The energy sector accounts for nearly three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions, making it the primary driver of climate change. Achieving the Paris Agreement’s target to limit global temperature rise requires a fundamental transformation in global energy production and consumption patterns, including reducing reliance on fossil fuels and advancing the adoption of renewable energy.

However, transitioning to a clean energy matrix presents significant challenges, including uneven socio-economic impacts, potential harm to biodiversity, disproportionate burdens on vulnerable social groups, and insufficient financial and technological resources – challenges that are particularly pronounced in countries of the Global South. In this context, discussions around the need for green transitions to be just have gained increasing prominence within multilateral forums. A notable milestone was achieved at COP27 in 2022, when the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) launched the Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP). However, despite this progress, discussions within the JTWP remain contested, with the concept of just transition lacking the specificity needed to guide actionable climate strategies at national and global levels.

In 2024, under Brazil’s presidency, the G20 played an important role in advancing the just transition agenda through the adoption of its Principles for Just and Inclusive Energy Transitions. While these principles represent a positive step forward, the G20 must take further efforts to enhance its ability to effectively foster just transitions.

Building on previous G20 initiatives and relevant developments within other multilateral forums, this policy brief presents recommendations to strengthen and refine the G20’s just transition principles, aiming to enhance its outcomes. It offers insights on how they can be strengthened to effectively promote energy transitions that align climate goals with improved socio-economic outcomes, both within the G20 and globally. By clarifying just transition principles and proposing actionable political strategies to embed these principles in national and global policies and frameworks, the brief seeks to further elevate the G20 leadership on just transition, as well as inform other key actors and processes, notably the UNFCCC and the Brazilian COP30 presidency.