Vulnerabilities targeted. When it comes to the main targets of just transition-related objectives, concerns, and measures included in the selected instruments, it emerges from our analysis that the vulnerabilities to be addressed are sometimes expressed rather vaguely. This is, for instance, the case of the Regulation on the European Climate Law, which – while paying a fair amount of attention to the objective of achieving a just transition – usually identifies targets in a generic manner, resorting to language such as ‘Ecosystems, people and economies in all regions of the Union will face major impacts from climate change’ or ‘the most vulnerable and impacted populations’. This circumstance may be due to the type of documents analysed (i.e. the constitutive legislation of each instrument): more precise targeting could be expected in implementing acts. However, it could also indicate shortcomings and gaps in definitional aspects and measurements. Focusing on the six categories identified in Section 1 (Table 7, Annex 1), it emerges that, in terms of vulnerable territories, the JTF and the ETS Modernisation Fund have a more marked territorial focus. The former aims to reduce the risk of transition-enhanced regional disparities in those regions that rely heavily on fossil fuels for energy or greenhouse gas intensive industries. The scope of the JTF was then broadened, and Member States’ Territorial Just Transition Plans (TJTPs) actually include more territories and sectors than originally proposed by the European Commission (e.g. territories relying on the automotive industry). As for the Modernisation Fund, besides its overall target (to support EU countries with a Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita below 75% of the EU average), ‘support to a just transition in carbon-dependent regions’ is among the priority investments of the Fund, while measures ‘supporting low-income households to address energy poverty and to modernise their heating systems’ are expected to include investments in rural and
Vulnerabilities targeted. When it comes to the main targets of just-transition related initiatives/concerns identified in the strategic documents, our analytical framework focuses on the notion of ‘vulnerabilities’. On the one hand, this is a relative notion, open to multiple interpretations, and, on the other hand, vulnerabilities may be area-specific. This premised, it emerges from our analysis (Table 3, Annex 1) that references to all the categories of vulnerabilities identified in our analytical framework have been detected in the documents analysed, although the emphasis on each category varies within and across the macro- areas. In particular, it emerges that a more limited number of vulnerable categories have been addressed in macro-areas ‘7. Preserving and restoring ecosystems and biodiversity’ and ‘8. A zero pollution ambition for a toxic-free environment’. In general, for the various categories of vulnerability considered (and taking the 9 macro-areas together), it emerges that more emphasis has been placed on: i) vulnerable workers, ii) vulnerable businesses/sectors, and iii) vulnerable territories. There seems to have been a lesser focus on people living in poverty (with the important exception of individuals and households in a situation of energy poverty) and on the gender dimension. References to other vulnerable categories of citizens also emerge from the textual analysis. However, these are rather heterogeneous categories (see below). Considering in more detail the first three targets of just transition-related provisions in our sample of strategic documents (vulnerable workers, vulnerable businesses/sectors, and vulnerable territories), one can note that, first, the specific targets differ to some extent across macro-areas, and, second, that these three categories are often linked within the macro-areas. One example of this linkage are references to the need to support territories relying on carbon-intensive industries, usually implying the need to support those industries and their workers. Importantly, the emphasis on regions relying on carbon-intensive and energy-intensive industries features strongly among the just transition-related concerns and objectives in our sample and across the macro-areas. This may be due to mentions of the Just Transition Fund (JTF) as an important instrument to ensure a just transition in virtually all the strategic documents analysed across the 9 macro-areas. Regarding ‘vulnerable territories’, besides the emphasis on regions relyi...
