Tools

While it provides overarching principles and political grounding relevant across all sectors undergoing transformation, it is particularly intended to support the development of just energy transition (JET) processes and plans. It is especially relevant for those being designed and implemented at the national and local levels, where decisions directly affect workers, communities, and ecosystems. The guidance serves as a tool for civil society organisations, grassroots groups, and other stakeholders to engage with, influence, and co-create these transitions in ways that uphold human rights, redistribute power, and reflect the realities of those most impacted.

The document draws from a participatory process led within the Climate Action Network (CAN) Network and the Innovation Regions for a Just Energy Transition (IKI JET) Community of Practice, bringing together the experiences, best practices, and political perspectives of diverse actors, particularly from the Global South. It outlines core justice principles—including distributional, procedural, restorative, and intergenerational justice—as essential foundations for any transition process.

It also provides key elements and concrete policy recommendations for fair, inclusive and sustainable JET pathways, highlighting the importance of meaningful participation, decent work, care economies, social protection, and international solidarity. Rather than proposing a single model, this guidance offers a flexible and evolving framework to inspire and support grounded, community-led and justice-centered transitions—starting with energy, but applicable far beyond.