Sharm El-Sheikh – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) joined forces today at COP27 to launch the Alliance for a Just Energy Transformation (AJET).

AJET is a voluntary initiative that intends to mobilize stakeholders including communities, civil society, policymakers, and the private sector to drive the successful implementation of just energy transition policies worldwide.

This involves understanding the needs of those currently engaged in fossil fuel supply chains and services as they transition to renewable energy alternatives. These local transitions will together form a global transformation, with common principles to ensure success, including climate justice, international cooperation, equitable social and economic policies, community and environmental resilience, and access to finance.

Despite the solid foundation offered by the International Labour Organization’s existing just transition guidelines, there remains a need to clarify the just energy transition in detail, and to facilitate greater take-up and coordination of activities between relevant organizations. This Alliance will enable members to exchange related knowledge and experience, and form valuable partnerships to help achieve this transformation and support global efforts to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C.

“I’m very pleased to join partners to launch the Alliance for a Just Energy Transformation,” said Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator. “All spheres of society must work together to build the sustainable and equitable energy systems of the future – systems that will benefit every individual, every community, every country, and the ecosystems that sustain all life on Earth. This Alliance will contribute to this global movement by rallying a broad set of partners to continue defining what a just energy transformation must entail, and will help to drive the implementation of the policies that will make it happen.”

“To confront the climate crisis, it is critical to rapidly accelerate the energy transition and ensure this shift is inclusive, credible, affordable and secure,” added WWF Global Lead for Climate and Energy, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal. “There are great opportunities for growth and jobs from clean energy, and those currently involved in fossil fuel industries must be given the ability to transfer their skills to the new energy economy. We hope that AJET will help to deliver a just energy transformation that benefits our climate, people and nature.”

KPMG, REN21, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the International Trade Union Congress (ITUC), and Gridworks investment company are among the first organizations to join AJET. This is now open to all partners that consider the Principles of the Alliance as a valid point of departure for ensuring a rapid, just, and transformative shift in energy for people across the world.

“The Alliance for Just Energy Transformation will help accelerate global net zero goals while prioritizing a wider social agenda that recognizes the imperatives of climate justice, equity and just transition,” said Mike Hayes, Global Climate Change and Decarbonization Leader and Global Head of Renewable Energy for KPMG International. “As a founding member of the alliance, KPMG professionals will help provide a platform for developing and emerging countries to engage in critical conversations that lead to just energy implementation, create detailed reporting to define, identify and track key metrics of a just energy transformation and develop toolkits and guidelines to ensure sustainable economic activities, energy planning at regional and national levels and educational plans for workforce enablement.”

“AJET is not only about ensuring a just transition but also acknowledging that a renewables-based energy system is a just energy system replacing the traditional fossil-fuel based system, which is far from being equitable,” added Rana Adib, Executive Director, REN21.

For more information, contact:

• Robin Harvey, Media Manager, WWF-International: rharvey@wwfint.org
• Sarah Bel, Communications Advisor, UNDP: sarah.bel@undp.org

About the UNDP Sustainable Energy Hub: The UNDP Sustainable Energy Hub is a network of partners that work alongside countries to transform energy systems through an integrated agenda focused on the policy, technology, and financial shifts that shape sustainable economic development. We help countries build net-zero, people-centered societies driven by a just, sustainable energy transition. Our core principle is to support energy for development, including by mobilizing partners to enable 500 million additional people to have access to sustainable, reliable, affordable energy by 2025, leaving no one behind. For more information: www.undp.org/energy

About WWF: WWF is an independent conservation organization, with over 30 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries. WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the Earth's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world's biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption. Visit panda.org/climateenergy for more on our work and follow us on Twitter @climatewwf