The JTP is the key tool to help EU Member States and regions unlock support available through the Just Transition Mechanism (JTM), a key instrument of the European Green Deal to ensure that no one is left behind in Europe’s transition to a climate-neutral continent.

The Platform provides authorities and stakeholders with the necessary guidance, information and knowledge to access this support and boost Europe’s just transition to a sustainable, climate-neutral economy. This web page is your single online access point to information relating to the JTP. You can also visit our About page to find more detailed information about the Platform and its various activities.

As with other cohesion policy funds, the Just Transition Fund (JTF) is under shared management. The Commission and each Member State must adopt a Partnership Agreement and one or several programmes for the 2021-2027 period.

As part of their cohesion policy programmes, Member States must also prepare strategic Territorial Just Transition Plans (TJTPs, see question below).

According to Member States’ indicative timelines, most JTF programmes will be formally submitted by mid-2022. Once each programme is adopted, a national or regional managing authority is responsible for selecting the projects to be funded. You can find the list of current managing authorities and address your specific questions on the application procedures to them directly.

The JTF is one of three funding pillars of the JTM, the others being a Just Transition Scheme for private investments under the InvestEU programme (2nd Pillar of the JTM), and a public sector loan facility backed by the EU budget (3rd Pillar of the JTM). More information about funding through all three pillars is available on our funding opportunities page.

The JTF helps the people and places most affected by the climate transition. It does so by alleviating the transition’s socio-economic impacts, supporting the economic diversification and reconversion of the territories concerned, and helping people to adapt in a changing labour market.

Other activities can be funded as well, if their contribution to alleviating the impact of the transition is justified in the Territorial Just Transition Plans (TJTPs). This includes research and innovation, energy efficiency and renewable energy, smart and sustainable local mobility, digitalisation, soil regeneration, circular economy and social infrastructure.

When the investments are not related to the impacts of the transition, the region can consider other funding sources (including the European Regional Development Fund, the Cohesion Fund or other EU instruments). The scope of activities supported by the JTF is outlined in Article 8 of the JTF Regulation.

For more information on what can be funded, please also refer to the Commission’s Staff Working Document on Territorial Just Transition Plans.

In order to unlock and implement JTM resources, Member States must prepare strategic TJTPs as part of their cohesion policy programmes.

The TJTPs will include an outline and timeline for the transition process until 2030 and 2050, and identify the eligible territories expected to be most negatively impacted by this transition. They should set out the social, economic, and environmental challenges stemming from the phasing out of fossil fuel-related activities or decarbonisation of greenhouse gas-intensive processes or products. Moreover, they should describe the types of operations to be funded by the JTF and outline the intended use of Pillars 2 and 3 of the JTM.

TJTPs should be prepared in dialogue with relevant partners and the European Commission, ensuring they are consistent with the Smart Specialisation Strategies and National Energy and Climate Plans. While support with developing TJTPs was provided by the Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM), the knowledge, information and support provided by the JTP can help Member States draw up TJTPs that reflect their territories’ needs. The template of the TJTPs is included in Annex II of the JTF Regulation .

To overcome the major challenges of the transition to a climate-neutral economy, available financial resources will need to be focused on those territories that are the hardest hit by the transition to a climate-neutral Europe in 2050, and that need more help than others to adapt to and benefit from the transition.

The JTF therefore focuses on a limited number of NUTS3 (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) regions, or parts of those regions. It is up to Member States to determine these territories in their TJTPs, in consultation with the Commission. The Commission published its recommendations for the eligible territories per Member State in the 2020 European Semester Country Reports.

The JTF will support territories that are heavily dependent on fossil fuels (notably coal, lignite, peat, oil shale, heavy oil and diesel) or on greenhouse gas-intensive industrial activities (such as steel, chemicals, cement or others), where jobs may be lost and industrial processes need to transform. The JTF is not aimed at other greenhouse gas emitting activities, such as agriculture or transport. The European Commission also published a Staff Working Document that provides more information on the overall JTF programming process.

To ensure comprehensive stakeholder involvement throughout the activities of the JTP, the Commission established four JTP Working Groups (WGs) in November 2021.

Three WGs have a thematic focus on a carbon-intensive sector (chemicals, steel, cement) with the objective of exchanging and developing practical solutions to ensure that the decarbonisation of the respective industry happens in a fair way, leaving no one behind. The fourth Working Group on horizontal stakeholder strategy, of cross-cutting nature, focuses on the identification and assessment of approaches and good practices to engage all stakeholder groups.

The aim of each WG is to act as a forum for exchanging on and tackling various challenges that are common to stakeholders involved in the transition process. They use a strategic approach of engaging and involving different stakeholder groups at the level of the implementation of the JTF. The common objectives are problem-solving, advocacy and stakeholder inclusion to achieve the wider goals of the JTP.

To find more information on the objectives, activities and members of the Working Groups, please visit this web page.

Members of the four JTP Working Groups were selected following a call for expression of interest launched in September 2021.

Each group has three ‘circles’ of members. The first circle consists of up to 20 members who actively shape, steer and perform the work of the group. A second circle of close observers participates in some of the groups’ work on an ad hoc basis and is consulted on a regular basis. The third circle is kept informed on Working Group activities and results of work. As there is no limit on the number of members of the second and third circles, interested organisations are still encouraged to join the debate, following the same application process as for the call.

For the sectoral Working Groups (on Steel, Chemicals and Cement), the Secretariat is also still accepting applications for the first circle. Please contact the JTP Secretariat for more information at secretariat@justtransitionplatform.eu.

To stay up to date with the latest news relating to the JTP, please subscribe to our newsletter and follow our latest news. You can also follow news on upcoming JTP events and find information relating to the Working Groups.

The JTP expands and builds on the Initiative for Coal Regions in Transition, which since 2018 has supported coal regions across the EU in achieving a just transition through tailored, needs-oriented assistance and capacity-building. Coal Regions in Transition virtual week is part of the biannual JTP meetings. The Initiative for Coal Regions in Transition also has a dedicated secretariat. For more information about the initiative for coal regions in transition, you can visit its web page.

DG REGIO, in close collaboration with all concerned European Commission services, manages the JTP, provides its policy framework and steers the activities carried out by the JTP secretariat.

The JTP Secretariat supports the activities of the JTP through a dedicated helpdesk, the organisation of the biannual JTP meetings, communication activities, and analytical work (including the collection of good practices, case studies, information and knowledge on carbon-intensive regions).

The Secretariat also animates the four JTP Working Groups established by the Commission by providing guidance, templates, and thematic and logistical support as well as monitoring their activities and progress.

On a bi-annual basis, JTP meetings gather stakeholders from EU coal, peat, shale oil and carbon-intensive regions to discuss various transition challenges and opportunities. The events deliver a range of thematic sessions and networking options, enabling exchange and interaction between Member States, local and regional authorities, non-governmental organisations, business and social partners and EU institutions to learn from one another in the journey towards a just transition to a climate-neutral Europe.

The events provide presentations, updates and lessons learnt on the preparations of TJTPs and recent progress regarding coal phase-out. They also provide sessions on how to access Just Transition Mechanism and on other relevant themes, such as the decarbonisation of regional economies through green hydrogen and circular economy solutions, for example, and the importance of reskilling and future-proofing jobs.