The Group's Approach
To ensure the social acceptance of the transition and the fairness of the process itself as well as its outcome, which is necessary for assuring the sustainability of the proposed environmentally-oriented reconstruction strategies, policies focused on alleviating the expected social shocks and providing protective measures for the affected communities must be developed in an inclusive manner and implemented gradually as the transition progresses.
The proposed new economic profile of each region set for transition should correspond to local capabilities, the resource base and needs, and take into account such matters as the existing and the desired educational and professional training directions, regional transportation patterns, the existing infrastructure, as well as the applicable regulatory and legal frameworks.
However, energy transformation has more than the two dimensions of technology and finance. People’s non-economic needs such as those related to their pride and social status, sense of identity and belonging to a given community, and adherence to a given culture and heritage should also be taken into consideration.
To prevent civil unrest and ensure the sustainability of the proposed solutions a holistic strategy aimed at long-term development and encompassing all aspects of transition, i.e., social, cultural, economic, and environmental, is necessary.
Ensuring a just transition shares activities that are key to twelve of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by UN Member States as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The Group of Experts seeks to support ECE member States in their efforts to achieve climate goals and simultaneously ensure quality of life and decent jobs for their citizens, as well as prosperity and good perspectives for the legacy industry-oriented regions undergoing the transition.
To learn more about the concept of Just Transition please click here.
Related Documents
- Official Documents
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ECE/ENERGY/2021/14 - Responding to the challenges of a just transition in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe sustainable energy subprogramme
ECE/ENERGY/GE.4/2022/4 - Cultural issues: managing the social aspects of the transition of industries along the coal value chain and coal-dependent regions (available also in French and Russian)
ECE/ENERGY/GE.4/2023/7 - Just Transition – the check list - Informal Documents and presentations