The Hon. Chris Bowen, Minister for Climate Change and Energy

7 November 2025

COP30: Australia must support an ambitious outcome on just transition

Dear Minister Bowen,

We write as climate justice groups, community and civil society organisations to urge the Australian government to champion a groundbreaking outcome to advance just transition outcomes, including the establishment of a Belém Action Mechanism at COP30 in Brazil this November – an outcome also supported by Australian trade unions. 

The ALP Government has made a good start in delivering on just transition outcomes in Australia with the establishment of the Net Zero Economy Authority (NZEA), embedding community benefits principles in the Future Made in Australia Act, and developing the First Nations Clean Energy Strategy. There is more to do. In the meantime, Australia can play a legitimate leadership role alongside the COP30 presidency in championing the COP30 Just Transition asks.

Why we need a Just Transition

The climate crisis is reshaping economies and societies. Energy, agriculture, transport and industrial sectors are decarbonising, seeing the closure of some carbon intensive industries and the emergence of new, clean energy industries. Yet too often these transitions are unjust – deepening inequality, excluding workers and communities, and undermining human rights. A just transition means the opposite: protecting livelihoods, creating safe, secure, and well-paid jobs, upholding human rights–including labour, income, gender, disability, youth and Indigenous Peoples’ rights – to reduce social and economic inequalities, and ensuring dignity for all within planetary boundaries. This is as true for communities here in Australia as it is globally, since the transition is a shared global project that must deliver fairness for all. 

What are the Just Transition outcomes we are seeking at COP30

The UNFCCC’s Just Transition Work Program offers a vital route to make the vision of fair, inclusive, and rights-based global climate change action real. COP30 in Belém presents a unique opportunity to move beyond negotiations and rhetoric to deliver concrete outcomes for people and communities here and around the world. We are therefore asking Australia to support the following five outcomes at COP30:

1. Establish the Belem Action Mechanism for Just Transition (BAM) a new institutional arrangement to provide (1) central coordination around just transition initiatives and gaps, (2) knowledge sharing and generation for practitioners and communities, (3) action and support via helpdesk and sharing platforms to help matchmaker projects and funders.ⁱ 
2. Agree on Just Transition principles,ⁱⁱ applicable to all dimensions where a Just

Transition is needed (energy, food systems, industry, transport, built environment, adaptation etc), that should underpin Just Transition planning efforts and planning instruments.

• Recognise that the design and implementation of Just Transition policies, plans, programs and practices are eligible to receive climate finance.
• Countries commit to develop comprehensive Just Transition plans in line with agreed principles, the UN Charter, and the ILO Guidelines, and to incorporate them into NDCs, NAPs and LTS. 
• Countries establish National institutions for people’s participation (as per the principles) in Just Transition Measures/Policies, including the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of just transition policies and efforts at the national and local levels.

Benefits of supporting the COP30 Just Transition Ask

Strengthening Just Transition outcomes will benefit Australia by building social license for faster emissions reduction here and overseas, facilitating greater ambition and keeping the global goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees in reach. Importantly, it will ensure workers, communities, Indigenous peoples and others at risk of climate change or an inequitable transition in Australia and around the world are not left behind but instead shape and benefit from the transition. This will be key to building popular support for climate solutions and social license for an ambitious COP31. 

In particular, the proposal for The Belém Action Mechanism would enable just transition to move from concept to reality across a wide variety of contexts and sectors (steel, energy, agriculture, minerals, built environment etc.) and catalyse greater uptake around the world through knowledge-sharing, institutionalising people’s participation, avoiding duplication, and driving investment. 

Now is the time – strong and growing support for Just Transition outcomes at COP30

COP30 is the opportunity to make this a reality, with the Brazilian Presidency calling for a demonstration of ambition this year in the Just Transition Work Programme, to agree on the scope and focus for this “dynamic concept of paramount relevance to people’s real lives”.ⁱⁱⁱ 

There is growing global momentum behind this proposal from countries, trade unions, youth groups, feminist movements, Indigenous Peoples’ representatives, civil society and climate justice organisations globally.^iv 

We therefore call on Australia to publicly call for the establishment of a Belém Action Mechanism at COP30 and to work constructively towards a strong, inclusive, and wellresourced outcome that includes ensuring the active and equal participation of rights holders in decision-making.

COP30 offers a decisive moment to back the Belém Action Mechanism and stronger Just Transition outcomes, putting people and better lives at the heart of Australia’s and international climate change action. As the potential co-hosts of COP31, the world will be watching. 

Yours sincerely,

ⁱ Discussion Paper: The Belem Action Mechanisms for a Global Just Transition (BAM). Why and How. BAM_DiscussionPaper_20251011.pdf ⁱⁱ See the Annex in the  BAM_DiscussionPaper_20251011.pdf for an outline of the proposed principles. They should include:

• Rights and participation (including human and labor rights, Free Prior Informed Consent, social dialogue with workers and engagement of affected people); 
• Addressing – not deepening – inequalities (through decent work, skills development, gender and age responsiveness); 
• Means of Implementation through international cooperation; 
• Legal commitments under the Convention and its Paris Agreement, based on equity and the principle of

CBDR-RC and fair shares approach ⁱⁱⁱ https://cop30.br/en/brazilian-presidency/letters-from-the-presidency/third-letter-from-the-presidency ^iv https://www.jetknowledge.org/news/just-transition-rising-the-grassroots-movement-driving-climate-action/ and https://www.commondreams.org/news/draw-the-line-climateprotests#:~:text=%22United%20under%20a%20call%20from,Line%20said%20in%20a%20statement