Structure

Clean Energy Labour Council

Fostering dialogue between the IEA, stakeholders and the labour sector

A growing number of countries are setting increasingly ambitious goals to shift to clean energy, with significant implications for labour. IEA analysis estimates that the energy transition needed to reach net zero emissions will create 14 million new jobs in the realm of clean energy technologies, shift around 5 million workers away from fossil fuel sectors, and require additional skills and training for an estimated 30 million workers. However, these new jobs will not always be in the same places, suit the same workers or skillsets, or be of the same quality or remuneration.

In this context, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol in 2022 convened the IEA Clean Energy Labour Council to bring together representatives of the world’s most important national trade unions and trade union confederations, as well as prominent thinkers on the topic, to foster stronger dialogue between the IEA, its stakeholders and the labour sector.

The initiative aims to give a greater voice to the labour perspective in energy and climate policy discussions.

Co-chaired by Sharan Burrow, former General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, and Zingiswa Losi, President of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the Council aims to meet three to four times a year, as well as build ongoing discussions among parties on an ad hoc basis.

Members of the Labour Council met for the first time in March 2022. At their most recent meeting in February 2023, they discussed the labour dimension of Just Energy Transition Partnerships. 

IEA Clean Energy Labour Council Membership List:

  • Co-Chair: Sharan Burrow, Former General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
  • Co-Chair: Zingiswa Losi, President, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)
  • Pepe Alvarez, Secretary-General, Union General de Trabajadoras y Trabajadores (UGT)
  • Rhoda Boateng, Programme Coordinator, ITUC Africa​
  • Bea Bruske, President, Canadian Labour Congress (CLC)
  • Chandra Bhushan, President, International Forum for Environment, Sustainability and Technology, India
  • Plamen Dimitrov, President, Bulgarian Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CITUB)
  • Peggy Hessen Følsvik, First Deputy Leader, Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO Norway)
  • Carmen Foro, General Secretary, Unified Workers' Central (CUT Brazil)
  • Brad Markell, Executive Director, AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council
  • Frederik Moch, Head of Department for Structural Policy, Industry and Service, Federal Executive Board of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB)
  • Lebogang Mulaisi (COSATU Sherpa), Head of Policy Unit, COSATU 
  • Reema Nanavaty, Executive Director, Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA)
  • Muriel Penicaud, Former Ambassador at the Permanent Representative of France to the OECD, Former Minister of Labour, France
  • Elly Rosita Silaban, President, Confederation of All Indonesian Trade Unions (KSBSI)
  • Alison Tate (ITUC Sherpa), Director, Economic and Social Policy, ITUC
  • Laurence Tubiana, CEO, European Climate Foundation
  • Ayuba Wabba, President, ITUC and President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC)
  • Shoya Yoshida, General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation - Asia Pacific (ITUC-AP)
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