Climate Justice and Trade Unions in Global Perspective
Language: English and French
A major challenge is that social inequality is at the same time a cause for and an effect of the climate crisis and global warming. At a global level the richest 10 % of the world’s population is responsible for more than half of the carbon emissions. At national level similar inequalities exist between elite minorities and everyone else. At the same time, the poorest countries are particularly affected by global warming. In many places, trade unions are engaged in developing strategies to ensure an inclusive and socially just design of climate-related structural change.
This regular session will discuss concepts of climate justice as well as policies, initiatives and strategies by labour unions worldwide. It investigates the emergence of key ideas, debates and strategies in the trade union movement in a variety of economic, institutional and climate policy frameworks. Key research questions include:
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How do labour unions perceive the challenges of climate change and decarbonisation?
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How do they interact and build coalitions with other actors, e.g. environmental NGOs?
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What associated visions of a just and sustainable future have they developed?
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How do these concepts and initiatives relate to governments’ efforts to achieve climate neutrality?
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How do labour policy actors participate in shaping structural change?
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Which influencing factors shape the strategies of labour policy actors?
See more of: Research Committees