Remarks by UN Resident Coordinator, Imran Riza, at UN Global Compact event on "Co-Creating a Just Transition Roadmap for Lebanon"

Dear colleagues and partners,

It is a pleasure to join you today at this important workshop on Just Transition. First, I want to warmly thank the UN Global Compact for organizing this event and for launching the Just Transition Peer Learning Group. We deeply appreciate their ongoing commitment to advancing sustainable and inclusive transformation in Lebanon.

The urgency of climate action is clear. For Lebanon’s private sector, this is not only an environmental concern, it is a business imperative:

• Rising energy costs, disrupted supply chains, and investor expectations around sustainability are already shaping market access and competitiveness.
• Companies that embed climate resilience into their strategies, will be the ones that survive and grow. A just transition is therefore a strategic investment, not a burden.

 Lebanon faces a multifaceted crisis:

• Energy insecurity, where fuel dependence erodes productivity but also creates opportunities for investment in renewables.
• Informal labor markets, which limit productivity and stability but can be addressed through formalization and skills development.
• Social exclusion, which weakens demand and cohesion but can be countered through inclusive hiring and corporate responsibility.
• The urgent need for economic recovery, which cannot be achieved without private sector leadership in investment, exports, and innovation.

Climate mitigation and adaptation can be powerful drivers of this recovery.

Green sectors, such as solar and wind energy, sustainable construction, waste recycling, eco-tourism, and agri-tech, offer Lebanon the chance to create thousands of decent jobs.

By piloting scalable solutions, attracting green finance, embracing circular economy models and building export-ready industries, the private sector can transform climate challenges into competitive advantage.

Lebanese government has revised its Nationally Determined Contributions, prioritizing a just transition with equity and gender at its core. In fact, just transition is not only about reducing emissions.

It is about ensuring that workers, women, youth, persons with disabilities, informal laborers, and marginalized communities are not just protected but empowered.

It must be grounded in dialogue, anchored in labor rights, driven by decent job creation, and shaped by coherent policies.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The private sector, as the backbone of Lebanon’s economy, has a critical role to play. This includes integrating climate and labor considerations into business models, advocating for inclusive growth policies, and embedding sustainability into auditing and reporting practices.

And you do not have to do it alone. Just transition calls for a whole-of-society approach, where government, business, civil society, and communities work together. Public-private partnerships and international cooperation can pool resources, while ensuring that workers and communities are included in the process.

The UN Global Compact has a key role in facilitating these collaborations in Lebanon, providing guidance, convening stakeholders, and strengthening the private sector’s capacity to lead this transition.

The United Nations remains your partner in this journey, ready to bring technical expertise, international networks, and convening power to support your leadership.

Together, we can make Lebanon not only more resilient, but also a regional model of how the private sector drives inclusive and sustainable transformation.

Today’s discussions will be instrumental in turning these principles into action and charting a path for Lebanon that is climate-resilient, socially just, and economically inclusive.

But dialogue must lead to decisions, and decisions must translate into investments and reforms.

I call on Lebanon’s private sector leaders here today to champion this just transition not as beneficiaries, but as co-architects of a greener, fairer economy. Your innovation, your capital, and your influence are decisive in setting Lebanon on a sustainable growth trajectory.

Let us commit, today, to turn ambition into action. 

Thank you.