Just Green Transition in the Eastern Partnership. Lessons from the Western Balkans

The Green Deal will be the European Union’s main strategy for the following decades to achieve carbon neutrality in its Member States. Yet, to bring about this ambitious goal, European institutions also need to engage with countries located outside the Union’s boundaries. The article explores this matter focusing on the relatively unexplored Eastern Partnership (EaP) area (including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine). It explores the Western Balkan (WB) experience in the field of green transition, which although not EU members, have initiated their own Green Agenda; in so doing aiming at drawing useful indications on how to set up a wider partnership of shared responsibilities within the EaP. Methodologically, the study adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining desk-based analysis, comparative assessment of the WB and EaP, and qualitative insights from expert interviews.