Just Transition Rising

Making a real difference at Bonn SB64

Just Transition had a positive outcome at the June climate talks in Germany. The negotiations produced a text outlining functions and modalities for a future Just Transition Mechanism. The emerging Belém-to-Antalya Mechanism (BAM) is intended to turn the political commitments agreed at COP30 into practical support for workers, communities and countries navigating the transition. The text represents an important step towards operationalising that vision.

However, key questions around governance, accountability, participation and implementation support remain unresolved. Civil society organisations repeatedly warned against allowing procedural debates and reviews to crowd out the substantive work needed to build a mechanism capable of identifying implementation gaps, mobilising support and helping deliver just transitions on the ground.

We need climate action that speaks to the majority. That means advancing solutions that connect what climate protection requires with the urgent needs of working people. Just Transition offers a pathway for building broad public support for climate action by placing justice at its centre.

Just Transition is about planning the changes needed to deliver climate safety and shared prosperity. It places people at the heart of the transition: supporting alternative development pathways and industrialisation strategies for countries, creating decent jobs, and strengthening social protection and public services.

It is also about ensuring that workers and communities are protected both from climate impacts and from the disruptions that transition can bring. At its core, Just Transition connects people’s daily realities with the possibility of a climate-safe future.

The convergence of social movements, trade unions, Indigenous Peoples, feminists, youth movements, and civil society under #JustTransitionRising helped secure a landmark outcome at COP30: agreement on key Just Transition principles and a decision to begin creating a global mechanism to support countries and communities trying to make Just Transition real on the ground.

Read CAN’s closing press release for the Bonn climate talks here:

SB64 exposes growing gap between implementation rhetoric and delivery

Read CAN’s opening press release for the Bonn climate talks here:

Bonn climate talks can turn Just Transition promises into real shared prosperity

The COP30 closing plenary session erupts in cheers of “BAM! BAM! BAM!” as the Belém Action Mechanism finally becomes a reality.

Bonn SB64 and COP31

COP31 in November will help determine whether this new mechanism can make a meaningful difference for workers, communities, and countries seeking to build fairer and more resilient futures.

In Bonn, governments must begin bringing key features into the negotiating text so this mechanism can become the Belém-Antalya Mechanism (BAM) for a Global Just Transition:

• it must be capable of mobilising and accelerating finance for Just Transition, while making support more accessible to those who need it most

• workers, communities, Indigenous Peoples, and civil society must have a meaningful role in the institutions and processes that are created

• the mechanism must support implementation of the agreed Just Transition principles on the ground

Last November, tens of thousands joined global marches calling on governments at COP30 to deliver climate justice

Just Transition is happening in some parts of the world but it can be global – check out these projects:

On May Day, workers are calling – and climate activists must answer 

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“Water is worth more than lithium,” Indigenous Argentine community tells COP30

COP30: Spain’s unions say just transition means renewing communities beyond jobs