Articles

Green jobs in construction: Small changes – big effect

01 December 2010

Construction was the first specific sector of the economy to be addressed in the ILO’s Green Jobs Initiative. The sector is responsible for 25-40 per cent of global energy use, and 30–40 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Andrew Bibby, a London-based journalist, reports from the suburb of Khayelitsha, Cape Town’s largest informal settlement, where the Kuyasa Initiative has targeted 2,000 homes for basic energy-saving measures, creating jobs at the same time.

From shipyard to renewable energy centre: Tomorrow’s jobs will be green

01 August 2010

The following article shows that – with resources and imagination – ways can be found to meet the twin challenges currently facing the world: the need to move towards an economy based on a much lower carbon footprint whilst at the same time bringing the world out of its present recession and finding employment. Andrew Bibby, a British journalist, reports from Odense, Denmark.

Promoting safe and healthy jobs: The ILO Global Programme on Safety, Health and the Environment (Safework)

01 August 2008

The adoption in 2006 of a far-reaching ILO Convention (No. 187) and Recommendation (No. 197) concerning the Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health provides a key tool in the struggle to meet the challenges of OSH in today’s fast-paced, globalized economy. In this article Dr. Sameera Al-Tuwaijri, Director of the ILO Safework Programme, describes these challenges and how the ILO is responding to them.

Talking weather: Trade unions and climate change

07 August 2007

It's been a way of breaking the ice – but now it's time for real discussions and bargaining to find solutions to save not only the tops of the icebergs, but the whole planet. In order not to be a drop in the ocean the ILO needs to strengthen its capacity to address the issue of climate change and assist its constituents with the transition processes in relation to changes in jobs and qualifications. Lene Olsen of the ILO Bureau for Workers' Activities reports.