This brief developed under SLYCAN Trust EU Work Programme examines how shifting budgetary priorities across the EU and its Member States are reshaping the landscape for domestic investment in the green and just transition,  ensuring that the transition towards a climate-neutral economy is taking place in a balanced way, leaving no one behind.

Since 2020, successive crises—from the COVID-19 pandemic to Russo-Ukrainian war on Ukraine—have prompted the rapid reallocation of public resources toward security, defence, and industrial competitiveness. While climate goals remain formally embedded in EU strategies, fiscal and political realities are driving difficult trade-offs. Green and social transition spending is increasingly vulnerable: delayed, diluted, or deprioritised.