The Mediterranean basin is one of the regions most exposed to the consequences of climate change — and one of the most unequally positioned to respond to them. On both its northern and southern shores, populations have endured successive waves of neoliberal restructuring and austerity over the last decades: from the structural adjustment programmes imposed on Arab states to the fiscal discipline enforced across Southern Europe in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. It is onto this already strained social landscape that green transition policies are now being implemented.

This EcoSoc seminar presents comparative research by Professor Mohamed Elagati examining the articulations between austerity and green transition across the Arab region and Southern Europe. Both sides of the Mediterranean share not only deep historical and cultural ties, but structural similarities as peripheral formations within the global economy — marked by histories of nationalisation and privatisation, economic, financial, and energetic dependency on foreign capital, and recurring exposure to drought, flooding, and environmental degradation. Professor Elagati's research asks a fundamental question of climate justice: in regions that have already borne a disproportionate share of the costs of economic restructuring, who is being asked to pay the price of the green transition? And on what terms is that transition being imposed?

The seminar draws on recent fieldwork and policy analysis from both sides of the Mediterranean to examine how green transition intersects with questions of social inequality, energy poverty, and political sovereignty — and what genuinely just alternatives might look like for the region.

Commentary: Jonas Van Vossole (CES)

Bio note

Mohamed Elagati is an Egyptian social scientist, researcher, and civil society leader based in Beirut, Lebanon. He is the founder and director of the Arab Forum for Alternatives (AFA), a regional research organisation focused on civil society, political transitions, and socio-economic rights in the Arab world. His work spans political transition, legislative processes in post-revolution Arab states, the protection of minorities, human rights, gender mainstreaming, and the promotion of democratic civil society across the region. A prominent public intellectual, he regularly lectures and participates in academic panels at leading regional institutions, including the American University of Beirut, on themes of constitutional change, shifting political landscapes, and the political economy of development.

He is currently a visiting researcher at the Faculty of Economics, Universidade de Coimbra, where he is conducting fieldwork for his comparative study on green transition and climate justice across Southern Europe and the Arab region. This seminar presents findings and reflections emerging directly from that ongoing research stay.