Climate & Environment
Transition Assistance
Definition
Transition assistance is the package of support provided to workers and communities whose livelihoods are displaced by economic transition — trade liberalisation historically, decarbonisation increasingly: income support and wage insurance, retraining and skills programmes, early retirement bridging, relocation support, and regional economic development investment. In the coal phase-outs of Germany, Spain and Canada, such packages have been the political precondition of closure agreements.
References
Source imported for editorial provenance.
This reference provides supporting context for how “Transition Assistance” is defined and used.
Overview
How it is used
The concept structures just transition funds (EU JTF), coal phase-out agreements, energy transition partnerships (JETPs) and labour market policy in declining sectors.
Why it matters
Transition assistance is the difference between a transition done with workers and one done to them — and only the first survives contact with politics.