GREEN JOBS AND SKILLS

DECENT AND GREEN JOBS WITH A JUST TRANSITION: A STEP TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Anabella Rosemberg, International Trade Union Association

PAPER SUMMARY

When leaders meet in Rio de Janeiro for the Earth Summit in June this year, unemployment, precarious work and inequality will be central to their domestic agendas. At the same time, global environmental change is increasing stress on the most vulnerable, affecting all domains of society. If the Summit is going to deliver for people, it needs to take all these elements into account. It will also need to take concrete steps that will lead to changes on the ground.

The proposal presented in this Challenge Paper calls on all governments to take a country-based ‘policy package’ to Rio+20. This should include a target on decent job creation in the next 5-10 years, achieved by environmentally-friendly investments and regulations accounting for 2% of GDP, and a series of social and decent work policies which will ensure green jobs contribute to workers’ and communities’ prosperity.

Generating millions of new green and decent jobs and transforming existing ones into more greener and more decent ones could be one of the most positive consequences of a Rio+20 summit. This agenda could kick start the Global Transition, giving people hope about the positive impacts of a more sustainable society, particularly those suffering from poverty, precarious employment or unemployment.

A green/decent job pledge would also be part of a solution to environmental and social imbalances created by the current unsustainable production mode. This would occur by driving a new kind of investments in developing countries whilst giving them access to a new model of development.

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