The social and decent work dimensions of a new Agreement on Climate Change

The technical brief highlights the close inter-linkages between climate change and the world of work and discusses entry points for promoting policy coherence between climate and social and labour policies. The significant impact of climate change on development, on production and consumption patterns and thus on enterprises, labour markets and workers is increasingly recognized. Similarly, it is becoming clear that in order to succeed, measures to protect the climate and to adapt to climate change will require active support and engagement of millions of employers and workers. These insights about the inter-relations have yet to translate into more coherent policies. This is particularly true for the new global agreement on climate which does not sufficiently reflect the social dimensions of climate change, of measures to adapt and to prevent dangerous climate change. This technical brief identifies the most relevant issues for policy coherence and ways in which this gap could be bridged.