Just transition and social justice were the focus of the high-level event of the Spanish presidency with the participation of the ILO

MADRID (ILO News) - The event was attended by the Vice-President of the Government of Spain and Minister of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, her counterparts from other EU countries, the European Commission's Executive Vice-President for the European Green Pact, Maroš Šefčovič, secretaries of state from member states and representatives of the Spanish Just Transition Institute, as well as trade union and employer members and administrations from the areas affected by just transition agreements in Spain. The ILO office for Spain also participated in the event.

Just transition

The director of the ILO office for Spain, Félix Peinado, participated as moderator at the table of the social partners and representatives of the ministry and the administrations of the Spanish areas affected by the just transition agreements.

During his intervention, he recalled the importance of a just transition towards the greening of the economy, indicating that for the International Labour Organisation (ILO), as in any transition, there will be people who lose their jobs and therefore, training is key to relocate the workers affected to other jobs, as well as the need to strengthen social protection systems.

The ILO has drawn up guidelines on just and environmentally sustainable social transitions that have been endorsed by resolution at this year's International Labour Conference. Félix Peinado, recalled how Spain is for the ILO a global example in terms of just transition, "Spain was one of the first countries to adopt the guidelines for just transitions and reached an agreement with the ILO for their development (...). Spain is currently co-chairing the ILO's climate actions for Jobs initiative, which aims to get more and more countries to join the Just Transition towards greening the economy".

The representative of the Spanish Just Transition Institute highlighted how the ILO's work on just transition is the guide for Spain's actions, which has led to agreements such as the one on coal mining in the country, in which a commitment was made to employment and aid for workers affected by the closure of coal mines in the country, and which has led to 90% of those affected workers currently being employed.

For their part, the social partners and public administrations have emphasised the need to continue to make progress through social dialogue, in a social plan in which training and requalification are key to promoting the affected areas and continuing to create green jobs, giving as an example the project to create the internal combustion hydrogen train in Spain.

Gender perspective

The conference also addressed the perspective of women in green jobs, a sector in which they are under-represented in the EU, as only one fifth of these jobs are occupied by women.

For this reason, the focus was placed on the need to address the gender perspective in all policies that are carried out both to close the gap in the area of work-life balance and to stimulate the representation of women in decision-making, as well as to break down the barriers to employment that women over 52 years of age in particular face. In this sense, the need to continue cooperating at international level with the ILO to reaffirm the commitment to gender equality was highlighted, giving as an example the video produced by ILO VOICES on Cristina Carro, a woman affected by the closure of the coal mines and in which women are put at the centre of the just transition.

To advance equality in employment, Spain has announced during the high-level event its adherence to the Equal by 30 campaign, which works to accelerate gender equality and diversity in clean energy transitions aiming to close the gender gap by 2030. It is a joint initiative of the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) and the International Energy Agency (IEA).