By Vaye Abel Lepolu
Monrovia , ActionAid Liberia has emphasized the pivotal role of the media in promoting climate justice and advancing the concept of Just Transition as the country prepares to participate in the upcoming COP30 in Brazil.
Speaking at a special dialogue in Monrovia, ActionAid Country Director Elizabeth Johnson said the media must be viewed as partners in shaping public understanding of climate change, ensuring accountability, and amplifying the voices of vulnerable communities.
“The media are not just storytellers; you are partners in shaping narratives around climate justice. We want you to have the knowledge and skills to report accurately, advocate strongly, and hold stakeholders accountable,” Johnson told participants.
She explained that Just Transition means putting people particularly women, youth, and marginalized communities at the center of climate solutions. Johnson noted that while governments and corporations often highlight technical or financial measures, true climate justice requires fairness, inclusiveness, and transparency.
On climate financing, she called for greater accountability from major polluters and industrial nations, cautioning against development assistance that overlooks the needs of ordinary Liberians.
“When we go to Brazil, we want women and youth to be meaningfully represented, not sidelined. Climate justice is linked to agriculture, health, energy, and livelihoods. The demands must come from the people most affected,” she added.
The dialogue also marked the beginning of plans to establish a national media and civil society network on Just Transition. Johnson said this initiative would strengthen collaboration, build capacity, and create learning opportunities for journalists and activists to effectively engage in climate discourse.
Participants were encouraged to share their own understanding of Just Transition as part of a collective effort to build stronger advocacy for climate justice in Liberia.
The event concluded with ActionAid reaffirming its commitment to empowering media institutions and civil society actors with the tools and platforms necessary to ensure Liberia’s voice is heard in global climate negotiations.
At the same time, as global temperatures continue to rise and governments fall short on climate commitments, campaigners Actionaid is warning that climate action without justice risks deepening inequality, fuelling resistance, and leaving vulnerable communities behind.
Actionaid point to a number of obstacles undermining progress: governments backsliding on policies, a surge in climate scepticism, and growing perceptions that the climate agenda is elitist and disconnected from ordinary people’s struggles. At the same time, authoritarian and oligarchic systems are exploiting divisions, weakening public support for urgent climate action.
Meanwhile, Actionaid highlight that not all climate measures are fair. In the energy sector, fossil fuel workers are often left jobless without retraining or safety nets, while communities bear the brunt of harmful mineral extraction for so-called “green” technologies. Corporate-led transitions have been accused of deepening debt in the Global South while seizing resources under the banner of sustainability.
Agriculture tells a similar story: corporate agribusinesses expand in the name of “green growth,” yet smallholder farmers especially women lose land, income, and livelihoods. Rising food prices and pesticide-intensive practices further erode food security.
As Anabella Rosemberg of Climate Action Network warns: “Climate action without justice is a tech bro’s paradise.” one of climate justice campaigners said.
Against this backdrop, actionaid and other are pushing for a Just Transition (JT) a framework that ensures both the process and outcomes of climate action are fair. ActionAid outlines four guiding principles:
Inclusive Participation: Workers, farmers, women, and youth must have a seat at the table.
Comprehensive Planning: Policies should be coordinated, public-led, and not left to corporate interests.
Justice-Centred Outcomes: Transitions must reduce not worsen inequality.
Systemic Change: Climate solutions must transform economies to serve people, nature, and climate.
In addition, key sectors have been at the heart of just transition documents are Craft by actionaid climate change experts:
Energy: Moving from fossil fuels to renewable power while lowering costs and expanding access, agriculture: Shifting from industrial agribusiness to agroecology, a model that strengthens resilience, boosts employment, and improves food security.
Extractives & Transport: Ensuring responsible sourcing of critical minerals and sustainable mobility solutions.
However, the climate justice Campaigners are urging governments to embed Just Transition strategies in Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and to redirect public finance towards climate-resilient livelihoods. At the global level, pressure is mounting on rich nations to scale up grant-based finance rather than loans.
Looking ahead to COP30 in Belém, Brazil, Actionaid and others are calling for the adoption of a Just Transition Mechanism that covers energy, agriculture, and minerals, and guarantees affected communities a genuine role in decision making.
They underscore important of climate finacing towards the lives for millions of people, Just Transition is not abstract policy it means affordable food, reliable energy, land rights, decent jobs, and opportunities for the next generation. Advocates argue that placing justice at the centre of climate action is the only way to overcome resistance, build public trust, and achieve the scale of transformation needed.
