A research team led by Professor Celine Tan from Warwick Law School has secured an award from the British Academy ODA Challenge-Oriented Research Grants programme 2024 to investigate the financing of just energy transitions in developing countries. Professor Tan is Principal Investigator of a project on ‘Equity and the Global Climate Finance Architecture: An Evaluation of the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) Framework’. The project is a multi-institutional, multi-stakeholder project aimed examining a novel international mechanism aimed at supporting developing countries. The project team includes Co-Investigators, Dr Basani Baloyi from the Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ), South Africa; Dr Gamze Erdem Türkelli from the Faculty of Law, University of Antwerp, Belgium; Dr Anil Yilmaz Vastardis from Essex Law School, University of Essex, UK; and Bhima Yudhistira Adhinegara from the Centre for Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS).

JETPs have emerged as platforms for developed countries and multilateral development organisations and the private sector commit financial support to developing countries to transition away from coal and fossil fuels towards clean energy while mitigating the social and economic consequences of this transition to workers and communities. This project will analyse whether these international financing partnerships can serve as models of financing global climate transitions in a fair, equitable, accountable and just way for developing countries and their communities. It builds on a pilot study funded by the University of Warwick’s Policy Support Fund.

This research is part of a broader academic and civil society collaboration under the auspices of the Climate Finance for Equitable Transitions (CLIFT) aimed at the climate finance supply chain within the context of the multilateral climate change regime, international financial architecture and the multi-layered landscape of international economic law.

The British Academy ODA Challenge-Oriented Research Grants programme supports and provides opportunities to researchers in the UK and in developing countries to develop and deepen international research collaborations, deliver policy-relevant official development assistance (ODA)-eligible research on specific global challenges, and engage with local and national community, societal, business and policy stakeholders to design, develop and embed the research findings.

Professor Tan says:

‘I am really pleased to have secured this grant on behalf of our project team to undertake an in-depth investigation into the JETPs. These so-called ‘country platforms’ are being welcomed by some parts of the international community as more expedient modes of accelerating climate action and channelling much needed finance to developing countries to transition away from fossil fuels. However, questions remain on the suitability of this financing model for developing countries and the implications of this climate finance framework on domestic pathways for ‘just transition’ and equitable and sustainable global climate action. We want to find out whether the social and economic models and investment plans proposed are effective in meeting the multi-dimensional challenges of energy transitions that leave no-one behind, including examining their financial and economic as well as legal, regulatory and governance implications for developing countries.

There is an urgent need to scale up finance for climate action globally and provision of financing to developing countries is a critical part of these efforts. Developing countries have contributed very little to climate change and face significant financial and economic constraints to decarbonising their economies. The multilateral climate regime under the auspices of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCCC) recognises the historical responsibility of developed countries to the climate crisis and places obligations on developed countries to support climate mitigation and adaptation in developing countries. Our research aims to contribute towards understanding how and what type and mix of financing and their terms and conditions are appropriate and effective to achieve decarbonisation and climate resilience in developing countries that do not jeopardise their social and economic development.’