Abstract

Even though research on eco-social policies and just transition is growing, only a few studies have to date performed systematic analyses of concrete policy initiatives. This contribution aims to fill this gap, focussing on the European Union (EU) level. The main objective is to critically investigate the core features of prominent EU policy instruments designed to address the social implications of the green transition, established as part of the 2019 European Green Deal framework. The instruments selected for comparison are the Just Transition Fund (JTF) and the proposal for a Social Climate Fund (SCF). The former strives to alleviate the costs of decarbonisation in heavily affected territories and sectors, while the latter addresses the disproportional distributional impacts of increased energy prices. In order to compare the JTF and the SCF, the article proposes a novel analytical framework based on both the emerging literature on eco-social policies and the policy design framework. Our research uses qualitative methods: a thorough textual analysis of key EU documents related to the two funds, combined with 4 semi-structured interviews with policymakers and stakeholder representatives. The study’s empirical findings indicate that the EU is addressing the social consequences of the green transition by applying a notion of just transition that is mostly reactive and oriented towards a social investment approach. However, more preventive and protection-oriented elements are slowly emerging