A first European plan for the creation of green jobs and the “greening” of the economy
On the occasion of the first ever ministerial conference on "green jobs", Deputy Prime Minister Joëlle Milquet and European Commissioner László Andor have launched the proposal for a first European plan for the creation of jobs in the "green" sectors and for the "greening" of the economy and the labour market.
Objective of the Belgian Presidency: adoption of conclusions laying out a major Commission initiative, in 2011, to establish the principles and methodology for a plan to create green jobs and thereby ensure the greening of the economy.
The Belgian Presidency will promote the adoption by the December 2010 EPSCO Council of the conclusions that have just been submitted to the 27 Member States for discussion. The European Commission will then be asked to use these conclusions to establish, in 2011, the principles and a methodology of a plan to create green jobs and to ensure the greening of the economy.
In order to advance its work on the theme of "employment policies to promote transition to a low carbon emission economy" and to prepare a series of recommendations and green job indicators, the Belgian Presidency has asked EMCO (the Employment Committee) to deliver an opinion. The European Economic and Social Committee has also been asked for an opinion. These various initiatives, as well as the face-to-face exchanges that will take place during this ministerial conference, should lead to adoption of the conclusions by the EPSCO Council.
According to Joëlle Milquet the following measures should be undertaken:
1. A new methodology must be developed:
- Member States should be encouraged to establish complementary objectives regarding green jobs;
- They should adopt the green employment benchmarks established by the Employment Committee (EMCO) at the request of the Belgian Presidency.
- The exchange of good practices between Member States in the area of green job creation should be promoted ;
- The use of European funds (European Social Fund and European Globalisation Adjustment Fund) to support the transition towards a green economy and to ensure the availability of qualified workers should be taken into account ;
- The social partners should be involved and the social dialogue reinforced as the partners could fundamentally contribute to a successful transition to green jobs by creating awareness of the challenges to be met, by disseminating good practices, and by ensuring that job quality and working conditions are maintained in these new sectors.
2. Instruments should be developed to enable the necessary green growth skills and qualifications to be anticipated; the ‘New Skills for New Jobs’ dictionary, which the European Commission is currently drafting ( an ESCO initiative), should specifically identify the skills required for green jobs and appropriate training developed. (current generic skills and new green skills). the role of the training institutions and training providers for the unemployed should be adjusted and reinforced to fulfil demand for these new green growth skills; the relevant state employment services should identify and analyse labour market deficiencies and provide information and guidance regarding the new, green fields;
3. New green job health and safety risks should be identified as part of the "Community Strategy 2007-2012 on health and safety at work" ;
4. The SME’s should be supported by reinforcing and promoting the toolkit (for environmental assistance introduced by the European Commission in 2007), so the SME’s may improve their capacity to face the environmental challenges ;
5. The establishment of sectorial councils with European competence (a initiative by a platform that includes the social partners, training providers, PES, etc.) should be supported. Its objective is to identify the evolution of qualification needs and jobs in all sectors, so that suitable measures may be taken.
6. Instruments should be developed that may contribute to the lowering of energy consumption in the workplace and to reducing the ecological footprint of companies and workers: in particular commuting and the use of information and communication technologies;
7. All employment field stakeholders should be made aware of the greening of the labour markets and the promotion of green jobs: public employment services, local, regional and national authorities, training providers, etc. ;
8. The European Commission should be asked to launch a new consultation between the social partners in order to develop a European framework to anticipate and manage restructuring in a socially responsible way, and to take into account the transition towards a low carbon economy.
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