Just Energy Transition Partnerships, Climate Action, and Minilateralism
Transitioning towards clean energy and renewable sources is a significant measure to restrict Greenhouse Gas emissions and meet the climate goals set out in the Paris Agreement. Upcoming minilateral mechanisms, especially partnerships such as JETPs, despite setting ambitious targets have little to offer on recognizing the specific needs of the Global South to support sustainable energy transitions.
In recent years, citing the limited success rate of global climate agreements in generating consensus and developing a more targeted approach to achieving goals, minilateralism has steadily emerged as an alternate approach in climate geopolitics. Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs), officially launched at COP26 in Glasgow in 2021, is one such minilateral initiative, later supported majorly by the G7 countries among other stakeholders, which seeks to facilitate the process of energy transitions in developing countries and achieving their climate goals.
The paper argues that if JETPs seek to succeed as a minilateral initiative towards financing just transitions, it needs to follow a more holistic approach that aligns with the existing multilateral climate finance mechanisms.