Motion no: 25
Conference notes that the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement can only be realised by way of a Just Transition that ensures:
“...workers, communities, employers and Government (engage) in social dialogue to drive the concrete plans, policies and investments needed for a fast and fair transformation to
a low carbon economy and to ensure that employment jobs in the new economy are as decent and as well-paid as those left behind.”
The Paris Climate Agreement makes climate action a binding international obligation for
the Irish Government and demands that the principles and ethos of Just Transition underpin the official, policy response.
To meet these targets the Irish Government must raise its ambition and ensure investment in jobs, communities and Just Transition. Lives and livelihoods are being lost to climate change and a world with a temperature increase of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius will be unsafe and unsustainable for all.
Conference welcomes the work of Congress
in highlighting these issues in the context of
the report produced in conjunction with NERI, on Bord na Móna and Just Transition. The report highlights specific recommendations on investment in green energy initiatives and other areas, to ensure replacement jobs are created, new opportunities are developed and the workers and communities of the Midlands are not disadvantaged by the transition. The case of Bord na Móna is a litmus test of official capacity to deliver a Just Transition and a failure to do
so will make the move to a low carbon economy more difficult.
Social dialogue and collective bargaining must be central to the transition to a carbon free world, as set out in the Paris Agreement.
Conference therefore calls upon the Government to:
• undertake long awaited impact assessments on the distribution of costs and benefits of climate change and energy transition policy measures in the context of drawing up our national Integrated Energy & Climate Action Plan, due to be submitted to the European Commission by end of this year;
• establish a Just Transition Commission that ensures all relevant voices are heard and included;
• ensure that any increase in the carbon tax is progressive and mitigates the impact on those with lowest incomes.
Proposer: Executive Council
Vote Result: Adopted
