The Bonn Climate Change Conference addresses just transition, decent work and skills needs for low-carbon and climate resilient economies

Parties gathered at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference in Bonn to discuss amongst others a just transition of the workforce and the creation of decent work and quality jobs in an in-forum workshop of the Subsidiary Bodies held 5 June, 2013.

After parties and groups, namely the G77 & China, the EU, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa presented their views; several international organizations likewise staged their perspectives and suggested various interesting entry points for the way forward.

The ILO highlighted the importance of national employment assessments to understand the labour market implications of the transition, both in terms of employment gains and losses within and between sectors, and of the effects on the quality of employment. Such assessments are indeed key to the success of developing coherent social, economic and climate policies, which according the ILO should be based on: i) social dialogue; ii) skills training and education; iii) green entrepreneurship development, particularly for SMEs; iv) social protection floors; and v) active labour market policies.

The Conferences of Parties (COP) at its 17th Session in Durban 2011 adopted a work programme with the objective of improving the understanding of the impact of the implementation of response measures in eight distinct areas, notably “Just transition of the workforce, and the creation of decent work and quality jobs”. This 2-year programme (2011-2013) will provide recommendations at the upcoming COP 19 Session in Warsaw in November, 2013.

The Climate Change Conference in Bonn also hosted the first Dialogue Forum on “Education, Training and Public awareness” for the effective implementation of adaptation and mitigation actions. This first Dialogue on 10-11 June 2013, discussed the challenges, opportunities, good practices, strategic approaches and long-term planning for climate change education amongst others.

The ILO presented its work in the area of skills for low carbon and climate resilient economies and highlighted country approaches in addressing emerging skill needs. As skill gaps will hamper the implementation and effectiveness of climate policies, three main policy recommendations were put forward by the ILO in terms of skills development: i) the need for public-private partnership between governments, training institutions, industry organisations and unions to create standing observatory bodies to assess skills changes and needs in the labour market; ii) core and technical skills for green jobs need to be mainstreamed into existing curricula and technical and vocational training and education institutions; and iii) policy coherence between climate and skills policies is crucial to avoid skills gaps and enable a smooth transition to low carbon and climate resilient economies.

The COP 18 in Doha 2012 adopted an 8-year work programme on Article 6 of the Convention, which precisely requires parties to promote education, training and public awareness. The programme’s mandate requests the Subsidiary Bodies to report on and promote, facilitate, develop and implement training policies and programmes at all levels.