The Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) and Oilwatch Africa have called for greater accountability and community participation in the global just transition process, warning against corporate control of climate action.
In a statement made available to reporters in Benin on Sunday, the organisations said this during a discussion on accountability in the just transition process at the ongoing 31st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31) in Antalya, Türkiye.
The statement said the discussion examined the responsibilities of governments, corporations, civil society organisations and other stakeholders in ensuring that the shift from fossil fuels to cleaner energy delivers justice for affected communities and workers.
According to the statement, participants questioned whether the transition could be considered just if communities lost control of their natural resources and livelihoods while corporations gained new commercial opportunities.
“They stressed the need to ask: ‘Whose transition is it, and what makes it just?’” the statement said.
The forum called for a transformative approach that recognises communities’ relationships with their environment, culture, livelihoods and natural resources.
“Participants expressed concern that corporations and polluting industries were increasingly shaping the concept of just transition to protect commercial interests.
“They urged stakeholders to reclaim the concept and ground it in the rights and aspirations of communities affected by environmental degradation and extractive activities.
“The discussion also highlighted the exclusion of informal sector workers from transition planning and called for their inclusion in decisions on alternative livelihoods, compensation and social protection.”
Participants identified governments and parliaments as key actors responsible for protecting citizens, managing natural resources in the public interest and holding corporations accountable.
“Civil society organisations were urged to strengthen advocacy and monitoring, while trade unions were encouraged to defend workers’ rights and build alliances with affected communities.
“Participants also called for transparency, access to information and meaningful community participation in decisions affecting local territories and livelihoods,” the statement said.
Patricia Achakpa, a Nigerian environmentalist, gender specialist and climate justice advocate, drew on the experience of fishing communities in Sanriku, Japan, to highlight the effects of fishing restrictions on livelihoods.
She stressed the need for appropriate compensation and support when environmental or economic changes disrupt community livelihoods.
The forum also called on companies to take responsibility for environmental and social harm caused by their operations through remediation, compensation and livelihood restoration.
It warned against allowing corporations to abandon affected communities after extracting resources or withdrawing from projects.
Yvonne Yanez, an Ecuadorian environmentalist, researcher and climate justice activist, highlighted the Yasuní Initiative and the broader Yasunize campaign as examples of community-inspired alternatives to oil extraction.
She said the campaign emerged from the experiences and demands of affected communities rather than being imposed by external organisations.
The discussion also questioned transition frameworks that allow continued fossil fuel extraction and carbon trading while claiming to advance climate action.
Dr Nnimmo Bassey, a Nigerian environmental activist and HOMEF executive director, introduced the concept of the “Good Life” as an alternative development vision based on ecological harmony, dignity, cultural values and community well-being.
He argued that a genuine transition should prioritise sustainable living and harmony with nature over economic growth, consumption and financial accumulation.
Bassey called for an end to destructive extraction, the restoration of damaged ecosystems and a fundamental shift away from extractivist development models.
Achakpa also emphasised the need to include women, young people and children in the just transition process.
She called for policies that reflect the experiences of women, children, persons with disabilities and older people, stressing that women’s participation must go beyond consultation to include influence over decisions and access to resources.
The forum called for stronger community education, enforceable corporate accountability mechanisms, protection of workers’ rights and greater support for locally driven solutions.
It urged governments to challenge continued fossil fuel expansion and promote development models that prioritise community control of resources and ecological restoration.
The discussion concluded that a just transition must go beyond changing energy sources to transforming the social, political and economic structures responsible for exploitation, environmental destruction and marginalisation.
It stressed that communities, workers, women and young people must have the power to shape decisions affecting their lives and help build a more equitable future.
