture, transport, commerce and construction. This alignment across ministries ensures that decarbonization efforts are matched with labor market strategies and regional development planning, thereby reducing the risks of dislocation and unlocking new growth opportunities.
Yet, Colombia’s experience also highlights the need to bridge public–private divides. Business leaders voiced frustration about being excluded from international climate negotiations despite being essential to implementation. The government responded by initiating structured dialogues with private actors after the 2024 UN climate change summit (COP29), a first step toward more effective coordination. The lesson from this experience is clear: Alignment is needed not only across ministries, but also between governments, businesses, workers and civil society. Without the involvement of these different actors, implementation will falter.
Beyond coordinating across ministries and sectors, Brazil demonstrates the benefits of aligning social and economic goals with climate objectives. By emphasizing high-quality job creation, reducing inequality and prioritizing support for youth, women and marginalized communities, the new Brazil ecological transformation plan ensures that decarbonization delivers inclusive development. Anchoring social protection, health care and welfare in transition planning builds security for workers and communities, while skills development programs prepare people to seize new opportunities. This comprehensive approach demonstrates that when social policy and climate policy are integrated, the transition becomes a driver of equity as well as growth.
These cases show that alignment is not an administrative exercise, but a political and economic imperative. Coordinated responses across ministries and with social partners ensure that climate action supports jobs, growth and equity. When policy coherence is achieved, climate transitions can generate broad socio-economic benefits and build durable support for ambitious climate action.
4) Strengthening Governance and Institutional Capacity
Policy alignment alone is insufficient without the governance mechanisms and institutional capacity to make it real. Managing a climate transition requires not only clear strategies, but also the ability to coordinate across government, engage stakeholders and implement sectoral programs at scale. Weak institutions or fragmented responsibilities can derail even the most carefully designed plans. By contrast, strong governance systems that bring together diverse actors — across ministries, levels of government, business, labor and civil society — create the foundation for effective implementation and durable political support.
South Africa provides a valuable example of how governance structures can be built to underpin a just transition. At the advisory level, the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) has played a critical role in building consensus across stakeholders. Chaired by the country’s president and drawing in government, labor, business, civil society, youth and traditional leadership, the PCC has provided a forum for negotiating trade-offs, shaping the national Just Transition Framework and monitoring progress. Its inclusive composition has given legitimacy to the transition agenda and helped ensure that diverse perspectives are represented.
Yet the PCC is only part of the governance solution. Implementation capacity has been bolstered by the establishment of the Just Energy Transition Project Management Unit (JET PMU), which provides technical and coordination support to government. Working through an inter-ministerial committee, the JET PMU has ensured political oversight at the highest level while driving alignment across departments. Importantly, it has supported line ministries — such as energy, transport and higher education — to take the lead on delivering specific components of the Just Energy Transition Investment Plan. Subnational governments (provinces and municipalities) have also been engaged as partners in the energy transition. This dual structure, combining participatory advisory mechanisms with an operational coordination unit, has enabled South Africa to move from planning to implementation.
The lesson is clear: Governance capacity is as important as technical and financial resources. Countries need institutions that can integrate stakeholder voices, build consensus and monitor progress, while also ensuring that sectoral ministries, subnational governments and social partners have the capacity to deliver on their respective roles. Where governance is strong, transitions gain coherence, legitimacy and momentum; where it is weak, policies risk stalling or fragmenting.
5) Mobilizing Finance at Scale
A just transition cannot be delivered without finance — not only for decarbonization technologies, but also for the social and economic measures that make the transition fair and durable. Investment is needed to reskill workers, diversify regional economies, strengthen social protection and build resilience in vulnerable communities. Mobilizing finance at scale from domestic and international, public and private sources is therefore essential. Importantly, financing strategies must be designed to ensure the equitable distribution of benefits, reaching not only large infrastructure projects but also small enterprises, informal workers and community-led initiatives that are critical to inclusive transitions.
Indonesia’s experience shows both the opportunities and the gaps in aligning finance with just transition objectives. The country’s Coordinating Ministry of Maritime and Investment Affairs launched the Global Blended Finance Alliance (GBFA) in 2022 in an effort to mobilize and scale blended finance instruments to support climate and development goals. By building institutional capacity and encouraging multi-stakeholder partnerships, the GBFA could play an important role in financing transition efforts. However, difficulties in channeling global funds such as the Just Energy Transition Partnership to industry players highlight a persistent challenge: resources often flow to governments and state-owned enterprises, while private sector actors — including local firms that create jobs and drive regional diversification — remain constrained. As such, financing frameworks must deliberately include mechanisms to support businesses, workers and regions most exposed to transition risks, ensuring that financial flows extend beyond the energy sector into wider social and economic priorities.
Rwanda offers another perspective on how finance can advance just transition outcomes. With support from the World Bank, the Renewable Energy Fund expanded electricity access to more than 2 million people, created over 4,000 jobs, and catalyzed private investment in Rwanda. These are important social and economic co-benefits. Yet the government has identified a significant funding gap to reach universal electrification and faces barriers including high local lending rates and limited specialized financing mechanisms. The lesson here is that financing strategies must be intentionally structured to advance equity and resilience: By building local financial sector capacity, tailoring instruments such as green bonds or impact bonds to national contexts and prioritizing affordability for vulnerable households, finance can become a lever not just for energy access, but for inclusive economic participation and regional development.
These examples demonstrate that mobilizing finance at scale is not only about raising capital for low-carbon infrastructure but also about designing financial mechanisms that embed just transition priorities. By explicitly funding skills, diversification, social support and resilience, financing strategies can unlock the socio-economic benefits of the transition and build durable public and political support for climate action.
Sharing Lessons Learned Across Countries to Support Just Transitions
Experiences from Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Rwanda and South Africa show that while the pathways differ, the underlying lesson is the same: Just transitions work best when they combine ambition with inclusion. Across these contexts, five levers — participation and inclusion, understanding social and economic impacts, policy alignment, governance capacity, and financing strategies — have emerged as critical to ensuring that climate action delivers not only emissions reductions but also jobs, resilience and equity.
Neglecting these dimensions risks social dislocation, political resistance and stalled progress. Supporting them, by contrast, builds legitimacy, expands the social base for climate action, and unlocks economic opportunities that make the transition both fair and feasible. Importantly, the equity dimension is not limited to decarbonization: climate impacts themselves fall hardest on vulnerable communities, making resilience and social protection core components of a fair transition.
The country experiences reviewed here highlight the importance of cross-country learning. While no single model can be transplanted wholesale, the common challenges and solutions underscore the value of sharing knowledge and best practices across contexts. Building platforms for this exchange — particularly among countries in the Global South — will be critical to accelerating progress.
Just transitions are not only a moral imperative, but a practical necessity for effective and politically viable climate action. By embedding social and economic priorities into transition strategies, countries can transform the risks of climate change into an opportunity for inclusive growth and resilient development.
