A green transition to a net-zero future is key to unlocking the Paris Agreement’s global climate goals. However, if not managed well, the required socioeconomic transformation runs the risk of further increasing social inequality, exclusion, civil unrest, and less competitive businesses, sectors, and markets. Increasingly, countries are acknowledging these risks and in turn are taking action to integrate a just and equitable transition of their economies into their short- and long-term climate plans, processes, and practices.

This new report unpacks why a just transition is central to delivering the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals, analyses key global and regional trends, and explores what a just transition means for UNDP’s work. The report also introduces UNDP’s framework for incorporating just Transition into short- and long-term climate plans and highlights, through country case studies, how UNDP is partnering with Serbia, South Africa, Costa Rica, India, and Antigua and Barbuda on their visions for a green, just, and net-zero future.