Published on May 29, 2025 by Agencies for Kenya Online News
Last Updated on 1 year by Agencies for Kenya Online News
By Elijah Odanga
The Just Transition Platform (JTP) today hosted a high-level dialogue at the Sarova Panafric Hotel in Nairobi, launching a continental framework that redefines Africa’s pathway toward a Just Transition.
Bringing together leading African voices in energy, labour, trade, land use, and gender justice, the event marked a pivotal moment in Africa’s response to the global climate crisis.
About the Just Transition Platform The Just Transition Platform is a unique collaborative which was established in 2022 to provide a forum for broad collaboration, networking, and research on Just Transition with the goal of advancing an equitable and Just Transition in the post-2020 implementation era of the Paris Climate Agreement.
The Platform was officially launched in August 2022 during the Inaugural Just Transition Workshop in Accra, Ghana. It convenes a global pool of researchers, policy specialists and climate campaigners who possess rich, in-depth regional expertise on the climate change policy landscape in Africa. Climate Works Foundation and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Africa currently serve as Platform co-convenors.
The Principles for a Just and Equitable Transition were designed through a highly collaborative three-year process which began at the 2022 Accra Inaugural Workshop. Over the course of two and a half days in Ghana, participants collaborated to define the overarching vision for a Just and Equitable Transition.
Prior established principles under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and other relevant international and regional process and mechanisms such as the Sustainable Development Goals, the Human Rights Charter, the African Union Agenda 2063 and the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP) provided a robust backdrop for workshop deliberations.
Frameworks that shaped equity considerations in climate policy from the International Labor Organization, the global feminist movement, and the World Health Organization were incorporated into the workshop sessions.
After identifying the core guiding frameworks and mechanisms for the development of the Principles for a Just and Equitable Transition, the Just Transition Platform re- convened in 2023 at the Mauritius Just Transition Platform Working Session where five independent working groups began the process of drafting the core principles.
The outcome of the meeting was a draft document that featured a series of sectoral draft principles on Just Transition in the World of Work; Trade, Finance and Investment regime; Energy Sector; Agriculture, Forestry and Land Use sector; and cross-cutting draft principles on Just Transition and the Care Economy.
The draft principles underwent an external validation process throughout 2023. In the lead up to the Inaugural Africa Climate Summit, the Just Transition Platform organized a Road to the Africa Climate Summit webinar series during which the draft principles were presented to a global audience of experts. Feedback was collected during the series sessions and incorporated into the draft working principles. At the September 2023 Africa Climate Summit, the principles for a Just and Equitable Transition in trade, finance and investment were launched at a high-level side-event organized by the just Transition Platform in collaboration with the Kenyan Ministry of Trade and Industrialization. Following a brief hiatus in 2024, the Platform working groups resumed engagement in 2025 in advance of the formal launch of the Principles for a Just and Equitable Transition in May 2025 in Nairobi, Kenya.
Why This Moment Matters As nations update their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), Africa must ensure that the principles of a just transition are embedded across sectors — from energy and agriculture to labour and finance. With the continent contributing less than 4% of global emissions but facing some of the harshest climate impacts, structural injustices threaten jobs, health systems, food security, and the rights of youth and women.
As parties to the Climate Convention design and roll out third-generation Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) as mandated by the Paris Climate Agreement, now is an important moment to take stock of the Just Transition dimensions of their climate ambition plans and work toward enhancing coherence across aligned policy regimes.
To effectively achieve an all-of-economy and all-of-society Just Transition, governments, business, and civil society must take proactive steps to align climate action with the evolution of the world of work.
Labour-responsive climate action addresses both the physical impacts of climate change and the social impacts of climate action, ensuring that the justice mandates underpinning the transition to a climate-safe future are safeguarded.
The physical impacts of global climatic change bear a disproportionate effect on workers and their livelihoods. For example, excessive heat stress affects 2.4 billion workers annually, resulting in approximately 18,970 work-related deaths and 23 million workplace injuries each year.
These effects further strain an already fragile workforce in Africa, where youth unemployment averages 12% and exceeds 35% in countries like South Africa.
To address these challenges, social partners must embrace a whole-of-society approach that ensures no worker or community is left behind. Integrating decent work and other social mandates , including those from the 2019 Abidjan Declaration on Advancing Social Justice and Shaping the Future of Work in Africa, into national climate policies is essential for a labour-responsive transition.
On Wednesday 28 May 2025, government representatives, climate NGOs, and trade unions participated in a multi stakeholder dialogue titled “Advancing Just Transition in Africa: Climate Change and The World of Work.” The session explored how social partners can respond to the dual challenges of climate change and technological disruption while harnessing opportunities in new and emerging industries of the green and digital age.
The press briefing featured members of the Just Transition Platform: ● Dr. Pamela Levira – African Union ● Ujunwa Ojemeni – E3G ● Dr. Tedd Moya – University of Oxford ● Kingsley Ofei-Nkasah – GD Resource Center ● Anne Songole – CLASP Core Framework and Sectoral Priorities The launch unveiled a set of principles anchored are by sector-specific pathways, including: ● Energy systems: with options for Gradual, Leapfrogging, and Hybrid Just Energy Transition (JET) models
The Core Principles for a Just and Equitable Transition: The Just Energy Transition outline three guiding principles—Sustainable National Energy Resource Sovereignty, Energy Justice, and Innovation and Collaboration—to steer Africa’s energy transition in line with climate goals. The first principle emphasizes the right of African nations to manage their natural resources sustainably and equitably, integrating renewables, local knowledge, and smart technologies for resilient energy systems. The second principle, Energy Justice, advocates for universal access to clean, affordable, and reliable energy, ensuring that vulnerable communities are protected from the harms of traditional energy systems and that the benefits and burdens of the transition are fairly distributed. Lastly, Innovation and Collaboration highlight theneed for inclusive partnerships, technology transfer, and sustainable financing to support locally driven, climate-smart energy solutions. These principles collectively aim to enable a just transition that supports Africa’s development while addressing climate change.
- Trade, investment, and finance: rooted in fairness, safeguards, and equitable partnerships The Core Principles for a Just and Equitable Transition in Trade, Investment, and Finance advocate for fairness, safeguards, and inclusive partnerships to align Africa’s economic systems with climate goals. These principles emphasize the need for equitable trade and financial regimes that reduce dependency and address structural debt, as seen in initiatives like AfCFTA and the DSSI. Safeguards are vital to protect vulnerable groups from exploitative practices and climate-related risks, calling for transparency and human rights-based approaches in economic policies. Inclusive partnerships must reflect African ownership and reform global institutions to ensure shared responsibility and justice. Embedding these principles into economic diplomacy and governance is critical for achieving Africa’s sustainable development vision outlined in Agenda 2063 ● World of work: ensuring decent work, social protection, and labour rights The Core Principles for a Just and Equitable Transition in the World of Work emphasize that climate policies in Africa must uphold workers’ rights and dignity while addressing the systemic risks and exclusions intensified by climate action. Guided by the Paris Agreement, these interdependent principles call for integrating fundamental labour rights, inclusive governance, gender justice, universal social protection, green skills development, and equitable climate finance into national laws. For example, social dialogue must be legally mandated to ensure meaningful participation, while social protections must support both formal and informal workers against climate shocks. Green skills training should prioritize vulnerable groups, and wealthy polluting nations must finance adaptation and just transitions in Africa through grants, not loans.
Embedding these principles into binding legislation is crucial for climate action that promotes equity, resilience, and decent work. ● Agriculture and land use: promoting equity and low-carbon practices The Core Principles for a Just and Equitable Transition in Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use Sectors emphasize the need for inclusive policy reforms, skills development, fair finance, and gender-equitable economic development to support Africa’s shift to low-carbon, resilient systems. Outdated land policies must be reformed to secure land tenure and promote equitable access, especially for women. Empowering smallholder farmers—who form the backbone of Sub-Saharan agriculture—through skills development, value addition, and innovation can drive economic transformation and job creation. Financing remains a major barrier, with African agriculture facing high borrowing costs and limited access to climate finance; thus, restructuring financial mechanisms and enhancing local capacity are vital. Lastly, inclusive development must prioritize women’s leadership, access to resources, and representation in agricultural decision-making to foster sustainable and just land use systems across the continent.
- Gender: advancing a feminist and justice-centered transition The Core Principles for a Just and Equitable Transition in the Care Economy emphasize the need to center care work—both paid and unpaid—as a foundational element of a gender-just transition. Recognizing that women bear the brunt of unpaid care work, especially highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic, policies must reflect the intersecting roles women play in households, communities, and economies. A truly just transition must ensure women’s full inclusion and representation across all sectors impacted by the shift to low-carbon economies—such as energy, mining, agriculture, and forestry—especially for marginalized groups like those in last-mile communities, persons with disabilities, and indigenous peoples. It also calls for valuing African knowledge systems in climate and technological strategies. A transformative transition for Africa must be grounded in gender-responsive principles that reflect lived realities and address systemic inequalities across society.
Key Messages:
Reframe the Narrative: Transition on Africa’s Terms ● Challenge the assumption that Africa is already “transitioning” the way the global North imagines it. ● Question: Who benefits from global concepts like Net Zero and Just Transition ensuring Africa’s unique contexts and realities shape the agenda. ● Move from externally imposed frameworks to community-rooted, African-led solutions.
Prioritize Economic Justice and Livelihoods ● Address the disconnect between policy ambitions (e.g., clean energy targets) and ground realities (biomass dependence, subsistence farming). ● Ensure transitions create decent work ; fair pay, safe conditions, social protections not precarious survival jobs. ● Focus on transforming agriculture and other sectors employing most Africans, for dignified livelihoods.
Address Structural Barriers and Inequality ● Fight corruption, misaligned political priorities, and elite capture that divert resources away from majority livelihoods. ● Reform tax policies and land ownership to enable inclusive investments and wealth building for ordinary Africans. ● Confront and dismantle systemic inequalities, including gender disparities, ensuring women and marginalized groups are included and protected.
Demand African Ownership and Sovereignty Over Resources ● Reject extractive models where profits leave Africa despite resource wealth. ● Develop African-controlled renewable energy sectors and reject becoming carbon offset dumping grounds. ● Push for African-led research, knowledge, and frameworks to guide just transition policies.
Build Capacity and Awareness for Inclusive, Just Transitions ● Invest in climate education and research tailored to African contexts to empower youth and leaders. ● Raise awareness at all levels, ensuring no groups are left behind, and amplify the voices of those most affected. ● Cultivate leadership that prioritizes justice and accountability over short-term political gains.
Rethink Investments and Development Priorities ● Shift investments from elite-focused infrastructure to productive sectors that benefit the majority. ● Ensure financial flows are transparent, targeted, and actually reach communities rather than consultants or middlemen. ● Advocate for systemic reform of global financial and trade systems that perpetuate African debt and dependency
