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ETUC Conference : “The employment impact ofclimate change policies and the role played by

trade unions in Europe”

7 December 2010, WoW (World of Work Pavilion), COP16 CANCUN

Presentation of the draft results of theEuropean social partners’ study “Theemployment impact of climate change

policies”

Alain Mestre, expert from SYNDEX

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The aim and methodology of the joint study : « theemployment impact of climate change policies »

The aim of this study is to enable the social partners to identifiy thepossible joint actions that could be implemented to maximiseopportunities and minimise the negative effects on employment ofnational strategies to fight climat change.

In order to better to understand how well the social dialogue systemsoperate and the extent to which they concern climate change andemployment issues, we initiallly reviewed the existing literature. Althoughclimate change themes are producing an increasing number of studies,information and references to the social dialogue at national andeuropean level are very rare. We have therefore had to extend ourresearch to often very recent publications by the protagonists.

Final contributions to this study were the answers to a questionnaire sentto all affiliates of the European social partners. We single out anapproach per country (EU 27+Turkey & Iceland).

This method enables us to take stock of the initiatives of the socialpartners in every country, based on a bipartite dialogue or tripartiteinitiative, or based on a public-private partnership.

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What impacts will policies designed to fight climate changehave on employment in quantitative and qualitative terms ?

Several studies were dedicated to the analysis and assessment of theseimpacts. Five of them are considered as references by european andinternational public institutions and social partners :

1- Syndex-S.Partner-WMP (2009) : « Climate disturbances, the new industrialpolicies and ways out of the crisis » : commissioned by ETUC and sustainedby DG EMPL of EC. (support of ETUC resolutions).

2- GHK (2009) : « The impacts of climate change on EU employment in themedium term (to 2020) » : commissioned by DG EMPL of EC.

3- UNEP, ILO, ITUC, IOE with technical assistance of Worldwatch Instituteand Cornell Global Labor Institute (2008) : « Green jobs : Towards decentwork in a sustainable, low carbon world » in the framework of the jointinitiative.

4- Syndex-Istas-Wuppertal Institute (2007) : « Impact on employment in theEU-25 of climate change and CO2 emission reduction measures by 2030 »;commissioned jointly by ETUC and DG Environment.

5- Eurofound, Andrea Broughton (2009) : «Greening the european economy :Responses and initiatives by member States and social partners ».

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First results of the survey sent to national affiliatesof european social partners

A 20 items questionnaire + an open question, that have been elaborated jointly bya Syndex expert and the european social partners organisations, have been sent totheir national affiliates.

46 answers coming from 20 EU countries had been analysed.

The 2 levels choosen by the social partners: sectoral and national (instead ofregional and company levels)

More often quoted sectors: energy transports construction Energy intensive industries

2 major lessons learned: Social partners are mainly implicated in mitigation actions rather than in

adaptation measures Different situation according to their geographic origin (north/south) Dialogue and adaptation measures mainly taken within the framework of

tripartite dialogue structures

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The results of the study on social dialogue andclimate change mitigation actions

Multiple levels of dialogues and initiatives: A majority of organisations (2/3) talk about a bipartite dialogue 3/4 of these organisations refer as well to the existence of tripartite dialogue

(cooperation with public authorities)

According to the vast majority of social partners (90%), mitigations policies have aquantitative impact over employment rather a qualitative impact over jobs andcompetences

The main measures dedicated to reduce GHG emissions are: Energy efficiency investments Vocationnal training aiming at adapting already existing jobs New jobs creation is only in third position (less than 50% of received

answers)

Among them, the german initiative « Employment & Environment Alliance» isquoted in 50% of the cases as a „good practice”.

Finally, even if only 18% of answers refer to the existence of social dialoguededicated to the definition and application of transition measures, a vast majorityunderlines the necessity of consulting social partners on this subject.

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Graphic synthesis

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The results of the study on social dialogue andclimate change adaptation actions

Several levels of dialogues and initiatives A minority of organisations refer to a bipartite dialogue (14

answers) 22 refer to a tripartite dialogue (cooperation with public authorities)

1/3 of the answers inform about the abscence of social partners workover the subject.

Here a majority of answers point out: The absence of implication in the definition and application of

transition measures absence of social dialogue on mitigation related questions

This being said, it appears logic that social partners have difficulties tobuild a comprehensive approach related to the evolution of jobs andcompetencies.

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Main conclusions concerning the social dialogue processesin relation to climate change and employment

These social dialogue processes have grown in number in the memberstates of the EU during the last two years.

They are often older and more developed in Western Europe than inEastern Europe. For the Eastern European countries, the introductionand/or intensification of talks on the transition to a more environmentally-friendly economy has been seen as a contribution to seeking newpathways to growth.

Most of the time, the initial consultations of the social partners on thesematters began with the drafting of the national sustainable developmentstrategies (required by the EU). In other cases, it was the recovery plansaimed at fighting the negative effects of the economic crisis that enabledthe first talks or the adoption of legislation to reduce GHG.

Although the social dialogue institutions vary from one country toanother, it should be noted that increasingly, the associations (localcommunities) and NGOs participate in the discussions alongside thetraditional social partners.

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Social dialogue processes in relation to climateissues : Tripartite & bipartite dialogue initiatives (1)

The social partners in the countries of northern Europe mainly discuss mitigationaspects of these topics, whereas the countries of southern Europe give priority toadaptation issues, although they work on both.

With regard to the social dialogue framework, frequently there is more than onesocial dialogue system in the same country, depending on the extent of theparticipation of the public authorities : at country level, and/or at regional level :

Tripartite initiatives : These dialogue systems involve the public authorities as well as the social

partners representing employees and employers : some countries have opted tobroaden the remit of already established bodies, others have introduced newdialogue structures and finally, some member states have adopted bothapproaches at the same time.

In some countries, the traditional bodies responsible for social dialogue havebroadened their scope and discussion topics to include the environement (forexample, the French Economic and Social Council has become the Economic,social and Environmental Council. And the Irish cas of the National Economic andSocial Council. At the same time, new bodies have been estabished with anexclusively environmental vocation, for exemple the Round Tables in Spain andalso in France (« Grenelle Environment »).

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Social dialogue processes in relation to climateissues : Tripartite & Bipartite dialogue initiatives (2)

The social partners in Romania have been consulted on the country’ssustainable development strategy as part of the national and regionaltripartite initiative agreements.They have also an opportunity to put forward acertain number of green economy proposals as part of the recovery planadopted in 2009 following the economic crisis.

Bipartite dialogues : The bipartite dialogue initiatives between employers and workers unions

seem to be less numerous, in both Eastern and Western Europe, thantripartite initiatives.

Whereas the tripartite initiative bodies deal with broad, diversifed subjectscorresponding to their national or regional vocation, the bipartite dialoguessystems are more organised around themes that are dealt with mostfrequently at sectoral or corporate level ….except the bipartite dialoguesystem in Belgium (Ecocheque initiatives, CDM projects).

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Social partner initiatives relating to the impact of the climate changepolicy on employment and the skills of workers and companies

In most cases, these social dialogue initiatives are both tripartite and bipartite,benefitting from a defined institutional framework and strongly supported by thegovernment of the country.

For the traditional bodies responsible for dialogue, whose task is almostexclusively to advise government by drafting opinions or producing studies, addingin the environmental component makes no change to the functioning of theinstitution at all, but enables awareness-raising. Bodies created especially to dealwith climate issues are often very recent and it is difficult to assess their action.However, some experiences considered to be good practice by the protagonistsare worth quoting : this applies to Belgium, UK, Spain, and Germany.

The social dialogues relating to climate issues examine the connection betweenthese issues and employment and skills issues. However, although thisconnection seems legitimate, in reality the question of how the management ofadaptation and mitigation policies & measures affects employment and skills isdifficult to determine and at times is subject to susbstantial differences ofappreciation.

As regards the specific themes adressed, the social partners discuss to the energyefficiency of buildings and renewable energies most frequently. The need fortraining is in fact greatest in these two sectors.

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Final Findings

Although social dialogue systems have been established, they don’t systematically leadto practical initiatives. In the majority of cases, these dialogues are too recent to includethe question of employment and as a result, the social partners turn more to unilateralinitiatives or they work in partnership with the public bodies. Initiatives very oftenremain highly institutional and cases of good practice in these areas are notsystematically visible.

However, 4 countries seem to demonstrate that systems of dialogue between the socialpartners and with the participation of public authorities can lead to interesting initiativesin practice. These are :

In Germany, « Alliance for Work and Environment » and the « Network ResourcesEfficiency initiative »,

In Belgium, the bipartite initiative which has given the « Ecovoucher » initiative,receiving a public support and the tripartite initiative like « Clean DevelopmentMechanism projects »(in the framework of the Kyoto Protocol’s flexible mechanisms)

In Spain, the sectoral Round Tables and the role of its regions in establishing « skillstraining programmes »

In United-Kingdom, there is firstly the determination of the social partners to improve thecomfort of the workers in their workplace and the greening of workplaces (GreenWorkplaces Initiative) and secondly, the role of the regions in establishing trainingprogrammes.

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Draft results of the European social partners’ study“The employment impact of climate change policies”

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION !

Alain Mestre

[email protected]

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