This paper addresses the challenge of Germany׳s energy transition (Energiewende) as the centrepiece of the country׳s green industrial policy. In addition to contributing to global climate change objectives, the Energiewende is intended to create a leading position for German industry in renewable energy technologies, boost innovative capabilities and create employment opportunities in future growth markets at the least possible cost. The success in reaching these aims, and indeed the future of the entire concept, is hotly debated.
Questions of justice in the transition to a green economy have been raised by various social forces. Very few proposals, however, have been as focused and developed as the “just transition” strategy proposed by global labour unions. Yet, labour unions are remarkably absent from discussions of the transition towards a green economy. This is surprising as labour unions are arguably the largest organizations in the world fighting for basic rights and more just social relations. This paper tries to advance the potential contribution of labour unions in this arena by asking: what is the full scope of “just transition” today and how have labour unions developed and refined it over the years to render the move towards a green economy both environmentally and socially sustainable? The concept of just transition is hotly debated within labour unions and has different interpretations, and hence different strategies. The last section assesses these interpretations by means of a normative framework, which seeks to fuse political economy and political ecology. Empirically, the authors add to the growing literature on labour environmentalism, as well as transitions more generally.
Last month world leaders gathered at the United Nations for a summit on global clean energy investment, while outside trade unionists, mayors, philanthropists, and student activists all rallied in a major climate march, to echo calls for divestment from fossil fuels and a new generation of investment in clean energy and good jobs. These growing calls to action raise important questions. How can we stabilize an already-changing climate in a way that promotes economic prosperity? And what levels of investment will be required to reach this urgent goal?
An important set of answers is contained in the recent study "Green Growth: A U.S. Program for Controlling Climate Change and Expanding Job Opportunities" jointly published by the University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute and the Center for American Progress. This book, which I co-author with Dr. Robert Pollin, Dr. Heidi Garrett-Peltier, and Dr. James Heintz, builds on four years of research, and the findings are cause for both great hope and grave concern.
The World Survey on the Role of Women in Development is a UN Secretary-General report mandated by the Second Committee of the General Assembly and comes out every five years. The 2014 report focuses on gender equality and sustainable development, with chapters on the green economy and care work, food security, population dynamics, and investments for gender-responsive sustainable development. The report comes at a crucial moment, as the global community grapples with the definition of the Sustainable Development Goals and the emergence of the post-2015 framework. This report also offers a comprehensive set of recommendations for gender-responsive policy actions and investments towards sustainable development overall, as well as for the selected areas which the World Survey emphasizes.
This policy brief draws the attention of policy-makers and social partners in least developed countries to the role of skills development in facilitating the building of greener economies, as a way to achieve sustainable development and poverty eradication. It has been written at the request of ILO constituents from LDCs, where environmental deterioration and the consequences of climate change are among the major challenges of the twenty-first century. While change is a challenge, it also offers economic and employment opportunities. The brief arises out of the Green Jobs Initiative, a partnership between the ILO, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the International Organization of Employers (IOE). It draws on research applied in policy design and numerous case studies of country experiences and good practices.
The paper studies two empirical correlations: one between economic growth and environmental impacts, and the other between the lack of economic growth and unemployment. It is demonstrated that, at a global level, economic growth is strongly correlated with environmental impacts, and barriers to fast decoupling are large and numerous. On the other hand, low or negative growth is highly correlated with increasing unemployment in most market economies, and strategies to change this lead to difficult questions and tradeoffs. The coexistence of these two correlations – which have rarely been studied together in the literature on “green growth”, “degrowth” and “a-growth” – justifies ambivalence about growth. To make key environmental goals compatible with full employment, the decoupling of environmental impacts from economic output has to be accompanied by a reduction of dependence on growth. In particular, strategies to tackle unemployment without the need for growth, several of which are studied in this article, need much more attention in research and policy.