Incorporating Just Transition Principles into Updated NDCs to Overcome Renewable Energy Barriers

The upcoming deadline for submitting updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in September 2025 presents a critical opportunity for African countries to embed just transition principles into their climate strategies. As nations revise their climate commitments under the Paris Agreement, they can use this moment to align renewable energy goals with broader socio-economic development priorities.

NDCs provide a strategic framework for operationalising a just transition in Africa by aligning renewable energy targets with social and economic development goals. For example, Kenya’s NDC includes commitments to improve energy access in rural areas and promote clean cooking solutions, which directly address the needs of vulnerable populations. Similarly, South Africa’s NDC emphasises the importance of creating jobs in the renewable energy sector and supporting communities affected by the transition away from coal.  

In this second policy brief from SouthSouthNorth’s Operationalising a Just Transition in Africa programme, authors from the African Research Impact Network (ARIN) and SouthSouthNorth explore how just transition principles can be more effectively integrated into NDCs, identifying key barriers, financial, technical, regulatory, and socio-economic, that hinder renewable energy implementation. Demonstrating how embedding just transition frameworks in updated NDCs can help address these challenges while promoting equitable, inclusive climate action, the following key messages are emphasised:

1. The upcoming NDC update is a strategic opportunity for African countries to embed just transition principles that align climate goals with socio-economic development, ensuring that the shift to renewable energy is fair, inclusive, and context-specific. 
2. Integrating just transition into NDCs can directly help address core barriers to renewable energy implementation, including limited access to finance, technology gaps, weak institutional capacity, and socio-economic exclusion, by aligning national commitments with equity-focused, people-centred policies. 
3. Policy and regulatory coherence are essential for a successful energy transition. Updating NDCs to include governance reforms, regulatory clarity, and support for emerging technologies can attract investment, reduce risk, and accelerate project implementation. 
4. Strengthening institutional capacity is foundational to delivering a just transition. Updated NDCs should consider measures to enhance the technical skills, staffing, and resources of energy and climate institutions to improve coordination, oversight, and implementation of renewable energy projects. 
5. Local ownership and community participation must be central to NDC implementation. Public awareness, education, and meaningful engagement are key to ensuring that renewable energy projects are socially accepted, tailored to local needs, and sustainable in the long term. 
6. Just transition frameworks should be integrated into NDCs and should reflect Africa’s unique development realities. This includes addressing high poverty levels, informal labour markets, and infrastructure deficits, while ensuring that climate action contributes directly to job creation, energy security, and long-term economic resilience. 

 

NDCs can serve as a roadmap for ensuring that the energy transition is both environmentally sustainable and socially equitable. Despite the progress made in achieving NDC targets related to renewable energy in Africa, the implementation of these commitments faces several challenges that can hinder the realisation of a just transition. Read the full policy brief here to learn more.