Just Transition Forum unites regional leaders to tackle energy poverty and shape a fair energy future 

Governments, partners, civil society and community leaders from across Europe gathered in Tbilisi for the Energy Community’s Just Transition Forum to explore how energy efficiency can help end energy poverty and strengthen public trust in the clean-energy transition.

Governments, partners, civil society and community leaders from across Europe gathered in Tbilisi for the Energy Community’s Just Transition Forum to explore how energy efficiency can help end energy poverty and strengthen public trust in the clean-energy transition.  

The Forum delivered a clear message: a just transition cannot succeed without meaningful dialogue with diverse civil society and non-governmental partners, whose expertise and perspectives must be integrated into planning . As Contracting Parties begin preparing their new National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs), embedding just transition in transparent frameworks and long-term strategies is key to turning decarbonisation commitments into real benefits for people and communities. This principle is further reflected in the Energy Community’s newly published Just Transition Policy Guidelines, which guide governments in integrating just transition elements into energy and climate planning—ensuring that decarbonisation goes hand in hand with social protection, local opportunity, and public trust, while supporting alignment with the European Union’s clean energy and climate objectives. 

Opening the Forum, Artur Lorkowski, Director of the Energy Community Secretariat, underscored the importance of this moment for regional energy and climate planning. The new NECPs, he stressed, should tell the story of a just and sustained transition. “We are entering a pivotal moment for the region’s energy and climate future,” he said. “With just transition principles at the core, they can pave the way toward EU energy market integration and turn the green transition into an engine of investment, inclusion, and shared prosperity.” 

Critically, the Energy Community’s Governance Regulation requires Contracting Parties to assess and address energy poverty in their NECPs—an opportunity to ensure that energy-poor households receive targeted support and remain central to energy efficiency and decarbonisation efforts. To drive this agenda forward, Forum participants drew on insights from the Secretariat’s study, Energy Efficiency First for Energy Poverty.

The study reveals that 30–40% of households in Kosovo*, Albania, North Macedonia, and Georgia face energy poverty, and shows how targeted energy efficiency investments can transform lives across the region—making homes warmer, healthier, and more affordable to run. By prioritising vulnerable households, establishing renovation funds, and applying the Energy Efficiency First principle, Contracting Parties could cut household energy demand by more than 60%, create up to 19 local jobs for every €1 million invested, and triple the wider benefits through improved well-being, comfort, and productivity. 

Emphasising the importance of a people-centred transition, Head of EU Delegation to Georgia, Paweł Herczyński, stated: “For the European Union, a Just Transition is not only an environmental goal,  it is a commitment to people, fairness and long-term resilience. This transformation must be built through dialogue, transparency and the active participation of communities. Ensuring that this transition succeeds, it will depend on transparent governance, democratic credibility and alignment with the EU standards”. 

The Forum also celebrated the winners of this year’s Just Transition Young Voices Awards. Their work highlighted how listening to those most affected by the transition — and youth, who will carry it forward — is essential to understanding the diverse realities of communities navigating the shift to a greener economy. 

Cooperating partners for the Forum included the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia, KfW on behalf of the German Government, AFD, and the Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs of Austria.