Fighting climate change would create 18 million jobs
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions could generate four times more jobs in the world than it would destroy.
THE WORLD | 14.05.2018 to 18h06 • Updated 15.05.2018 to 09h49 | By Rémi Barroux
The creation of 2,5 million posts for the renewable would more than offset the destruction of 400 000 jobs in the fossil.
Creating 18 million jobs worldwide, that's what the fight to reduce CO2 emissions could do - to contain global warming below 2 ° C, as advocated by the Paris agreement 12 December 2015 .
In the report "Employment and social issues in the world 2018: a green economy and job creation", released Monday 14 May evening, the International Labor Organization (ILO) has made an estimate of losses and creations of employment induced by this evolution of the economy, which it considers inescapable. It considers that this could result in 24 million new posts while 6 million would disappear; the balance induced by the generalization of the green transition would therefore be 18 million by 2030.
The only UN tripartite agency - comprising representatives of the governments, employers and employees of 187 Member States - had already worked in the past on the issue of green jobs and decent work. In 2013, at the International Labor Conference, held every July in Geneva, she produced a report stating "net gains in additional jobs, between 2010 and 2030, 0,5% to 2%" .
Catherine Saget, an ILO economist and lead author of the report released on Monday, warns that "this is not a question of counting future green jobs, but of looking at gains and losses in all sectors affected by change in the economy ". The ILO estimates that "action to limit global warming at 2 ° C will result in sufficient job creation to largely offset the six million job cuts elsewhere."
Earnings in America, Asia and Europe, loss in Africa
Net income is concentrated in the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, and Europe, with three million, 14 million and 12 million jobs, respectively. In contrast, the Middle East and Africa would lose respectively about 300 000 and 350 000 (ie - 0,48% and - 0,04% of the total in each of the two regions of the world), "because of their dependence on , respectively, fossil fuels and mines, "says the ILO.
Of the 163 economic sectors studied, only fourteen will suffer deletions of more than ten thousand jobs worldwide. Oil extraction and refining would show losses of over one million jobs. In the electricity sector, the creation of 2,5 million posts for renewable energy would more than offset the destruction of 400 000 jobs in fossil fuel-based production.
The circular economy, with recycling, sorting, repairing, renting and reusing objects, would generate six million jobs. In these areas, the ILO also emphasizes the need to ensure the quality of work, which is often precarious, dangerous and lacks social protection in informal sectors.
Strengthen training and social protections
More difficult to quantify, the rise of organic agriculture and conservation agriculture (which allows to maintain and increase the agronomic potential of soils by limiting inputs, for example, and by organizing crop rotations) should also make it possible to hire more people. In Europe, agricultural employment has increased by 1,1% with organic conversions. "The shift to more sustainable farming systems would create jobs in medium and large-scale organic farms and enable smallholders to diversify their sources of income, especially if farmers have the right skills," the report's authors write.
To limit the negative impacts and short-term staff reductions induced by climate measures, it is imperative, the ILO insists, to develop "appropriate policies", particularly with regard to workers' incomes, enhanced social insurance. and training necessary to accompany the transformation of the economy.
Many examples of possible aid are presented in this report, such as the setting up, in Kenya, of a system that organizes cash transfers, in the order of 50 dollars (42 euros) every two months, paid 25% of families in case of drought. Or the Bolsa verde program, created in Brazil in 2011, which promotes the preservation of the environment by increasing the income level of families living in extreme poverty. These must carry out activities such as the sustainable use of natural resources or the maintenance of forest extension.
Positive balance in construction and services
"Low-income countries and some middle-income countries still need support to develop data collection, adopt and fund strategies for a just transition to an environmentally sustainable economy and a society that includes each and every one, in all strata of society, "stresses Catherine Saget.
Countries with developed economies are not forgotten. In France, the international organization estimates that approximately 2,1 million posts (representing 8% of total employment) "directly depend on the effective management and sustainability of a healthy environment". In the energy field, losses could reach some 42 000 jobs, offset by the creation of 155 000 others. The sectors with a positive balance are construction (86 500), manufacturing (33 400) and services (32 000).
At the global level, the UN agency is also studying the negative impacts of climate change on the economy. In the area of agriculture, warming results in depletion and dry economic losses. The report's authors estimate that "heat stress will cause a worldwide loss of 2% of hours worked by 2030 due to illness." An additional argument for the ILO that pushes states to develop business models consistent with the climate ambition displayed in 2015 and the standards it advocates for decent work.
Source: http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2 ... _3244.html
