Status of the transition to green & fair economies: Executive Summary

The 2024 barometer identifies a shift toward embedding social justice in climate action and the rise of green macroeconomic governance, while warning against the 'gold rush' for critical minerals and the use of climate as a political 'wedge' issue.

• There is a growing trend of integrating social justice and societal outcomes into climate and environmental policies to ensure citizen support for transformative actions.
• Low- and middle-income countries are increasingly developing their own macroeconomic strategies for climate and just transitions, with the Bridgetown Initiative leading a movement to reform global development financing and the Bretton Woods institutions.
• Major economic regions are implementing green industrial policies, specifically through the US Inflation Reduction Act and the EU Green Deal, which are restructuring their economies and impacting global trade.
• Clean energy investment is growing, led by solar PV and electric vehicles; China invested $676 billion in 2023, representing 38% of the global total, though the EU, US, and UK combined invested more than China that year.
• Several risks threaten the transition, including a 'gold rush' for critical minerals often occurring without environmental or human rights standards, insufficient private sector investment in nature and adaptation, and the use of environmental policies as partisan 'wedge issues'.
• Financial systems lack large-scale green structural reform; while some progress exists in carbon pricing and coal divestment, fossil fuel subsidies have seen a dramatic increase.

APA

Benson, E. (2024). Status of the transition to green & fair economies: Executive Summary. Green Economy Coalition. https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/news-and-resources/status-of-the-transition-to-green-fair-economies-executive-summary

Chicago

Benson, Emily. Status of the transition to green & fair economies: Executive Summary. Green Economy Coalition, 2024. https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/news-and-resources/status-of-the-transition-to-green-fair-economies-executive-summary.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Benson |first1=Emily |title=Status of the transition to green & fair economies: Executive Summary |publisher=Green Economy Coalition |date=19 March 2024 |url=https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/news-and-resources/status-of-the-transition-to-green-fair-economies-executive-summary |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{benson2024status, author = {Benson, Emily}, title = {{Status of the transition to green \& fair economies: Executive Summary}}, institution = {Green Economy Coalition}, year = {2024}, month = mar, url = {https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/news-and-resources/status-of-the-transition-to-green-fair-economies-executive-summary}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }