Labor & Employment Law

Climate Change Talks: Compromise, Consensus and Solidarity in Cancun

By admin

AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council Director Bob Baugh was a member of a global union delegation led by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) attending the new round of United Nations climate change negotiations in Cancun, Mexico. This is the last of a series of blogs on the talks. Read the other blogs here, here and here.

As the climate change talks wrapped up last Friday, the two weeks of hard work by trade union members paid off when negotiators included language calling for a “just transition” to a cleaner environment in the final version of the long-term cooperative agreement (LCA) text that the various governments would discuss. A just transition to a green economy means workers would have the right to a voice in their workplace, the freedom to form unions and bargain collectively and access to training on the latest technology.

Earlier in the day, ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow put it on the line:

Governments must raise their sights. We expect ambitious targets, we expect fair climate financing for the most vulnerable nations, we expect a deal on REDD [Reducing Emssions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation], we expect a commitment to transparency and we demand the respect for workers which requires the commitments of all governments to a just transition.

In a process many feared would fail, governments rose to the challenge. Our just transition and stakeholder language was mentioned in three sections of the agreement text and the LCA also recognized that ?[Governments] should, in all climate change-related actions, fully respect human rights.?  

The balanced approach sought by the United States  and other governments was achieved.  The basics of the Copenhagen Accord such as the commitments for action and measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) were incorporated into the latest agreement. A compromise was reached on the thorny issue of how the least developed nations would finance the shift to new technology needed to implement the new climate change agreements.  A new Green Fund will be created, overseen by a balanced advisory group of nations and administered by the World Bank.  The bank’s  role is subject to a three year review. 

There is a general consensus on forming technology research centers and linking technology expertise. The item that had been closest to resolution going into Cancun, forestry and deforestation, reached a conclusion although there are financing issues that need to be resolved.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on December 16, 2010 (boomark / email).