November 18, 2025
https://www.undp.org/publications/legal-foundations-just-transitions-str...
A successful just transition requires legal systems capable of managing economic transformation while safeguarding people, livelihoods, and ecosystems. As countries move toward low-carbon, nature-positive and climate-resilient economies, the absence of coherent, well-designed national legal frameworks remains one of the greatest risks, leading to social disruption, implementation gaps, legal uncertainty, and governance failures. This report provides a comprehensive overview of legal foundations that can anchor just transitions in durable, equitable, and enforceable rules. It synthesizes relevant international law, from the Paris Agreement and ILO instruments to emerging human rights jurisprudence and shows how countries increasingly translate these principles into national legislation governing labor protections, energy transitions, critical minerals, agriculture, natural resources, and financing mechanisms.
The report highlights innovative national approaches, including statutory phase-out frameworks, income-security instruments, reskilling and redeployment systems, the participation of marginalized and vulnerable groups, equitable mineral governance, and laws that embed social objectives within carbon pricing and climate finance. It also examines how development institutions, including multilateral development banks and UNDP, integrate just transition principles into policies, standards, and operational support.
A five-step roadmap outlines how governments can map existing frameworks, align national processes with global norms, ensure horizontal and vertical coherence, strengthen legal instruments through inclusive participation, and implement reforms with strong accountability systems. Together, these elements provide a practical legal toolbox for advancing people-centered, equitable transitions.
