Climate change and development A just transition: towards low-carbon economies and lifestyles

In order to keep the impacts of climate change within manageable limits, we need to ensure that lifestyles and economies worldwide become climate neutral by mid-century. It must be ensured, based on cooperation with emerging economies and developing countries, that this transition will be socially just (Just Transition). No one must be left behind on the path towards a climate-neutral, resilient and socially just economic and social system.

As industrialised nations, we must assist the countries of the Global South, which are impacted most severely by climate change, to develop in an eco- and climate-friendly manner (...). My guiding vision is the just transition as part of a global structural policy.

Svenja Schulze Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development

The German Development Ministry (BMZ) assists its partner countries in closely interlinking their activities on climate action, sustainable economic development and social justice. The aim of the just transition is to compensate, as far as possible, for unintended social disadvantages that are caused by changing economic structures, and to create new opportunities for the future.

Here is an example. As a result of the exit from fossil fuel power generation, jobs will initially be lost in that sector. Workers will then need access to reskilling and new employment opportunities in other sectors. At the same time, this structural change will create new jobs, for example in the renewable energy industry. Together with other donors, the BMZ agreed a Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) with South Africa. Targeted support is being provided to coal sector workers, enabling them to develop new employment prospects. For example, decommissioned coal-fired power plants in the Province of Mpumalanga are being turned into training centres for occupations in the field of renewable energy.

The BMZ's bilateral Climate and Development Partnerships, too, provide many examples of how to design a just transition. For example, the BMZ supports a project in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh which involves assisting over 100,000 smallholder households in shifting to climate-resilient agro-ecological practices by 2025. This has already helped them increase their incomes significantly. Families are now better able to cope with crises and disasters. The project involves direct cooperation with women's organisations, assisting women farmers in adopting agro-ecological practices.

What the BMZ is doing

Still from the video "Responsible mineral supply chains for the Just Transition"

The BMZ is engaged in efforts, in particular, to

expand the use of clean, safe and affordable forms of energy;
create decent and sustainable jobs and establish effective social protection systems;
advance a socially and environmentally sound transformation of the economy (including the financial sector);
protect the rights of disadvantaged population groups, especially women, and strengthen their opportunities for participation on a sustained basis;
conserve biodiversity and vital natural resources;
support vulnerable countries' efforts to adapt to climate change and cope with climate-related loss and damage; and
transform cities into climate-smart, high-quality living spaces.

All groups within society must be involved in this radical transformation. For the just transition to be successful, there must be a willingness to reform, invest and engage in an open dialogue with business and civil society, and there must be better intergovernmental communication.