“Just Transition” for an ambitious and fair climate change deal in Copenhagen

Brussels, 15 April 2009 (ITUC OnLine): A trade union initiative for integrating social justice within the transition to a low carbon economy
has been launched by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in the negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC). 

“The new climate deal, which has to be agreed in Copenhagen, has to deliver a message of ambition and fairness,” said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder. “Our organisations are committed to supporting the achievement of ambitious emission reduction measures. Including a just transition framework in the agreement is an essential part of the successful implementation of that process.”

Over the course of 2009 governments are holding negotiations for the new agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, whose mandate ends in 2012. At
the first series of talks that concluded on 8 April in Bonn, Germany,trade unions strongly emphasized the need to ensure fairness in the
pathway towards a low-carbon society, through the inclusion of a “just transition framework” in the agreement.

“Trade unions are concerned by the slow pace negotiations are taking,and the multiplication of decision-making fora. We are committed to work
up to, during and beyond Copenhagen to achieve effective decision making, and for the transition to a low carbon economy to be real and fair; for this to happen, we need governments to recognize the role trade unions can play in building consensus for the great transition that has to take place” said Ryder.

You can download here <http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/No_45_-_TradeUnions_ClimateChange_COP14 .pdf>  the general trade union position on climate change, or here
<http://www.global-unions.org/pdf/COP15-TUdemands1.pdf>  the concrete proposals on the “just transition framework” presented in Bonn.

For more information, you can contact Anabella Rosemberg anabella.rosemberg@ituc-csi.org or the ITUC Press Department on: +32 2
224 0204 or +32 476 621 018