Developed nations including the UK, Norway, Canada, Australia and the EU are pushing back on a proposal at COP30 to create a just transition mechanism to bolster and unify efforts to help workers and communities adversely affected by the shift away from fossil fuels, the plan’s backers say.
Championed by civil society activists who have dubbed it the “Belém Action Mechanism” (BAM), the proposal to establish a dedicated global facility won backing at the climate talks from the largest group of developing nations, the G77+China. Under the proposal, developing countries would receive financial and technical assistance aimed at ensuring a fair transition to clean energy.
A global green shift is expected to change the nature of employment in sectors such as coal mines, oil refineries, construction and car factories. Jobs will be lost in high-carbon industries and new ones created in clean technology supply chains, bringing both threats and opportunities for the affected workers and their families and communities.
Activists say establishing an institutional framework is vital to making sure global climate action to cut emissions does not end up leaving anyone behind.
But a significant number of developed countries are “generally not being positive about the mechanism”, said Anabella Rosemberg, senior advisor on just transition at Climate Action Network International, adding that they did not see the need for a coordination unit on just transition policies.
“Basically these countries do not want any new or innovative way of bringing the just transition community together,” Rosemberg said, referring to the proposals for the mechanism aimed at facilitating global dialogue, sharing best practice and informing new policy around the world.
The draft text on the UN’s Just Transition Work Programme released on Tuesday included several alternatives to the mechanism, including an action plan and a policy toolbox to help countries advance their just transition plans and turn principles into concrete national strategies.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the calls for the mechanism, as well as the “growing coalition asking for clarity on the transition away from fossil fuels”.
“Governments must support workers and communities still relying on coal, oil and gas with training, protection and new opportunities to go on with their lives in a positive way,” he said at COP30 on Thursday.
Sharing know-how, and financing
Supporters of the BAM proposal say just transition efforts are currently fragmented and would benefit from having an institutional mechanism to pull together funding and policymaking experiences, as well as fostering cooperation between different agencies and financial institutions working to support just transition.
“What we are trying to do with the mechanism is to really help the countries that want to put [just transition] strategies in place access much faster the capacity and the financing that is out there,” Rosemberg said.
Bert De Wel, global climate policy coordinator at the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), said a mechanism could help countries introduce just transition policies “with a strong focus on labour rights, trade union participation and social dialogue”.
Integrate just transition instead, says Norway
Some opponents of creating a new mechanism say just transition efforts would be better advanced by strengthening existing institutions rather than building a new one.
“This is most efficient because then the committees can start working without delay,” a spokesperson from the Norwegian Ministry for Climate and Environment told Climate Home News, adding that existing bodies under the Paris Agreement already cover most of the topics in the just transition draft decision, including finance, technology development and transfer, and capacity building
“It takes many years to develop a new mechanism,” the spokesperson said, even if countries can overcome their current differences over its potential scope and mandate. In the meantime, Norway supports developing guidance for existing bodies to better integrate just transition into their work.
“Not a fund”
The fear that a BAM could become another source of financial demands is one of the biggest concerns for the EU and developed countries, De Wel said. But while public finance is needed to roll out a just transition, he said “this doesn’t mean that these issues need to be sourced in the just transition mechanism”.
A just transition for renewables: Why COP30 must put people before power
He said the mechanism would seek to get multilateral development banks and other funders on board to make sure that money is being spent in a way that “respects labour criteria” and does not stop the Global South accessing resources that are already available.
Rosemberg said there have been questions around whether the mechanism would be a new fund but the civil society and G77 proposals clarify that the two things are not the same. “This is much more a facility for accelerating delivery of finance that already exists than a new fund,” she said.
Rosemberg said, however, that what would need to be funded is the operation of the BAM, which would cost about $10 million per year. This money would support research and the setting up of a secretariat, Kuda Manjojo of Power Shift Africa told Climate Home.
