BOLSTER Just Transition monitoring framework and toolbox

In the face of climate change and the transition toward a more sustainable future, the European Green Deal (EGD) calls for a just transition, emphasizing the principle of leaving no one behind at all levels of government—national, regional, and local. For the successful realization of these goals and beyond, active involvement and benefits for all societal actors are imperative within the EGD-fueled transition.
This document conceptualizes and suggests a methodological approach for BOLSTER to understand the state of play of just transition processes at regional and local levels. Building on diverse examples of indicators applied to measure sustainability, social, and economic development, the proposed approach aims to monitor Just Transition (JT) by considering key dimensions: economic, social, environmental, and governance. The suggested approach can be employed to monitor JT at the regional (and national) level, utilizing data and indicators from official statistics and studies. Concurrently, at the local level, a participatory approach is advocated, incorporating softer qualitative methods. Thus, the JT monitoring approach outlined in this document offers two distinct but complementary methods: the statistics-based approach and the participatory monitoring approach, which explores bottom-up insights from local actors and community members.