Policy challenges and actions for a just climate transition

Policy Study

Five Recovery Plans in comparison

This Policy Study addresses the extent to which the National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs) adopted by five EU member states (Italy, Germany, Spain, Sweden and Slovakia) can combine environmental sustainability with employment stability and therefore pursue a Just Transition. 

Linnea Nelli, Maria Enrica Virgillito and Andrea Roventini employ the lens of economic geography, with a specific territorial focus on left-behind places, and identify three main policy challenges: 

• employment effects; 
• environmental inequalities; 
• and gender inequalities. 

Given this theoretical framework, the authors investigate the presence of mitigation/adaptation policies for the labour markets and industrial policies. Overall, the scope of this policy study evaluates whether the policy interventions are able to meet the challenges and the effectiveness of these preventions – specifically in targeting left-behind places and the most vulnerable areas.

The authors find heterogeneous results across the five countries under analysis. Read the policy study to find out the main strengths of the plans of each country and why the authors finally recommend a common European policy framework.

This Policy Study is part of the Recovery Watch series of publications. The Recovery Watch is a research that monitors the Recovery and Resilience Facility and assesses its social impact in different countries.

Led by FEPS, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and the Institut Emile Vandervelde (IEV), in collaboration with several first-rate research organisations.

The next event, ‘National Recovery & Resilience Plans: Assessing to improve‘ will take place at the CNEL in Rome.