Boost for Climate Action as ILO Adopts ‘Just Transition’

Boost for Climate Action as ILO Adopts ‘Just Transition’

Brussels, 6 November 2011 (ITUC OnLine): Hopes for the Paris Climate Summit in December to capture one of the three topline union demands have received a boost this week, with the UN’s International Labour Organisation formally adopting criteria for realizing the ‘Just Transition’ principle. The decision of the ILO’s Governing Body has defined essential steps countries should take to transform their economies to a low-carbon future, creating new jobs and supporting workers and communities in high-carbon sectors as industries are transformed.

Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, said “The challenge for governments is to settle a deal in Paris that will avoid catastrophic climate change, destroying lives and livelihoods across the planet. The plans set out by the ILO will help increase ambition on the ground, with employers and unions negotiating and planning for the future. All governments must now accept that social dialogue, disclosure and agreements between employers and unions are indispensable to meeting the urgent and complex transition that has to happen.”

“This historic and unanimous agreement between governments, unions and employers on the need to work out industrial transformation without leaving anyone behind is a reason for optimism. The same governments that showed ambition at the ILO need to follow this through at the Paris Summit.”

ENDS

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