ILO Director-General outlines ILO role in new 'Green Jobs Initiative'

25 Sep '07

3 min read

As global leaders gather in New York this week under the leadership of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to breathe new life into international efforts to tackle climate change and other environmental issues, the ILO is presenting a plan aimed at meeting the climate challenge in the world of work.

ILO Director-General Juan Somavia explains the role of the ILO in this process and outlines a new plan for a “Green Jobs Initiative” that will promote environmentally sustainable development and make sure workplace issues are part of the debate. ILO Online reports.

ILO Online: How is climate change affecting workplaces around the world?
Juan Somavia: The world of work is sensitive to changes in the environment. As climate change sweeps across the globe, governments, workers and employers are facing its incremental effects as well as searching for solutions to offset them. The inconvenient truth is that production and work consumes energy and other resources and leaves behind waste and greenhouse gases at a rate dangerous for our planet and our health. Addressing the threat of climate change will entail a transition to new patterns of production, consumption and employment.

ILO Online: What is the significance of this new effort to push the climate change issue?
Juan Somavia: The decisions of the summits in Rio in 1992, Johannesburg in 2002 and the Kyoto Agreements have built a framework for action. The event here in New York will seek to facilitate an exchange of views between governments on this global challenge and to galvanize political will for the upcoming United Nations climate change conference in Bali in December.

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