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Green Delegates Guide for Europe - update #2

Issue date

Green Delegates Guide for Europe - update #2

19 April 2012.

UK Steering Group 20 March 2012.

Following on from the first steering group meeting of the project partners in January, a second draft of the green delegates guide was circulated in early March with the intention of putting the material to the test with a group(s) of green delegates/reps in each of the partner countries.

Although much more detailed than the first version, the second draft is still far from the finished article. The decision was therefore taken to circulate the guide to the UK steering group (which includes members of the Trade Union Sustainable Development Advisory Committee (TUSDAC) working group) for discussion on 20 March. Their comments were fed in to the UK's response.

This was shared electronically with all project partners prior to the second meeting and was well supported.

Second international steering group 3-5 April 2012.

The project partners met for a second time at CISL's national study centre in early April to discuss the second draft of the guide and also to hear from specialists in a number of areas relating to European policy and sustainable development.

The first day was dedicated to working through the guide chapter by chapter. This meant there was time for suggestions to be heard and proposals talked through. It was agreed the introduction will set the context of where we are now and make reference to the economic and financial crises along with the environmental crisis. The guide will conclude by setting out firm proposals and recommendations for alternatives to the crises. The chapters will be reordered so the guide flows smoothly and there will be a balance between setting out the principles for action and practical examples. By the end of the day there was broad consensus that the guide is shaping up to be a very useful tool for European trade union reps.

The second and third days were given over to a series of presentations:

Judith Kirton-Darling from the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) on pushing for a new sustainable deal for Europe.

Philip Pearson, TUC senior policy officer on work of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in campaigning for a fair, ambitious and binding UN treaty on climate change.

Other presentations included:

information from the Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) which monitors environmental information collected from international organisations

a run through of the commitments of United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) companies for the EU 2020 growth strategy

the position of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Alessandra Galosi of ISPRA was particularly helpful in setting out the current state of the environment in Europe. She concluded that whilst EU policy has improved, with many of the member states on target to meet the 20:20:20 targets, there are still a number of issues to be addressed, including loss of biodiversity, waste being sent to landfill and air pollution to name a few.

Professor Marco Frey, an Italian environmental economist, gave a detailed presentation on the UNGC, a practical framework for the development, implementation, and disclosure of sustainability policies and practices for the private sector. At present, over 8,700 companies have signed up to the Compact and its ten principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, making it the largest voluntary corporate responsibility initiative in the world. With signatories committed to posting an annual Communication on Progress (COP), trade unions are well placed to be prime players on quality control. If a company is found to be in breach of the Compact they are thrown out.

Aldo Ravazzi set out the OECD contribution to environmental economics and the European debate, drawing on information from a review of environmental strategy since 2000. Aldo's comments echoed those of Alessandra citing progress in areas such as scientific and economic understanding, more active participation, the beginnings of an international carbon market and strengthened environmental governance. Despite all this, overall results fall short of what is needed. The energy mix is still too reliant on fossil fuels, there are irreversible changes to ecosystems, the frequency and severity of droughts and floods are increasing and the population is growing. In order to avoid catastrophic climate change the OECD are calling for green growth strategies to be implemented within the next few years.

Next steps

The Italian partners will now produce a third draft of the guide incorporating the changes discussed and drawing on the information provided in the presentations. This will be circulated to the UK steering group for comments before the project partners meet for a final time at the end of May.

This project is supported by the European Commission.

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