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Explore our work with partners, globally and locally, to tackle social and economic injustice using a human rights lens.

COP31: GI-ESCR Calls for a Mechanism Capable of Scaling Just Transitions on the Ground

COP31: GI-ESCR Calls for a Mechanism Capable of Scaling Just Transitions on the Ground

At COP31, GI-ESCR will continue to advocate for embedding human rights and gender equality at the core of the UNFCCC’s work on just transition, ensuring that climate action drives transformative change for people, communities and the planet.  

COP31 must establish and operationalise the Just Transition Belém-Antalya Mechanism (BAM), the mechanism Parties agreed in Belém to develop, as a body able to support implementation and not only exchange information. Civil society's work secured the mandate last year.  

At Bonn in June, however, the terms of reference for the Just Transition Work Programme review consumed most of the time, and the debate on the BAM produced a skeleton of a vision but no text on its structure and functions. The intersessional work, opened by a late addition to the SB64 draft conclusions, was the window to close that gap, and the Sydney Intersessional Workshop made good use of it. It was a fruitful space for debate among Parties and stakeholders on the vision for the mechanism, and it showed a notable level of cohesion around the functions the BAM should have, as well as a shared willingness to cooperate towards a common goal. COP31 should build on that exchange and land on text that secures that vision for a strong BAM.

 

Establishing the Belém-Antalya Mechanism 

 

Status and mandate. The BAM should be a constituted body under the authority and guidance of the CMA (the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement), with institutional authority and dedicated resources to enable just transitions. It must go beyond the Just Transition Work Programme's role as a forum for dialogue: it must support national policymaking and implementation, strengthen international cooperation and enable technology transfer. 

Functions. To enable equitable and inclusive just transitions, the BAM should integrate the following functions, as proposed by the Women and Gender Constituency: 

  • Coordination and coherence: This function should guide the work of the mechanism's different arms so that each activity addresses identified gaps, lessons learned and emerging needs. Under this function, the mechanism should connect just transition work across and beyond the UNFCCC, building coherence among the actors and initiatives involved, ensuring complementarity and avoiding fragmentation. 
  • Knowledge building: This function will mean shared learning and evidence generation required for transition policies at scale to enhance access and dissemination of knowledge and information on just transition. Under this function, the mechanism should host a Global Hub of Practitioners that channels the broad participation of experts, academics, communities and practitioners to develop transition pathways; and build a library of principles, tools, best practices, and resources to support countries and communities in developing just transition projects and pathways. 
  • Action and support: This function will mean the technical, financial and capacity-building support required to implement just transition projects, particularly in areas undergoing industrial restructuring and phase-out, and enabling international cooperation through best-practice sharing, bilateral and multilateral partnerships and means of implementation. Under this function, the mechanism should provide capacity-building so that countries with fewer resources have the tools to implement projects with their own national capacities, and carry out matchmaking that connects countries and projects with financial and technical sources according to their needs, assisting Parties as they shape their national transition plans. 

Participation. Rights-holders’ constituencies must have a formal place in the BAM's architecture, beyond consultation: structured, institutionalised and iterative participation of workers and trade unions, women and gender-diverse people, youth, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, persons with disabilities and civil society.  

Principles, equity and human rights. As established in the decision that mandated the development of the mechanism, the BAM must build on and complement the Just Transition Work Programme, and operationalise the principles, rights-based approaches and best practices recognised in paragraph 12, drawn from the programme's dialogues. These principles must guide how the mechanism delivers technical assistance, guides work on just transition and facilitates international cooperation, and must shape not only the substance of countries' just transition pathways and projects but also the architecture and governance of the mechanism itself, guaranteeing participatory approaches and the meaningful engagement of affected communities.  

 

Rights-Based Principles in the Just Transition Work Programme Decision 

 

The upcoming decision should build on the principles already established in paragraph 12 of last year’s decision. Drawing on the fifth and sixth Just Transition Work Programme dialogues held during this year’s climate weeks in Yeosu and Baku, the programme decision should incorporate further guidance to advance equitable transition policies.  

The informal note that was produced during the SB64 session already includes guidance that derives from the Dialogue focused on food systems, agriculture and ocean-based action. These new principles recognise that agriculture and ocean-based action are integral to nationally determined just transition pathways, alongside adaptation, resilience, food and water security and poverty eradication, and link the 1.5°C goal to food security. They call for considering the circumstances, needs and knowledge of smallholder and family farmers, pastoralists, artisanal fishers, migrant workers, and rural and coastal communities, and for the meaningful inclusion of informal workers, including through social protection, labour rights and skills development. They also highlight the role of women and the need for gender-responsive approaches; of Indigenous Peoples' and local knowledge; and of agroecological and agroforestry approaches, nature-based solutions and circular-economy principles.  

The informal note represents a constructive basis on which to build the final decision. It centres small-scale producers, informal workers, women and Indigenous knowledge; it names the effect of trade-related measures on developing country producers; and it calls for support that reaches communities directly. Parties should preserve this language. However, the messages, which are framed mainly around food security, present several gaps that need to be addressed.  

The text should recognise the right to food sovereignty, that is, the right of peasants, fishers, river-dwellers and other people in rural, coastal and riverine areas to determine their own food and agriculture systems, including through participation in food and agriculture policy, and the right to adequate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, drawing on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants.  

Although the messages recognise Indigenous knowledge and the role of innovation and technology transfer, they are silent on who controls that knowledge. They should recognise the authority of Indigenous Peoples and local communities over their knowledge and innovations. In particular, the messages should stress the need to balance intellectual property obligations with human rights (to food, culture and science) and establish safeguards against intellectual property regimes over seeds and plant varieties that undermine food sovereignty, and uphold the right of small-scale farmers to keep improving their seeds.  

The general reference to the role of women in food systems should be complemented by the recognition, redistribution and reduction of care work, equal access to land and resources, the participation of rural women in decision-making, and protection from hazardous agrochemicals. 

The text should recognise that food systems are responsible for one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, that large-scale food production depends on fossil fuels and petrochemicals, and that corporate concentration threatens small-scale producers and local resilience. 

The decision should incorporate further guidance drawing on the sixth dialogue on industry, held during Baku Climate Week. Guidance to be included in the decision should acknowledge that industrial transitions must be grounded in social dialogue, workers’ rights and the participation of affected communities, including women, persons with disabilities, youth, Indigenous Peoples and local communities, with gender and human rights as foundations.  

The guidance should likewise reflect the need to guarantee universal access to clean, reliable and affordable energy, particularly for people living in energy poverty. At the same time, the text should acknowledge that transition policies must also aim to reduce energy demand and scale down harmful, energy-intensive industries (of which one of the more problematic is the defence industry), in order to align the transition with ecological limits and human rights obligations. This requires moving away from a model of 'energy addition' in which renewable energy is merely layered on top of fossil fuels, towards one that actively phases out polluting sectors while fostering new, sustainable forms of livelihood.  

Finally, because industrial transitions depend on critical minerals, human rights standards, including equality and non-discrimination, must be upheld at every stage of the energy value chain, from the extraction of critical minerals to the generation, transmission and consumption of energy, together with the protection of workers in line with international labour standards. 

 

The functions and proposals above draw on the Women and Gender Constituency’s position
on the Belém-Antalya Mechanism, which GI-ESCR supports. Read the WGC’s full proposal:

 

 

Joining the Call: Establish the BAM

 

Together with the cross-constituency movement, GI-ESCR is demanding a BAM that fulfils the promise of Belém. In an open letter to all States Parties to the UNFCCC, trade unions, Indigenous Peoples, feminists, youth, frontline communities, social movements and civil society organisations call on governments to agree in Antalya on the functions, modalities and governance of the mechanism, so that it advances human and labour rights, decent work, gender equality and the rights of Indigenous Peoples, including free, prior and informed consent. The letter also demands an institutional set-up fit for purpose, with the mandate to provide technical and financial support, and a mechanism that is inclusive and democratic, giving rights-holders a seat at the table: nothing about us without us.

 

Read the full letter:

 

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Climate and Environmental Justice

We have advanced rights-based and gender-transformative transition frameworks through research that centres the lived experiences of women and marginalised communities on the frontlines of extractive energy policies, promoting climate and energy frameworks attentive to the social and care-related impacts of transition pathways. We have developed a clear vision for a gender-just transition, firmly rooted in gender and human rights norms, establishing both the legal basis and the direction for the transformative changes our planet and societies urgently need. In particular, the ‘Guiding Principles for Gender Equality and Human Rights in the Energy Transition’, a collective effort built through online consultations, an in-person workshop and multiple rounds of revision with activists, practitioners and experts from around the world, outline a transformative vision for reshaping global energy systems through a human rights and gender equality lens.

Our work recognises that the climate emergency is both an existential threat and an opportunity to reimagine societies built on social, gender, economic and environmental justice. We ground our advocacy in feminist and intersectional principles, prioritising the agency and perspectives of communities in the Global South who have contributed the least to the climate emergency yet face its most devastating consequences. Central to our approach is the understanding that energy is not merely a commodity but a fundamental human right; essential for dignity, health, education, work and the realisation of countless other rights. We challenge approaches to the energy transition that risk replicating the harmful patterns of fossil fuel extraction and, instead, advocate for transformative policies that ensure human rights and gender equality as central to building climate-resilient societies rooted in dignity, justice and planetary well-being.

What's next?

We will continue to challenge approaches that treat energy transition as merely a technical shift, instead positioning it as an opportunity to reimagine economies and societies rooted in dignity for all, with particular attention to communities in the Global South who have contributed least to the climate emergency yet are most exposed to its worst effects.

We will connect community-level evidence and the lived experiences of those on the frontlines of extractive policies to national reform and global norm-setting, breaking down silos between human rights, gender, and climate movements, and advancing a shared vision that recognises just transitions as not only fundamental to achieving climate-resilient and sustainable societies, but as transformative pathways that advance social and gender equality, redistribute power and resources equitably, and ensure that energy systems serve the public good rather than profit.

We will mainstream rights-based and genderjust transition priorities in key multilateral spaces (particularly, within the Just Transition Work Programme and the to-be-developed Just Transition Mechanism, within the UNFCCC) to guarantee that just transitions are advanced at all levels.

We will also translate our work, through strategic advocacy, into at least two concrete policy wins, whether promoted, adopted, implemented, or scaled, in priority countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa, or Kenya), ensuring these policies align with human rights standards, centre gender equality, and reflect the needs and views of affected communities.

We will build momentum for the progressive recognition of the right to sustainable energy to shift dominant narratives away from purely extractive solutions that sideline gendered impacts, community participation, and Global South perspectives.

Economic Justice and Climate Finance

Our work has transformed the global discussion on fiscal policy in a more just, emancipatory and sustainable direction. Our approach has combined both high-level, expert contributions within decisionmaking circles, with bold, impactful work on narrative change with the general public.

We have been instrumental in the inclusion of human rights as a guiding principle of the future United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, a multilateral instrument with the potential of raising approx. USD 492 billion per year in public revenues currently foregone to global tax abuse. In the process leading to the ‘Compromiso de Sevilla’ decided at FfD4, we proposed and succeeded in creating a specific human rights workstream within the Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism, which was critical to ensure that explicit commitments on the matter were included in the negotiating outcome. In a context of cutbacks in multilateral institutions, we have amplified the capacities of technical experts, providing rigorous technical support and leveraging our influence to ensure the enactments of groundbreaking standard-setting instruments, such as the 2025 UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Statement on Fiscal Policy and Human Rights, and the first ex oficio hearing on the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights on Fiscal and Economic Policies to Address Poverty and Structural Inequality, leading to an upcoming thematic resolution on the matter. We have also bridged the silos between multilateral tax discussions and climate finance debates, promoting ambitious financing commitments to increase international and domestic resource mobilisation during COP 28, 29 and 30.

At the regional level, our engagement with fiscal cooperation platforms such as the Platform for Fiscal Cooperation of Latin America and the Caribbean (PTLAC), where we are member of its Civil Society Consultative Council, and the African Anti-IFFs Policy Tracker, for which we participated in the pilot mission in Ivory Coast together with Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), have been critical in cementing a growing engagement between tax administrations and ministries of finance with international legal experts, exploring actionable and transformative initiatives, such as the taxation of high-net-worth individuals, beneficial ownership registries and corporate countryby-country reports, to be implemented at the international level.

At the local level, our interventions in fiscal reform debates in Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Nigeria have contributed to shaping legislative outcomes in a more progressive, rights-compliant direction.

As for our leadership in narrative change, we have a measurable track record in delivering tailored, innovative campaigns which have decisively expanded economic justice constituencies by appealing to a broader tent. In Latin America and the Caribbean, we created the ‘Date Cuenta’ campaign, coordinating over 40 organisations across civil society to deliver plain language, innovative messaging connecting progressive fiscal reforms to the financing of health, education and social protection. ‘Date Cuenta’ generated over 55 original campaign messages that were tailored to the realities of seven priority countries (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Honduras) and disseminated in Spanish, Portuguese and English. In doing so, we convened more than 65 online co-creation workshops with partners, coordinating a unified communications strategy which combined digital outreach, press and media coverage, and collaboration with influencers. Ultimately, ‘Date Cuenta’ resulted in more than 60,000 interactions on social media, coverage in major regional and international media outlets, including El País, Deutsche Welle, Bloomberg and France 24, and the participation of at least 63 social media influencers through 58 dedicated publications. In collaboration with Fundación Gabo and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, we also organised a two-day workshop in Bogota with 20 journalists from 13 countries, building a regional network trained in a human rights-based approach to fiscal policy that has since generated published media coverage on outlets such as La Diaria, Ciper, El Diario Ar and Milenio. Through ‘Date Cuenta’ and our regional advocacy, we strengthened civil society engagement in key processes, including the Financing for Development track and FfD4, co-organised highlevel dialogues with states and civil society from Latin America and Africa.

What's next?

We will shape the UN Tax Convention and its Protocols so they embed human rights principles, and we will stay engaged through follow-up processes (including the expected Conference of the Parties) to support effective implementation. We will keep linking tax and climate finance so that new resources mobilised through fiscal cooperation are channelled to adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage, in line with UNFCCC commitments.

Public Services for Care Societies

We have translated participatory research into accountability and policy outcomes.

In Ivory Coast, our work with Mouvement Ivoirien des Droits Humains and affected communities since 2023 exposed how privatisation and lack of accountability restrict access to quality healthcare. It contributed to the closure of 1,022 illegal private health centres, an executive instrument strengthening the regulation of private hospitals across the country, and the creation of a permanent complaints management committee in healthcare through a bylaw issued by the prefect of Gagnoa. Partners engaged through this process also advanced concrete improvements at facility level: members of the Gagnoa Midwives Association who took part in the participatory action research pooled resources to renovate the neonatal unit of the Regional Hospital, and the Director of the Gagnoa General Hospital launched an action plan to expand services and improve patient reception, with the facility receiving the award for best hospital in the country in 2025.

In Kenya, our research with the Mathare Education Taskforce documented the absence of public schools and the expansion of private provision, evidencing impacts on households and caregivers and strengthening demands for free, quality public education. This work contributed to stronger community agency and collective organisation, alongside ongoing strategies ranging from communications to litigation to secure a public school in the area, some involving GI-ESCR and others led independently.

Across Africa, this work is complemented by a multi-country study examining the human rights implications of austerity in education and health, including how regressive fiscal policies, rising debt burdens and persistent underinvestment undermine the financing and delivery of public services.

In Latin America, from 29 November to 2 December 2021, over a thousand representatives from over one hundred countries, from grassroots movements, advocacy, human rights, and development organisations, feminist movements, trade unions, and other civil society organisations, met in Santiago, Chile, and virtually, to discuss the critical role of public services for our future. Following the meeting, the Santiago Declaration on Public Services was adopted to demand universal access to quality, gender-transformative and equitable public services as the foundation of a fair and just society.

We are currently advancing work on care systems, linking public services and fiscal justice through integrated research, advocacy and communications, including a regional campaign framing care as a collective responsibility requiring sustained public investment.

What's next?

In Ivory Coast, we will evaluate and strengthen the complaints management committee and position it as a replicable model for other health facilities. In Kenya, we will support the Mathare community to co-design a model public school for Mabatini and Ngei wards, grounded in human rights standards. Building on our multi-country austerity study, we will drive national advocacy on financing for education and health: advancing reforms in Ghana; launching a fiscal policy and public services financing agenda in Kenya through the CESCR process and targeted coalition work; and, in Nigeria, using the new tax acts in force since 1 January 2026 to catalyse a national accountability campaign for adequately funded, quality public services. In Latin America, we will amplify locally led care pilots across 8 countries and turn lessons into influence—advancing care policies that strengthen care organisations, protect care workers’ rights, support unpaid caregivers, include disability and family networks, and redistribute care more equitably.