ETUI conference
Tuesday 10 September 2019, 13.00-16.30

Climate change policies and social sustainability: a new impetus for Social Europe?

13.00 – 14.30: Towards a greener future: employment and social impacts of climate change policies – presentation of Chapter 5 of the 2019 edition of the Employment and Social Developments in Europe (ESDE) report

Speakers: Katarina Jaksic, Endre Gyorgy and Frank Siebern-Thomas, Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion DG, European Commission

Comments: Béla Galgóczi, ETUI Senior Researcher

14.30 – 15.00: Coffee break

15.00 – 16.30: Mainstreaming social policies: a realistic aspiration?
Roundtable discussion with Ludovic Voet, ETUC Confederal Secretary, Lene Olsen, ILO (TBC), Xavier Timbeau, OFCE, Erica Hope, European Climate Foundation (TBC)

Moderator: Philippe Pochet, ETUI General Director

Briefing: This year’s edition of the European Commission’s flagship analytical report on employment and social affairs, the Employment and Social Developments in Europe (ESDE) review is dedicated to the theme of sustainability, with a particular focus on its social dimension. The report, published at the beginning of July, discusses what policies can contribute to transitioning to a climate-neutral economy while at the same time ensuring a just transition that leaves nobody behind. ETUI research on sustainability has always put the focus on a fair ‘burden sharing’ across all dimensions, from climate and environmental justice, to managing job transitions, to job quality and equity in a zero-carbon world. So far, however, climate policy and just transition have not been at the centre of the EU policy debate. The President-elect of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen has placed both issues high on her agenda but without making the link between them explicit.

This conference aims at discussing the ESDE report (and more particularly Chapter 5: ‘Towards a greener future: employment and social impacts of climate change policies’) and its potential to make social considerations central to all European policies shaping the necessary transition to a more sustainable society.

Light lunch will be provided on the same floor from 12h on.

Participation is free of charge but please register here

Venue: ITUH, Bd du Roi Albert II, 5; 1210 Brussels, Auditorium