Working Towards a Climate-Neutral Future

Challenge

To keep global heating to 1.5°C, the world must reach climate neutrality by 2050. The European Green Deal is the EU’s action plan to be the first climate-neutral continent by the middle of the century. For some member states, reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions is more difficult than for others. The European Commission recognizes that every EU member state is at a different stage in its transformation towards climate neutrality and leaving no one behind is a key principle in the European Green Deal. As a part of the European Green Deal¹, the Just Transition Mechanism (JTM)² was created to support the just transition of regions and sectors across Europe by investing €55 billion between 2021–2027³. As part of the JTM, regions across Europe can leverage designated funding from the Commission’s €19.2 billion Just Transition Fund (JTF).

To receive funding from the JTF, member states need to prepare Territorial Just Transition Plans (TJTPs), which set out the challenges in each region as well as the development needs and objectives to be met by 2030. To help member states and regions unlock the available support, the European Commission has also established, the Just Transition Platform (JTP), a single access point to support and knowledge on Europe’s transition to a sustainable, climate-neutral economy. The platform offers several capacity-building services including conferences, working groups on key transition topics, technical assistance, peer-to-peer exchanges, an expert’s database, case studies and toolboxes on specific transition challenges, and a helpdesk.

Solution

Following the successful 2023 rollout of tailored, hands-on capacity-building programs through the JTP, the European Commission expanded these programs to 2024–2026. The Commission contracted Guidehouse and collaborating organizations to design and implement technical assistance and capacity building in coal and carbon-intensive regions. To support this, Guidehouse specifically oversees the following capacity-building mechanisms:

JTP Groundwork and Technical Regional Forums

JTP Groundwork focuses on providing tailored technical assistance to just transition regions to support the implementation of their TJTPs. Through JTP Groundwork, Guidehouse is supporting regional and local public authorities, national managing authorities, and socio-economic partners, such as NGOs, universities, unions, and private businesses across Europe through:

• Project identification and development
• Capacity building for regional and local administrations and other stakeholders
• Development of transparent, inclusive, and efficient governance mechanisms
• Stakeholder engagement and mobilization
• Awareness-raising campaigns and communication strategies
• Support to engage in cross-border cooperation and/or projects

As part of the technical assistance, Guidehouse is organizing JTP Groundwork events, the Technical Regional Forums. These forums convene leaders throughout the region and from across Europe to connect and exchange knowledge on specific aspects of JTF implementation, such as establishing energy communities, identifying future skills and labor needs, or the role of digitalization. The objective of these events is to take stock of just transition activities, learn about inspiring regional approaches, and build the community at a local level.

JTPeers

JTPeers is a complementary support service focused on building bridges between JTF regions and facilitating mutual knowledge exchange on challenges and tangible solutions. The programme includes:

• JTPeers Experts: a database of professionals working on just transition across Europe.⁴ Experts apply to the JTP Secretariat to be included in the database and are assessed based on their experience supporting just transition regions, and knowledge of key transition strategies. Once listed on the database, JTF regions and other interested stakeholders can contact the experts for advice regarding the implementation of just transition projects.
• JTP Exchange: a peer-to-peer exchange programme to facilitate in-person and online knowledge and experience sharing between JTF regions as well as between JTF regions and JTPeers Experts listed on the database.

JTP Knowledge Hub

The JTP Knowledge Hub is a repository on transitioning to a climate-neutral economy. Guidehouse’s experts contribute to the knowledge hub by writing case studies, catalogues, and toolkits on relevant technical topics to support JTP implementation. The case studies and toolkits range from technical, social, to business-related topics, such as:

• Gender-based challenges that just transition regions face and tangible approaches to tackle these.⁵
• How to design SME support schemes in JTF regions.⁶
• How to use fossil fuel infrastructure for industrial symbiosis projects that foster green industries.⁷

Impact

Since 2023, Guidehouse, together with its partners, directly supported 16 JTP Groundwork beneficiaries through technical assistance, spanning 20 JTF territories, and facilitated 15 JTPeers Exchanges, covering 17 JTF territories, while providing knowledge resources and a database of just transition experts to all European coal and carbon-intensive regions.

Guidehouse offers extensive support to JTF regions in their transitions to a climate-neutral economy. Through technical assistance, exchanges between regions, and the knowledge hub, Guidehouse provides hands-on support to JTF regions across Europe, enabling them to leverage JTF funds and implement their just transitions successfully. Until 2026, Guidehouse and its partners will support around 30 regions with hands-on technical assistance and implement an additional 30 peer-to-peer and peer-to-expert exchanges.