Climate-vulnerable developing countries (CVDCs) have crosscutting, unique circumstances to consider and challenges to overcome in pursuing just transitions to low-emissions, climate-resilient societies and economies. By considering three focus areas identified as particularly unique to CVDCs—constraints to finance access and mobilization, informality of employment, and resilience-building—this working paper highlights how current processes and components of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that address just transitions consider the specific needs and circumstances of CVDCs. Based on the evidence gathered, including through desktop research and stakeholder consultations, our findings show that some of the current UNFCCC processes and components do better than others in reflecting CVDC priorities. The Just Transition Work Programme’s distinct design bridges the gap between reducing emissions and resilience-building, offering adaptable approaches for countries to tailor just transitions to their needs. Other processes are well positioned to pick up on issues of labor informality, while the Global Stocktake (GST) could be explicit in its considerations for just transitions. While these findings reveal critical common themes, the immense diversity among CVDCs means national contexts will still shape how these priorities play out on the ground. We offer suggestions for how global agendas for just transitions might be shaped to better account for and represent the distinctive transitional interests and needs of CVDCs.

Preview image by Adeel Halim/ Land Rover Our Planet