Brussels, 20-21/02/2007
To be checked against delivery
Madam Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen
You are here to think about the prospects opened up by the low carbon economy and we welcome you to an overheated room we still have some way to go!
Be that as it may, I should like to welcome you all to the International Trade Union House for this conference on climate change and employment, organised jointly by the European Trade Union Confederation and its project partners: the Social Development Agency, the Wuppertal Institute, Syndex and the ISTAS Institute.
If I had to describe the subject of this conference in a nutshell, it would be simply this: climate change is first and foremost a social question.
In saying that, I do not want to downplay the risks to the environment, and the recent scientific conference staged in Paris has confirmed the scale of those risks. Neither is it a matter of putting the economic issues into relative terms, as these were clearly pinpointed by Nicolas Stern's report. But it is important not to pigeonhole climate change into a scientific or technological issue, nor into a simple economic choice.
If we are going to succeed in fighting climate change, we have no choice but to take account of the social consequences, both positive and negative, of the changes required. We cannot say that climate change is a reality (with a rise in temperatures of close to 0.8° for the 20th century, and between 1.8 and 4° for the 21st) and not be concerned at the way its consequences will be handled. If we do nothing, we know who will have to pay the price: the poorest and the most vulnerable, in both the developed world and the developing countries alike.
It is clear that the processes involved in reducing emissions will lead to changes in the organisation of labour, jobs and income. These changes must be innovative and positive to transform the carbon constraint into a positive opportunity for the development of European industry and the maintenance of its jobs. In that respect, we cannot ignore the formidable problems associated with globalised heavy industries involved in the European carbon market, in the absence of carbon equivalent constraints in the major producing countries.
So we need to move from a defensive version of restructuring operations (traditional industries facing competition from newcomers) towards an offensive vision (preparing for the future). The watchwords are: anticipation, adaptation, investment and the organisation of solidarities. This brings us back to the fundamental mission of the trade union movement: to organise solidarity, in favour of the poorest and the most vulnerable.
The ETUC is convinced that the social partners have key role to play in tackling these challenges. Climate change opens a new field for social dialogue. The basic point is to apply the provisions of the Treaty. Under these, the European Community must support and supplement the action of the Member States with regard to protecting the health and safety of workers, their working conditions, the collective defence of their interests and their protection in the event of dismissal. On each of these scores, climate change is liable to have an impact.
For the Commission and the social partners alike, the choice is clear-cut:
- we can all behave like ostriches and bury our heads in the sand. Cynics will say that, with global warming, there will be an increase in desertification, which will give those ostriches all the more room ...
- or we can shoulder our responsibilities and work together to identify the sectors which might be affected by restructuring operations triggered by climate change and get together to define some anticipation and accompanying strategies.
The European Trade Union Confederation has conducted this debate and resolved it unanimously by its Executive Committee. We are calling on the Commission to take an initiative in this area, on the basis of Article 138 of the Treaty, and I am expecting the employers to respond positively to this plea. And I intend to propose that this be one of the priority thrusts for action by the European trade union movement, at our Congress in Seville next May.
To conduct this necessary dialogue, we now have a basis: the study conducted by the ETUC and its partners on behalf of the Commission on the consequences of climate change on employment. Let me take advantage of this opportunity to extend warm thanks to the Commission, notably Stavros Dimas, Environment Commissioner, and the services of DG Environment, for having supported this original initiative. Six European countries, via their environment ministers, have likewise been involved in this project: Spain, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium and Finland. Many thanks also to them.
And I would like these two conference days to make it possible to get the debate underway and tease out a shared diagnosis, to be the basis for common progress in the future.
We have structured these two days around six sessions:
- The first session will discuss the main findings of the study on the impact on employment of climate change and emission reduction policies by 2030.
- The following four sessions will examine the links between employment and climate policy in the sectors of energy, transport, building and industry.
- Finally, the last session will take the form of a round table for discussions with representatives of the European parties concerned. The subject will be the involvement of the parties in the implementation of European climate change policies.
I would like, if I may, to add a word to conclude this opening address, without prejudging the debate. Sir Nicholas Stern did say that climate change was the biggest failure of the market ever seen. In this capital of Europe, which sometimes tends to look on the market as a holy cow, it is time for the public authorities and the social partners to shoulder their responsibilities vis-à-vis the market. We need to see a revision of the existing policies which are too often geared exclusively to driving down costs. We need regulations and incentives over the long term, otherwise we will continue, again and again, to fall into the casino economy denounced by the ETUC. And in that casino, there will only be losers, as Nick Stern has clearly shown.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Madam Minister, it just remains for me to thank all those who have agreed to contribute to this conference, all of you who have travelled here to attend, and all the project experts who have produced this study and prepared for this conference.
Ms Narbona, the Spanish Environment Minister, has honoured us by kindly agreeing to open this conference, before going to join the Council of Environment Ministers who will be discussing European policy on energy and climate change. I should like to thank her very much, and to reiterate on this occasion that the ETUC supports an ambitious European climate strategy which succeeds in balancing and reconciling the environmental, economic and social objectives and which above all, results in the implementation at European level of binding legislation which applies to all sectors, for the general good of all.
Madam Minister, I give you the floor.