The green transition, driven by a rising urgency of accelerated climate action, is a transformative shift to a new economic system that encompasses a wide range of actions - from transitioning away from fossil fuels towards low-carbon sources of energy, to greening transport, mobility and heavy industry, sustainable infrastructure and built environment, innovations in agriculture and the circular economy.

The costs and benefits of the transformation fall unevenly, evident in mounting political and social polarization to climate action. The divergent impacts on workers, consumers and entrepreneurs are driven by labour market disruptions, the accessibility and affordability of relevant products, financing and investments gaps, asymmetric access to knowledge, technology and critical materials.

The green transition, with the underpinning imperative to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees, is only viable if fairness is a foundational principle and inequality is curtailed - or more ambitiously, the green transition is leveraged to expand opportunity for all.

Accelerating Multistakeholder Leadership

The Equitable Transition Initiative aims to build consensus and foster multistakeholder learning and action to ensure greater economic equity in the context of the green transition.

In 2024-25 the Initiative will:

• Articulate a vision and a shared definition for an "Equitable Transition", supported by analysis of sectoral and geographical exposure to the costs and benefits, and case studies of best practices from across countries and industry sectors.
• Develop toolkits and frameworks to drive policy making, business decisions, and public-private collaboration at country and firm-level.
• Pilot country- and industry-level interventions
• Convene the Equitable Transition Alliance, a multistakeholder group of Champions to raise visibility of the agenda and steward the outputs.

The initiative is supported by the intellectual leadership of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on the Future of Economics of the Equitable Transition.

The Centre for the New Economy and Society

The Equitable Transition Initiative is anchored in the Forum's Centre for the New Economy and Society. The Centre aims to shape prosperous, inclusive and resilient economies and societies that create opportunity for all.

To find out more about the initaitive, please contact us