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Executive Summary
For decades, communities across Asia–Pacific have been at the forefront of environmental transformation and climate vulnerability. The region encompasses immense ecological diversity and deep histories of colonial extraction, uneven development, and labor exploitation. Today, as the global race toward decarbonization and “green growth” accelerates, Asia–Pacific peoples face both the intensification of climate impacts and the reconfiguration of extractive economies under new forms of climate colonialism.
This white paper, Asia–Pacific Just Transitions: Assessing the Activities, Strategies, and Needs of Asia–Pacific Climate, Agri-food, and Environmental Organizations, documents how local and regional organizations are confronting these challenges and shaping pathways toward just transitions that are not only low-carbon but also equitable, locally grounded, and reparative. Conducted by the Global Justice Program (GJP) at the Othering & Belonging Institute, UC Berkeley, the study draws on two complementary methods of data collection:
- An online content analysis of 796 organizations across 60 countries and territories in six subregions—Central Asia, East Asia, Oceania, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and West Asia—identifying where and how the Just Transition (JT) and related frameworks are employed; and
- A comprehensive survey of 60 Asia-Pacific climate, agri-food, and environmental organizations, assessing their communities of focus, strategies, frameworks, needs, and evaluations of international partnerships.
Together, these methods illuminate the diverse ways in which Asia-Pacific organizations are advancing climate, food, and environmental justice within distinct political, economic, and ecological contexts.
Findings from the Online Content Analysis
Across the Asia–Pacific, explicit use of the Just Transition framework remains limited. References to “Just Transition” appear mainly in industrialized economies (such as Japan, South Korea, and Australia) and in resource-dependent economies (such as Indonesia and Kazakhstan), where decarbonization and energy-sector transformation are more central to national agendas. Elsewhere, organizations articulate just transition principles through alternative or complementary frameworks—most commonly sustainable development, climate justice, food sovereignty, agrarian reform, Indigenous self-determination, and environmental protection.
Despite uneven use of the JT terminology, the principles and practices of just transitions are widespread. In every subregion, organizations are building economic and political power to shift from extractive to regenerative systems. Key cross-cutting findings include:
- Central Asia: National and local initiatives in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan center sustainable development, water security, and renewable energy, often within state-led or donor-driven frameworks. Civic restrictions limit grassroots engagement, but community-based and youth organizations emphasize ecological restoration and disaster resilience.
- East Asia: Countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan link environmental policy to economic modernization and equity. Civil society efforts highlight energy justice, food sovereignty, and urban sustainability, while Indigenous-led movements in Mongolia and Taiwan emphasize traditional knowledge and biodiversity conservation.
- Oceania: Island nations foreground adaptation, Indigenous stewardship, and the protection of land and marine territories. Pacific NGOs and coalitions—such as the Pacific Climate Warriors—tie just transitions to decolonization, self-determination, and loss and damage advocacy, though funding remains dominated by international NGOs.
- South Asia: Grassroots movements in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka focus on food sovereignty, climate resilience, and rural livelihoods. Labor unions and farmers’ federations advocate for equitable transitions that center workers’ and smallholders’ rights amid rapid industrialization.
- Southeast Asia: Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam show strong activity around agrarian justice, deforestation, and energy transition. Organizations blend community-based environmentalism with resistance to extractive capitalism and foreign investment projects.
- West Asia: Gulf States and surrounding countries exhibit growing engagement with renewable energy framed through state-led “green growth,” while civil society organizations—especially in Lebanon, Palestine, and Jordan—frame climate work as part of broader struggles for social justice, sovereignty, and labor rights.
Across all regions, the JT framework’s prevalence correlates with industrialization, yet the underlying commitment to equitable transitions is universal. Most organizations, whether explicitly or implicitly invoking just transitions, are striving for structural change: to secure livelihoods, democratize resource governance, and repair ecological damage.
Afghanistan
Australia*
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Brunei Darussalam
Cambodia
China
Cyprus
Democratic People's Republic of Korea†
Fiji
Hong Kong*
India
Indonesia
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
Iraq
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kiribati
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Lao People's Democratic Republic
Lebanon
Malaysia
Maldives
Marshall Islands
Micronesia (Federated States of)
Mongolia
Myanmar
Nauru
Nepal
New Zealand*
Niue*
Oman
Pakistan
Palau
Palestine*
Papua New Guinea
Philippines
Qatar
Republic of Korea
Samoa
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
Solomon Islands
Sri Lanka
Syrian Arab Republic
Tajikistan
Taiwan*
Thailand
Timor-Leste
Tonga
Türkiye
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Viet Nam
Yemen
* Our survey analysis and survey included regional countries and territories beyond the UN “Regional Groups of Member States of Asia-Pacific Group.” These include the countries of Australia and New Zealand, the self-governed territories of Hong Kong and Nuie, and the non-UN Member States of Palestine and Taiwan. These countries and territories were included due to their geopolitical importance and contributions to just transitions in the Asia-Pacific region.
† We weren’t able to research or contact any organization in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Findings from the Survey
Survey responses deepen and complement the content analysis by providing direct insights from Asia–Pacific organizations. According to these responses:
- Communities and Issues: In addition to the general public, communities of focus include rural and low-income populations, Indigenous peoples, farmers, fisherfolk, youth, and women. Primary climate and socio-environmental concerns include rising temperatures, water shortages, drought, pollution, coastal erosion, governance and decision-making processes, deforestation, and food insecurity.
- Strategies: Short-term strategies prioritize education, advocacy, policy reform, and strengthening local capacities for food and energy sovereignty. Long-term strategies emphasize systemic transformation—the reorganization of economies toward sustainability, solidarity, and autonomy from extractive global value chains.
- Frameworks: Frameworks vary across the region. Food sovereignty and agroecology are prominent in South and Southeast Asia; Climate justice and rights-based approaches are prominent in East and West Asia; and sustainable development and resilience-building are prominent in Central Asia and Oceania.
- Partnerships: Non–Asia-Pacific organizations and Global North institutions are believed to have a somewhat adequate understanding of regional risks and priorities, and international partnerships with such organizations and institutions are believed to reproduce asymmetries of power, funding dependency, and policy imposition.
- Demands: Global North NGOs and multilateral institutions must: Redirect climate finance toward locally designed and community-controlled initiatives; Provide unrestricted and long-term funding rather than project-based grants; Support technology transfer, labor rights, and policy sovereignty; Foster partnerships as well as amplify and center the voices and knowledge of Asia-Pacific organizations; And confront the structural inequalities rooted in Global North policies and practices—from debt regimes to extractive trade—that perpetuate environmental harm in the region.
Significance
This white paper demonstrates that Asia–Pacific just transitions are not singular but plural—woven from the region’s political, cultural, and ecological diversity. Critically, these findings affirm that supporting just transitions in the Asia–Pacific requires listening to and resourcing regional organizations on their own terms. Global North engagement must evolve from extractive partnerships toward reparative just transitions—approaches that redress historical and ongoing inequalities, redistribute resources, and amplify local leadership in shaping post-carbon futures.
Just transitions in the Asia–Pacific are already under way, led by thousands of organizations advancing climate justice through interlinked struggles for sovereignty, equity, and regeneration. The challenge for the international community is not to define these transitions for the region, but to stand accountable to them—transforming the political and economic relations that have long undermined Asia–Pacific peoples and ecosystems. By foregrounding the voices and visions of regional actors, this white paper charts a path for global climate justice grounded in solidarity, reciprocity, and repair.
Click here to download a PDF of this white paper, or click the "next page" button below to continue reading the web version. To view translations of the report highlights, please use the sidebar menu or click here for the respective languages: Chinese, Indonesian, Thai, and Vietnamese. Hindi and Arabic translations will be published shortly.
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Acknowledgments: We thank Angela Saade, Aynabat Yaylymova, and Hasriadi Masalam for their support reviewing the survey questions. We would also like to thank Stephen Menendian at the Othering & Belonging Institute for his support in reviewing the white paper. Our student researchers are Abigail Victoria Malakun and Huda Abdelnur. The survey was translated by Bassem Fayad (Arabic), Surya Udayakumar (Hindi), Hasriadi Masalam (Indonesian) and CMM Translation (Mandarin Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese). Marc Abizeid provided copyediting for this report. Erfan Moradi designed the layout.
Banner artwork: Sadhna Prasad created the illustration for ArtistsForClimate.org. This illustration was adapted and re-distributed for this publication using a CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
Citation: Elsadig Elsheikh, Hossein Ayazi, and Basima Sisemore, “Asia-Pacific Just Transitions: Assessing the Activities, Strategies, and Needs of Asia-Pacific Climate, Agri-food, and Environmental Organizations” (Berkeley, CA: Othering & Belonging Institute, December 2025), belonging.berkeley.edu/asia-pacific-just-transitions.
