Governments agreed on how to frame a just transition that can address the concerns of workers and communities affected by the shift away from fossil fuels at the close of the climate change intersessional conference in Bonn.
The event in the former German capital is the forerunner to the main United Nations Conference of Parties (COP) 30 set for the end of the year in Belém, Brazil.
Negotiators implemented a draft text which details various approaches to capacity-building, financing and technology transfer to help developing countries adopt just transition pathways and enable progress reporting to be part of governments’ nationally determined contributions.
Although the just transition work programme was introduced at COP28, the Bonn meeting marks the first time that parties were able to produce a draft decision and an informal note that will be discussed further at COP30 in November.
“We now have options that can be taken through to Belém which, if adopted, can make it actually possible to support ‘just’ transitions in countries across the Global South. Much more needs to be done outside of the UNFCCC negotiating rooms – on debt injustice, trade injustice, and more – but this is a start,” said Amiera Sawas, head of research and policy, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, who was one of the observers present at the discussions.
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We now have options that can be taken through to Belém which, if adopted, can make it actually possible to support ‘just’ transitions in countries across the Global South.
Amiera Sawas, head of research and policy, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative
Activists are calling for the just transition discussions to be part of the Belém Action Mechanism, a new framework being championed by Brazil as the host of COP30 to accelerate and deepen collective climate action through inclusive, multilateral cooperation and by centering local and Indigenous leadership.
“There are lots of different efforts in just transition that cut across UN and wider spaces, so being part of this mechanism could bring together learnings from within and between nations. It will focus on providing synergies and recommendations and identifying ways forward on means of implementation both inside and outside of the UN,” Sawas told Eco-Business.
Informal consultations on the just transition work programme were happening on 25 June 2025. Image: IISD/ENB/ Kiara Worth
A glimmer of hope amid war and inequality
Civil society saw the firming up of the just transtiion text as a “glimmer of hope” against a backdrop of global crises that weigh on climate negotations.
The pre-COP discussions were also held up for two days because countries could not agree on the agenda for the meeting, and by the end they had little progress to show on key issues. As a mid-year checkpoint before COP30, the largely technical talks aimed to bring countries closer on core issues including adaptation, mitigation and finance.
“If not for the progress on the just transition work programme, which gives civil society a core issue to rally around on the road to Belém, this meeting offered little to get excited about on all other fronts,” said Nithi Nesadurai, director and regional coordinator, Climate Action Network Southeast Asia.
Teresa Anderson, global climate lead, ActionAid International said the progress on the just transition work programme comes at a “critical time, amid so much economic uncertainty, when many people feel they are being forced to choose between their immediate needs and a climate safe future.”
“If approved at COP30, the just transition mechanism will deliver action on the ground, requiring and supporting governments to put people’s needs first and foremost at the start of every climate plan. This represents a major evolution in climate action, and the spark of hope that our planet urgently needs,” she said.
