Fit for purpose? Just Energy Transition Partnerships and accountability in international climate governance

Abstract This contribution examines whether just energy transition partnerships (JETPs), a new type of financial agreement between G7/G7‐allies and low‐to‐middle income states, can serve as accountability mechanisms for the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It identifies important structural elements from the existing literature on climate governance for holding actors to account and then assesses the extent to which they are present within JETPs. While JETPs appear in theory to offer increased potential to shore up accountability in the UNFCCC, the case of the South African JETP demonstrates that the presence of these structural elements is likely insufficient to ensure accountability vis‐à‐vis the UNFCCC. This preliminary analysis therefore finds several practical limitations to accountability within JETPs and dense governance spaces in general. It thus points to the importance of identifying the underlying conditions needed for institutional accountability structures to function as designed.