It is imperative that, as we try to set targets and to green the economies and our practices, the Global South is not disproportionately involved or has to pay for damages that it has not caused and is not causing.

(Colette Solomon, Director of Women on Farms Project)


While environmental and climate action and social justice are two sides of the same coin, if policies for them are not planned and implemented in a coherent and inclusive manner, the European green transition can lead to environmentally and socially harmful impacts in the Global South. For example, Global South countries will need to adapt to new European standards developed in the framework of the European Green Deal and cope with negative spillover effects of the European production and consumption patterns. 

If not done with a spirit of cooperation and collaboration, the burden of greening the EU economy will fall on the shoulders of Global South countries, the most vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis and also the least responsible for it. 

This is why since 2022, SOLIDAR has been working with its members and partners to build a vision for a just transition from the perspective of Global South’s civil society organisations, including trade unions, indigenous rights defenders, and feminist collectives.  

Throughout 2023, we have conducted a series of workshops together with our partners from Asia, Africa and Latin America, titled “Just Transition for All”. The objective of these workshops was to collect their views and reach a common definition of what Just Transition means from a Global South perspective. 

The outcome of this process is the campaign “Global Just Transition: Not just for (E)U”, a joint action of Solidar Suisse, Movimiento por la Paz (MPDL), Olof Palmes International Center (OPIC), FOS, and SOLIDAR, together with their partners based in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Through their different testimonies, illustrated with case studies, we will show the negative consequences that this lack of an external dimension has on partner countries. 

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