Labour delegation to champion a just transition to a green economy at Paris Climate Change Summit

The Canadian Labour Congress is leading a 35-member delegation of public and private sector union representatives at the COP21 meetings on climate change in Paris next week.

“We will work to ensure the negotiated text contains ambitious emission reduction targets and the ratcheting up mechanism that the previous Canadian government worked so hard to stonewall,” said CLC president Hassan Yussuff.

“We will also be making sure the negotiated text contains an explicit commitment to a Just Transition that ensures workers and communities get the support they need as high-carbon industries are transformed,” he added.

Earlier this year, unions, employers and governments worked together at the International Labour Organization to outline criteria for realizing a Just Transition. That criteria was formally adopted by the ILO’s governing body earlier this month.

The CLC is partnering with the Climate Action Network to host a forum at the summit on December 3, where federal government, provincial premiers and mayors will be invited to discuss Just Transition strategies that help meet targets, provide training, support workers and create good green jobs.

“We want to discuss how unions, employers and governments can collaborate on a Just Transition strategy that would support workers, create one million climate jobs in Canada in five years and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by a third in a decade,” said Yussuff

“We hope that for the first time in a decade we can leave this summit feeling proud and optimistic about the role Canada will play in the crucial fight to reverse climate change and preserve our planet for future generations,” he added.

The CLC/CAN forum will be held from 5:30 to 7:15 p.m. on Thursday, December 3 in Salle (Room) 6, Espace “Générations Climat” at the Parc des Expositions in Le Bourget.

Contact:    Kerry Pither
Cell: 613-294-2203
Email: kpither@clc-ctc.ca