COP 30 Just Transition Event Round-up: A comprehensive guide

The Conference of the Parties (COP) is the largest global event for discussions and negotiations on climate change. The meeting is held annually, with the presidency rotating among the five regions recognised by the United Nations.

The 2025 UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 30) will convene in November 2025 in Belém, Brazil.

As in 2023 and 2024, a comprehensive round-up of just transition events at COP 30 is available below.

Tuesday 11 November

Just Transition or Just Extraction? Safeguarding people and planet in the transition minerals rush

Time/Location: 16:45—18:15, Side Event Room 5

Transition minerals are key to Paris Agreement aims; still, their extraction and trade can undermine human rights and the environment. This event explores priorities for ensuring that globalised minerals supply chains advance just energy transitions, starting with frontline communities in the Global South.

Organisers: Transforma; Climate Rights International (CRI); Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI)

World Green Skills Collaborative: Connecting local design with power and equity for energy transition

Time/Location: 16:45—18:15, Side Event Room 8

Limited knowledge on climate-blended finance has slowed down the implementation of sustainable climate action at the grassroots worldwide. This event bridges gaps for civil society, the private sector, philanthropies, and communities to mobilise and motivate scalable solutions to address the climate crisis.

Organisers: Connected Advocacy for Empowerment and Youth Development Initiative (Connected Advocacy); Centre for 21st Century Issues (C21st); Faith Association of the Rehabilitation of Street Children and Orphans (FARSO); Sikh Human Rights Group (SHRG); Society for Development and Community Empowerment (SDCE)

Voices of the Transition: Inclusive pathways to a clean energy future

Time/Location: 16:45—18:15, Side Event Room 9

As the world accelerates towards a net-zero future, the energy transition must be inclusive, equitable, and technologically diverse. This side event will spotlight the critical role of women, youth, and indigenous communities in shaping energy policy and innovation.

Organisers: Women in Nuclear Global (WiN Global); International Youth Nuclear Congress (IYNC); Latin American Section of the American Nuclear Society (LAS/ANS)

Trade Unions, Civil Society, and Indigenous Peoples present Belém Action Mechanism 4 Just Transition

Time/Location: 18:30—20:00, Side Event Room 1

In this side event, trade unions, Indigenous Peoples, and CSOs will present their concrete proposals for negotiators.

Organisers: International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC); Climate Action Network International (CAN International); Klimadelegation e.V.; War on Want

Benefits Beyond Borders: Collaborative governance for a global just transition

Time/Location: 18:30—20:00, Side Event Room 5

In an interconnected world, national transitions don’t stop at borders; and measures to support those who are most affected may go beyond national just transition policy. Focusing on the fossil fuel transition, this event explores spillover effects and how to align national just transitions for shared benefits beyond borders.

Organisers: Climate Strategies; Chile; Plataforma CIPÓ (CIPÓ)

Local Climate Finance for a Just Transition to Carbon Neutral and Resilient Cities

Time/Location: 18:30—20:00 Side Event Room 9

This workshop explores how local climate finance can support a just transition towards carbon neutral and resilient cities. Governance frameworks and financing instruments will be discussed, considering their capacity to channel resources to cities in developing and developed countries.

Organisers: University Luigi Bocconi, Institute of Energy and Environment Economics and Policy (IEFE); Conseil des Communes et Régions d’Europe (CCRE); European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE); Polytechnic of Turin

Wednesday 12 November

Indigenous Peoples and NDCs 3.0: Rights, recognition, and the way forward

Time/Location: 11:30—13:00, Side Event Room 1

Indigenous representatives will assess the third cycle of nationally determined contributions , highlighting progress, gaps, and challenges in the recognition of Indigenous rights, knowledge, and contributions, with a focus on adaptation, just transition, gender, youth, and how Indigenous world views can shape fair climate action.

Organisers: International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA); Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact Foundation (AIPP); Association des Femmes Peules et Peuples Autochtones du Tchad (AFPAT); Center for Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North (CSIPN); Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN); Organización Nacional de Mujeres Indígenas Andinas y Amazónicas del Perú (ONAMIAP)

Stories of Just Transitions in Action

Time/Location: 11:30—13:00, Side Event Room 3

Social support or opposition makes or breaks net zero. Yet the stories of those involved in project design are lost from discussions dominated by policy, plans, targets, and metrics. This session will platform leaders of successful just transitions underway in India, Australia, Spain, and Brazil.

Organisers: Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB); Consumers International (CI); Indalo Inclusive South Africa NPC

Canal Organisations Facilitate Low-Carbon Development and Resilience of Cities

Time/Location: 11:30—13:00, Side Event Room 6

This event aims to support the acceleration of just coal transitions and coal industrial chain decarbonisation, as well as promoting the exchange of best practices on coal transition between China, the European Union, and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Organisers: Beijing Rongzhi Corporate Social Responsibility Institute; World Historic and Cultural Canal Cities Cooperation Organization

Towards a Just Transition: Financing Africa’s move from coal to sustainable energy sources

Time/Location: 15:00—16:30, Side Event Room 9

This event will explore innovative ways of mobilising finance to help African countries attain just transitions as they shift from fossil fuel-based energy systems to sustainable energy sources, including nuclear energy, in such a way as to meet their urgent development imperatives.

Organiser: Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)

Amazonia Free of Fossil Fuels: Indigenous Peoples present actionable solutions

Time/Location: 16:45—18:15, Side Event Room 7

Amazonia stores up to 100 billion tons of carbon and regulates the global climate. Fossil fuel activities impact the livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples who have protected the Amazonia for millennia. Here, they will present clear and actionable proposals to protect this vital ecosystem for people and planet.

Organisers: Movimiento Ciudadano frente al Cambio Climático (MOCICC); Avaaz Foundation; Organización Regional de la Asociación Inter-Étnica de Desarrollo de la Selva Peruana Ucayali (ORAU); Stand.Earth

Resilient Transitions: Indigenous wisdom and inclusive governance for adaptation and climate justice

Time/Location: 18:30—20:00, Side Event Room 5

This event weaves together Indigenous leadership, artistic expression, and inclusive policy to explore just transitions through ancestral knowledge and community action. Voices from the Global South and Global North reveal pathways for adaptation, loss and damage, and resilience rooted in equity and cultural wisdom.

Organisers: Energies 2050 (Energies 2050); Earth Savers Movement (ESM); University of New South Wales

Thursday 13 November

The Fossil Fuel Treaty: A global work plan for just transition

Time/Location: 11:30—13:00, Side Event Room 6

At COP 28, parties committed to transition away from fossil fuels, yet there is still no global plan for this transition and no mechanism to ensure it is just. To address this challenge, a growing bloc of countries is working towards a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty to complement the Paris Agreement.

Organisers: Earth Island Institute, Inc. (EII); College of the Atlantic (COA); Eco Clean Active Initiative (ECA); Press Club Brussels Europe

Empowering Communities for a Just and Inclusive Energy Transition in Africa

Time/Location: 11:30—13:00, Side Event Room 8

This event will explore strategies to accelerate inclusive, equitable energy transitions in Africa by centring practical community-led solutions, addressing energy poverty, and ensuring gender, youth, and Indigenous inclusion in policy and financing frameworks.

Organisers: Kenya Climate Change Working Group Association (KCCWGA); Abibimman Foundation (AF)

The Central Role of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities in Just Energy Transitions

Time/Location: 16:45—18:15, Side Event Room 5

Indigenous Peoples and local communities share their experiences of confronting extractive frontiers and low-carbon technologies. They address false solutions and uplift just climate initiatives to drive a community-led energy transition rooted in deep relationships to land and ecosystems.

Organisers: American Anthropological Association (AAA); Climate Alliance Austria (CAA); Climate Alliance Italy; German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS); Institute of Development Studies (IDS); Instituto de Ecología y Antropología de Acción (INFOE)

Friday 14 November

Time/Location: 11:30—13:00 Side Event Room 4

Legal and Governance Innovations for Ambitious Just Transitions: Learnings from design and implementation

Reflecting on essential climate governance functions, the panel will discuss instruments to enhance ambition and policy coherence, limit backsliding, and foster public participation while ensuring a just transition away from fossil fuel and towards socially acceptable renewable deployment.

Organisers: Real Instituto Elcano (RIE); Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU); Polítca y Legislación Ambiental A.C. (POLEA)

Implementing Evidence-Based NDCs 3.0 Through Integrated, Gender-Responsive Just Transitions

Time/Location: 15:00—16:30, Side Event Room 5

This panel discussion will focus on global stocktake evidence uptake in already submitted nationally determined contributions (NDCs) 3.0 (analysis undertaken by Durham University and Sao Paulo researchers) and pathways for their implementation through integrated, holistic approaches that prioritise gender-responsiveness and just transition plans.

Organisers: University of Durham; CARE International (CI)

Amplifying Youth, Women, and Indigenous Voices: Equitable climate justice initiatives

Time/Location: 16:45—18:15, Side Event Room 8

Research collaborations are key to addressing climate change by accelerating innovation, building capacity, and empowering youth, women, and traditional communities. This event will explore how equitable collaboration drives climate solutions rooted in local knowledge, enabling a just transition.

Organisers: Commonwealth Human Ecology Council (CHEC); Amazon Association (AA); University of Birmingham

Care, Climate, and the Just Transition

Time/Location: 18:30—20:00, Side Event Room 6

This session will explore the links between climate change and care to inform work on a just transition. It was co-organised by UN Women, UNCTAD, the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR), and the Avina Foundation.

Organiser: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD)

Prospects and Challenges for Real, Gender-Just, People-Led Climate Solutions

Time/Location: 18:30—20:00, Side Event Room 7

Frontline communities are forging climate solutions grounded in their lived realities and struggles for rights and justice. Despite their transformative potential, they face systemic barriers. What needs to be done to shift the policy ground for real, gender-just, and people-led climate solutions?

Organisers: IBON International Foundation Inc. (IBON); Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD); Centre for Community Economics and Development Consultants Society (CECOEDECON); FIAN FoodFirst Information and Action Network, Germany e.V. (FIAN Germany); Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (FARN); Global Forest Coalition (GFC); Indigenous Peoples Rights International Inc. (IPRI)

Saturday 15 November

Women for Climate Justice Leading Solutions on the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis

Time/Location: 15:00—16:30, Side Event Room 8

Grassroots and Indigenous women, alongside global advocates, will present climate justice strategies and solutions, including forest and biodiversity protection and restoration, Indigenous rights, fossil fuel phase-out strategies, just transition campaigns, and support for women land defenders.

Organisers: Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN); BankTrack; California College of the Arts (CCA); Ithaca College; Pomona College

Monday 17 November

Promote Just Transition: Bring international experiences on decarbonisation of coal industrial chain

Time/Location: 11:30—13:00, Side Event Room 8

This event aims to support just coal transitions and coal industrial chain decarbonisation, as well as to promote the exchange of best practices on coal transition between China, the European Union, and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Organisers: Coshare Environment; Agora Think Tanks gGmbH; Rock Institute for Global Decarbonization Progress

Green Skills and Labor Migration: Decision-making for impactful and climate-just transition pathways

Time/Location: 15:00—16:30, Side Event Room 2

The potential of green skills development in climate-vulnerable countries — fostering green growth at home and abroad — is often overlooked in international cooperation and migration schemes. The event discusses policy priorities, funding programmes and ways to strengthen global competence networks.

Organisers: German Council on Foreign Relations e.V. (DGAP); German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)