Climate Change and Just Transition Policies in Carbon-Intensive Regions in the European Union
Climate Change and Just Transition Policies in Carbon-Intensive Regions in the European Union

Summary/Abstract: Climate change poses acute environmental, economic, and social pressures across Europe, with especially severe implications for carbon-intensive regions. These territories confront simultaneous challenges, including exposure to climate-related risks, structural dependence on fossil-fuel sectors, and the need to implement ambitious decarbonisation policies. This article examines the interaction between climate change, justice frameworks and just transition policies, focusing on how these dynamics unfold at global, European, national, and regional scales, and draws methodologically on conceptual developments in climate justice, environmental justice, energy justice, and just-transition scholarship. The article additionally analyses how responsibilities, vulnerabilities, and impacts are distributed, and how policy responses attempt to reconcile global climate targets with local socioeconomic realities. The uneven geography of emissions, exposure, and adaptive capacity underscores the necessity of multi-level governance and territorially differentiated strategies. Accordingly, the discussion highlights the particular vulnerabilities of carbon-intensive regions, the strengths and limitations of existing just-transition instruments, and the role of the Sustainable Development Goals in aligning climate action with equity and inclusion. The article concludes that advancing climate neutrality in the European Union requires the systematic integration of justice principles into all stages of transition governance, alongside long-term development strategies capable of generating new economic pathways for regions historically shaped by carbon-based industries.

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