The ETUC has consistently called for a ‘Just Transition Roadmap’ to accompany the EU’s climate and energy goals and strategies. The ETUC believes that 5 elements must be used as foundations towards a greener and sociallyjust economy:

Participation - Social dialogue, negotiation and participation are tools which reconcile the promotion of quality employment and job creation in European economies.

Job creation and maintenance - Green and decent jobs can be created through domestic investments in (new) low-carbon technologies, in R&D and innovation, and technology transfer.

Ensuring the greening of training, education and skills - Government-led, active education/training and skills’ strategies are fundamental in the transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient economy, as recognised by the Commission’s proposals.

Trade union rights - Respect for labour rights and other human rights is essential to ensure a ‘Just Transition’ within Europe and globally.

Social protection - Public policy must also provide a safety net through active labour market policies, strong social protection and support measures.

The ETUC believes it is necessary to link the issues of climate change to those around employment and industrial policies, and to place the question of climate change within a wider debate. Europe must urgently develop a strategy ensuring innovation in clean and emerging technologies such as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). The ETUC is a member of the zero emission platform http://www.zeroemissionsplatform.eu which contributes to the promotion of pilot projects in CCS: The development of efficient technologies plays a key role in combining on the one hand, the transition towards a low-carbon society and on the other, the need to maintain a competitive industry in Europe while retaining jobs.

The current economic context will delay and complicate the investment needed to support the transformation of industries, and consequently, bring about the transition to a low-carbon economy. The risk of carbon leakage from Europe will increase if Europe stagnates further, the price of CO2 in the emission trading scheme may fall constantly too low, thereby taking away any incentive. to reduce CO2.

This is one of the reasons why the ETUC believes it is essential to proceed without delay to reform the ETS (Emission Trading Scheme) and tackle unfair trade practices. In its present version, the ETS may not contribute to real reductions of CO2 since a significant share of emissions’ allowances will be distributed for free and that, due to the economic crisis, an additional surplus of emissions allowances will be generated.

The time has come to put forward a radical economic and industrial transformation involving a vision and objectives for the medium to long term, taking into consideration the fact that climate change is exacerbating the inequalities within and between the various regions of the world.