How climate change may affect decent work agenda of ILO

IF the impacts of the climate change are effectively managed, it could have positive implications for both the future of the globe and the Decent Work agenda of the International agenda.

The chair of an expert level green jobs meeting at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva, Ester Byer-Suckoo, who stated this at the Palais de Nations headquarters of the ILO, submitted that moving the global economy on to an environmentally sustainable footing is going to be a ‘turbulent’ experience but was quick to add that if properly managed, it will have profoundly positive implications both for the future of the globe and the Decent Work Agenda.
Byer-Suckoo, who is also the Minister of Labour for Barbados, said that the need for transition is urgent.

“We do have to shift from the old (carbon based) economy. Being from a small island state myself, we see first-hand the damage that (climate change) has caused to our environment. So I don’t think we have a choice, we have to change.”

The ILO meeting, to revise and adopt “policy guidelines for a just transition towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies for all” and involving government, worker and employer experts concluded with a package of proposals that will enable actors in the world of work to fully engage in the implementation of the expected outcomes of the Paris 2015 climate change conference (COP21), with appropriate policy tools and instruments.

The group addressed three main challenges arising from the changes they see coming in the global economy and the world of work, namely: job losses in those sectors of the global economy undergoing transformation; adaptation costs and strategies for those industries, regions and countries affected adversely by climate change; and the socially regressive impact of policies that lead to higher prices for energy.

Byer-Suckoo stressed that achieving environmental sustainability and generating enough decent work opportunities is not an ‘either/or’ proposition. The two must be addressed in tandem.

“When you change from one type of economy to another. You will lose some sorts of activities and some sorts of jobs related to those, but new ones will emerge. People will have to develop new skills, they will have to be trained for the new jobs that present themselves.”

Byer-Suckoo added that decent work must be a key element of the transition, saying: “We (the ILO), are ensuring all our policies and skills, enterprise policies, macroeconomic policies.