The transition towards a climate-neutral and resilient society cannot be measured solely in technological, economic or environmental terms. It must also ask who takes part in decision-making, who bears the costs, who benefits from the solutions, and how existing inequalities are addressed.
This is the starting point of Just In Clime – Just mitigation and adaptation pathways in Climate Transitions, a new Horizon Europe project that aims to advance the understanding and practical application of climate justice in climate change mitigation and adaptation policies.
Coordinated by Kveloce, the project brings together 16 organisations from Europe, North America, the Middle East and North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Just In Clime was selected from among more than 50 international proposals and received the highest possible evaluation score: 15/15. The Evaluation Summary Report particularly highlighted the clarity of its objectives, the strength of its methodology, its innovation potential and the integration of Societal Readiness. This provides a strong foundation for a project designed to bring together perspectives from the Global North and the Global South and contribute to fairer, more inclusive climate transitions connected to the realities of each territory.
The project will officially start on 1 October 2026 and will run for 48 months. Its kick-off meeting will take place on 22 and 23 October in Valencia, organised by Kveloce as project coordinator. This first meeting will be key to aligning the consortium, defining the next steps and laying the foundations for the international collaboration that will guide the project over the next four years.
A project to integrate justice into climate action
Just In Clime will work over four years to develop a policy-oriented framework that helps to better understand the different dimensions of climate justice and their relationship with mitigation and adaptation strategies.
The project will address issues such as distributive justice, procedural justice, restorative justice and intergenerational justice. To do so, it will combine research, policy analysis, participatory processes, justice indicators and practical tools aimed at policymakers, organisations, communities and other actors involved in climate action.
Source: EEA, 2024. Adapted from Tony Ruth from Maeda (2019) with permission under CC license.
One of the central elements of the project will be its work through pilots in nine countries: Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Canada, Senegal, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Lebanon and Tunisia. Through co-creation and participatory processes, these pilots will analyse how climate justice is understood and applied in different sectors, including agriculture, the blue economy, energy and urban development.
The objective is not only to study climate justice from a theoretical perspective, but also to contribute to its practical integration into policies, strategies and decision-making processes. To this end, Just In Clime will identify good practices, develop indicators, co-produce roadmaps for just climate transitions and prepare policy recommendations that can be applied in different contexts.
Kveloce’s coordination: connecting knowledge, participation and impact
As coordinator, Kveloce will play a key role in bringing the consortium together, managing the project technically and financially, ensuring quality assurance, overseeing ethics and data management, and monitoring the overall progress of activities.
Coordinating a project of this nature means much more than managing tasks and deadlines. It involves facilitating collaboration between organisations with different profiles, geographies and contexts; ensuring that the work progresses coherently; and helping to make the results useful, transferable and aligned with the objectives of Horizon Europe.
In Just In Clime, Kveloce’s coordination also reinforces one of its main areas of work: integrating Social Sciences and Humanities, participation, social impact assessment, policy orientation and sustainability into European research and innovation projects. This experience will be particularly relevant in a project that places justice, inclusion and participation at the heart of climate action.
Kveloce will also lead activities related to the exploitation and sustainability of results, as well as the development and participatory validation of the JIC-SAT tool, designed to help local and regional authorities assess the extent to which justice is embedded in their climate policies.
An international and multidisciplinary consortium
Just In Clime brings together a broad and complementary consortium made up of universities, research centres, civil society organisations, international networks, specialised entities and organisations with direct experience in climate action, sustainability, democracy, participation and territorial development.
JUST IN CLIME Consortium
Kveloce coordinates the project from Spain and contributes its expertise in European project management, co-creation, participatory approaches, social impact assessment, exploitation of results and policy recommendations.
The Universitat de València (UVEG) will play a significant role in the design and implementation of participatory and co-creation activities, as well as in the assessment of perceptions, attitudes and impacts linked to climate justice.
ALDA – European Association for Local Democracy will contribute its experience in local democracy, citizen participation and capacity building, supporting in particular the training of the teams leading the pilots and activities to create synergies.
LUT University, from Finland, will provide academic knowledge on the definitions, concepts and dimensions of climate justice and just transitions, including the analysis of how younger generations perceive these processes.
The University of Sousse, in Tunisia, will participate in the set-up of the pilots and lead the Tunisian pilot, helping to incorporate North African perspectives into the debate on climate justice.
The University of Balamand, in Lebanon, will lead the analysis of justice and equity in mitigation and adaptation policies, as well as coordinating the Lebanese pilot.
Green Growth Generation, from Italy, will bring experience in sustainability, participation and work with local stakeholders, leading the Italian pilot and contributing to the identification of good practices in climate policies with a justice-oriented approach.
The Center for Social Innovation (CSI), in Cyprus, will contribute its experience in social innovation and participatory processes, leading the Cypriot pilot.
CETENMA, the Energy and Environment Technology Centre of the Region of Murcia, will lead the Spanish pilot and contribute technical knowledge in energy, environment and territorial sustainability strategies.
Wageningen University will contribute research and analytical capacities applied to sustainability, territorial systems and participatory methodologies, strengthening the scientific quality of the project.
ENDA, from Senegal, will bring experience in environment, development and community-based work, leading the Senegalese pilot and helping to integrate perspectives from Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Zimbabwe Environmental Law Organisation (ZELO) will lead the work on operationalising the concepts of justice and just transition through indicators, as well as coordinating the pilot in Zimbabwe.
SDSN Association Paris will contribute its experience in international sustainable development networks, communication, dissemination, outreach and policy-oriented recommendations.
Makerere University, in Uganda, will provide academic expertise and the capacity to connect with African resilience and development networks, strengthening the project’s international and knowledge-transfer dimension.
Forum on Climate Change (FORUMCC), in Tanzania, will lead the Tanzanian pilot and contribute its experience in climate action, civil society and participation in local contexts.
Finally, Wilfrid Laurier University, in Canada, will lead the Canadian pilot and bring knowledge in social research, participation and the analysis of climate transitions from an international perspective.
Towards more legitimate, inclusive and applicable climate action
Just In Clime responds to an increasingly evident need: climate policies can only be truly transformative if they are also socially legitimate, inclusive and sensitive to inequalities.
The climate emergency requires urgent action, but also responsible action. Integrating justice into mitigation and adaptation strategies does not mean slowing down climate action, but making it stronger, more widely accepted and more effective.
For Kveloce, coordinating Just In Clime represents an opportunity to contribute to a central debate in Europe and internationally: how to design climate transitions that leave no one behind and integrate the voices, needs and expectations of the territories and communities affected.
Over the next four years, the project will work to transform knowledge, participation and evidence into useful tools to guide fairer climate policies. An ambitious and necessary challenge, fully aligned with the way Kveloce understands European research and innovation: as a pathway to generate real impact in society.
