Cross-constituency groups held a “Just Transition Super Action,” exerting pressure for establishing a just transition mechanism at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, Nov. 21, 2025. Photo credit: Aakaluk Blatchford

BIG NEWS! The persistent demands of grassroots movements and frontline groups resulted in COP30 creating a just transition mechanism! With this decision, the Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP) will evolve into a permanent just transition institution within the UNFCCC. While the Just Transition Alliance (JTA) welcomes this decision, the fight for a just transition and climate justice is far from over.

Many are saying this just transition mechanism marks one of the most important outcomes at COP30. We celebrate the fierce dedication, perseverance, and labor of cross-constituency groups that we worked alongside. However, we now must return to pushing for processes and practices that refuse false solutions and “green” colonialism and that advance just transition principles and collective flourishing. While the COP30 JTWP draft text responds to the demands of many Indigenous Peoples, frontline workers, and the most impacted communities, including Afro-descendants, the decision lacks the processes, principles, and fundamental components necessary for ensuring a just transition. We know the struggle for a just transition will not be won at a single conference. This work did not start, nor will it end, in Belém.

Read our press release on the JTWP negotiations and our critiques of the draft text. Also, listen to analysis from JTA’s Policy Lead Fernando Tormos-Aponte in his response from COP30, recorded one day before the big decision!

Our work continues, and we appreciate and need your support! Just transition now!