4.11 Justice in sustainability transitions

This briefing identifies EU policies intended to ensure that Europe’s transition towards sustainability is fair. It also reviews how these policies take distributional, procedural and recognitional justice into consideration. Pollution's unequal impact is covered in the briefing on environmental health inequalities, while the asymmetrical impacts from climate change are addressed in the briefing on managing climate risks to society.

Key policies

The European Green Deal (EGD) stresses that no person and no place should be left behind in the transition to a climate-neutral economy. Key instruments and funds include the Just Transition Mechanism and the Just Transition Fund (JTF) under Cohesion Policy. These support the territories most affected by the transition towards climate neutrality. Member States are required to prepare territorial just transition plans with local and regional authorities, and in social dialogue and cooperation with the relevant stakeholders.

At the same time, the Social Climate Fund (SCF), addresses the social and distributional challenges of the coming carbon pricing mechanism (EU Emissions Trading System 2) in the building and road transport sectors. To access this funding, EU countries should have submitted their social climate plans by June 2025. Sweden was the only country to meet this deadline.

Equally, to ensure a just transition towards net-zero, a coordinated, cross-policy approach is essential. The European Council recommendation on ensuring a fair transition towards climate neutrality offers guidance to Member States on concrete measures to achieve a fair and green transition.

The National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) outline how EU countries intend to meet the EU energy and climate targets for 2030. According to the European Commission (EC)'s EU-wide assessment of the final updated NECPs, published in May 2025, these plans highlight skills and training needs but provide limited analysis of broader social and employment impacts, particularly for vulnerable groups and regions. More specific measures and clearer funding allocations would strengthen them. The analytical basis for preparing the Social Climate Plans also remains insufficient.

Past trends (10-15 years)

Trends/developments show a mixed trend

Past trends in the delivery of justice in Europe’s journey towards sustainability are mixed. On the one hand, the EGD explicitly prioritises fairness and has resulted in the introduction of mechanisms to address distributional justice (e.g. the JTF and SCF). On the other hand, certain social groups perceive climate and environmental policies to be unfair, as demonstrated most recently by the farmers’ protests across Europe.

Concern regarding distributional injustice has focused on energy policies that have increased energy prices — such as carbon and energy taxes — and disproportionately affected lower-income households. In recent years, energy poverty has received more attention: it has now become a central issue in energy policy and strategies for a sustainable transition. A common EU definition of energy poverty was adopted with the introduction of the SCF in 2023. The risk of ‘summer energy poverty’ is also increasingly relevant due to rising temperatures and more frequent heatwaves. As part of the Clean Industrial Deal, the Commission presented in February 2025 an  Action Plan for Affordable Energy.

Within the EU, the Aarhus Convention addresses procedural justice, including access to environmental information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters. Capacity-building and participation are integral to just transitions. The EU has established the Just Transition Platform to enable peer exchange, capacity-building and training. Recent examples of broader stakeholder engagement with the goal of finding common ground and solutions for the green transition include, for instance, the strategic dialogue on the future of EU agriculture.

In terms of recognitional justice, there is an increasing acknowledgement that specific needs and vulnerabilities — for instance, those related to gender or degree of urbanisation and how disadvantages can compound themselves — need to be recognised. Concerns have been raised regarding a lack of recognitional justice for marginalised Roma communities often living in areas characterised by poor environmental conditions and without access to basic services. There are some positive examples of action, however, such as the establishment of a Sámi Climate Council in Finland; this has aimed to strengthen the recognition of indigenous people's rights in climate policy.

Outlook (10-15 years)

Trends/developments show an improving trend

Looking forward, challenges include balancing economic development with environmental and social justice concerns. This will require careful consideration of local contexts and stakeholder perspectives. Local priorities will need to be set against the broader goals of sustainability.

As Europe commits to accelerating the transition to climate neutrality and embraces a transition to cleaner technologies through an ambitious green industrial policy, it is crucial that the utmost attention is given to the relationship between competitiveness, sustainability and social justice.

Industrial policy has the potential to ensure just transitions, notably by helping create quality jobs. Enhancing workforce skills in the net-zero technology industries is also particularly important for ensuring just transitions. Scaling up manufacturing capacity for the clean technologies required to meet climate targets will require substantial investments in upskilling and reskilling.

The EC communication on the Clean Industrial Deal presents several flagship actions related to skills and quality jobs for social fairness. These include, for instance, a Quality Jobs Roadmap; this will be developed together with the relevant social partners and support fair wages, good working conditions, training and fair job transitions for workers.

It is also essential to ensure that all citizens benefit from the clean transition. In 2025, the EC will develop guidance for Member States on social leasing clean products such as zero-emission vehicles and heat pumps. Financial assistance will be offered via the SCF to allow eligible citizens to access these products. Lessons learned from the JTF will inform the design of future instruments under the next multiannual financial framework.

Prospects of meeting policy targets 2030/2050

2030: No specific policy targets

2050: No specific policy targets

Robustness

The question of whether Europe’s transition to sustainability is being implemented in a just way is multi-dimensional. As such, there is no single dataset that can answer it. Consequently, this assessment is based on expert judgement.

Charts/maps

Figure 1. Understanding justice in sustainability transitions