Social Europe

politics, economy and employment & labour

  • Themes
    • Strategic autonomy
    • War in Ukraine
    • European digital sphere
    • Recovery and resilience
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Dossiers
    • Occasional Papers
    • Research Essays
    • Brexit Paper Series
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Newsletter

Combating Covid-19 and climate change—one fight

Ludovic Voet 7th April 2020

The same socially oriented approach must be taken to defeat the coronavirus and, over the longer run, stop climate catastrophe.

climate change
Ludovic Voet

Covid-19 has revealed some unexpected things about humanity. One of them is that society can adapt rapidly to a common threat. It may not come easily and it requires much more anticipation, but we can do it. At the same time, the virus has dramatically highlighted only a fraction of the damaging consequences that climate change could have.

Many of the changes of recent weeks also point to how we might move towards a more sustainable way of living. Yet a few European Union leaders have used the crisis as an opportunity to suggest ditching the EU’s Green Deal and abandoning efforts to fight climate change, for example through the Emissions Trading System.

Mutually dependent

The European Trade Union Confederation fiercely rejects any idea that workers’ jobs can be saved in the long term by reviving outdated, polluting industries and practices. Good social and health protection, economic recovery and preserving the environment are the three mutually-dependent pillars that must form the foundation for EU action in the wake of Covid-19.

During this crisis, people have tended to put their faith in science—even more than in politicians. All the more reason to trust the science of climate change and listen to the calls for a radical, people-centred transition to a carbon-neutral economy.


Our job is keeping you informed!


Subscribe to our free newsletter and stay up to date with the latest Social Europe content. We will never send you spam and you can unsubscribe anytime.

Sign up here

The virus has demonstrated with brutal force how austerity has starved social security and health systems of resources, while employment policies have encouraged precarious work which leaves people even more vulnerable as the lockdown affects the economy. Governments have eventually been forced to recognise the need to protect workers—through salary support, paid sick leave and unemployment benefits, for example—and to invest in essential public services. The same approach is required to implement a fair and just transition to a green economy, avoiding massive job losses and damage to communities.

Greater investment

Measures which seemed utopian a month ago are now a reality. Huge amounts of money are being invested in saving EU economies, with the restrictions of the Stability and Growth Pact eased. Germany’s recovery plan matches the estimated expenditure on the entire Green Deal. So funds exist, and the same approach should secure even greater investment in a carbon-neutral economy, offering social protection and security to the workers and communities affected by decarbonisation.

Countries quick to respond have handled the virus more effectively. The same approach is needed for climate policies. The difference is that borders cannot be closed to counter climate change. The sooner we co-operate to act globally, the less society will suffer.

This crisis cannot be resolved bychannelling money into financial systems—unlike in 2008—or to shareholders. Aid must go directly and urgently to workers, communities and businesses, to save jobs. The same approachis needed to achieve a green transition. We cannot go back to ‘business as usual’. Recovery plans must not reinvest in dirty, polluting industries but promote well-paid jobs in sectors that reduce carbon emissions. Public money from taxpayers (including workers) must be invested in saving jobs and saving the planet.

Clear links

There are clearlinks between health and the environment. Many scientists agree that climate change and the loss of biodiversity can create the conditions for illnesses to spread. Long-term exposure to air pollution contributes to chronic lung and heart conditions that make viruses like Covid-19 even more dangerous. Rising temperatures could have a direct effect on the resilience of, for example, haemorrhagic fever and the Zika virus. Biodiversity can act as a buffer against the spread of pathogens, so acting today to protect the environment and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions will also protect us against potential health risks in the future.

The virus threat is not like the financial crisis, but if recovery plans do not include strong social and environmental policies we will have learned nothing from 2008. The world is experiencing a major decline in greenhouse-gas emissions, as then. Yet 12 years ago the post-crisis measures led to a decade of austerity, wage stagnation and a massive rise in emissions, accelerating climate change without any benefits for working people. This time, recovery measures must be socially and environmentally progressive.

The ETUC renews its demand for a socially fair and just transition to a sustainable, green economy. Covid-19 has shown how dependent the EU is on globalised supply chains—not only in health—and how it suffers from the lack of an effective industrial policy. The crisis has highlighted starkly the difficulties facing the weaker economies and the more energy-dependent regions, hampered by a lack of European solidarity.

The Green Deal is a good starting point. But without a massive investment plan to tackle the social consequences of Covid-19 and the transition towards a carbon-neutral economy it will never get off the ground.


We need your support


Social Europe is an independent publisher and we believe in freely available content. For this model to be sustainable, however, we depend on the solidarity of our readers. Become a Social Europe member for less than 5 Euro per month and help us produce more articles, podcasts and videos. Thank you very much for your support!

Become a Social Europe Member

Unprecedented constraints

To fight the virus and save lives, European populations have accepted unprecedented constraints on their everyday freedoms and way of life. This carries risks for democracy and cannot last indefinitely. In the long term, measures which are based on scientific recommendations yet lack the democratic consent of the public will not be accepted.

Equally, the challenge of climate change requires the large-scale engagement of populations. Governments cannot afford to escape democratic procedures and must ensure public consultation and the full involvement of such stakeholders as trade unions. A just social and environmental transition needs to secure trust among workers and communities. Without their support, climate-protection policies will fail.

Across Europe and around the world, thousands are dying in the most painful circumstances as a result of Covid-19. Society owes it to them to act on the evidence of experience and work urgently to create a fairer, more equal and greener future.

This column is sponsored by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).
World Day of Decent Work,platform companies, ETUC
Ludovic Voet

Ludovic Voet was elected confederal secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation in 2019.

You are here: Home / Economy / Combating Covid-19 and climate change—one fight

Most Popular Posts

Visentini,ITUC,Qatar,Fight Impunity,50,000 Visentini, ‘Fight Impunity’, the ITUC and QatarFrank Hoffer
Russian soldiers' mothers,war,Ukraine The Ukraine war and Russian soldiers’ mothersJennifer Mathers and Natasha Danilova
IGU,documents,International Gas Union,lobby,lobbying,sustainable finance taxonomy,green gas,EU,COP ‘Gaslighting’ Europe on fossil fuelsFaye Holder
Schengen,Fortress Europe,Romania,Bulgaria Romania and Bulgaria stuck in EU’s second tierMagdalena Ulceluse
income inequality,inequality,Gini,1 per cent,elephant chart,elephant Global income inequality: time to revise the elephantBranko Milanovic

Most Recent Posts

transition,deindustrialisation,degradation,environment Europe’s industry and the ecological transitionCharlotte Bez and Lorenzo Feltrin
central and eastern Europe,unions,recognition Social dialogue in central and eastern EuropeMartin Myant
women soldiers,Ukraine Ukraine war: attitudes changing to women soldiersJennifer Mathers and Anna Kvit
military secrets,World Trade Organization,WTO,NATO,intellectual-property rights Military secrets and the World Trade OrganizationUgo Pagano
energy transition,Europe,wind and solar Europe’s energy transition starts to speed upDave Jones

Other Social Europe Publications

front cover scaled Towards a social-democratic century?
Cover e1655225066994 National recovery and resilience plans
Untitled design The transatlantic relationship
Women Corona e1631700896969 500 Women and the coronavirus crisis
sere12 1 RE No. 12: Why No Economic Democracy in Sweden?

Eurofound advertisement

Eurofound webinar: Making telework work for everyone

Since 2020 more European workers and managers have enjoyed greater flexibility and autonomy in work and are reporting their preference for hybrid working. Also driven by technological developments and structural changes in employment, organisations are now integrating telework more permanently into their workplace.

To reflect on these shifts, on 6 December Eurofound researchers Oscar Vargas and John Hurley explored the challenges and opportunities of the surge in telework, as well as the overall growth of telework and teleworkable jobs in the EU and what this means for workers, managers, companies and policymakers.


WATCH THE WEBINAR HERE

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

Discover the new FEPS Progressive Yearbook and what 2023 has in store for us!

The Progressive Yearbook focuses on transversal European issues that have left a mark on 2022, delivering insightful future-oriented analysis for the new year. It counts on renowned authors' contributions, including academics, politicians and analysts. This fourth edition is published in a time of war and, therefore, it mostly looks at the conflict itself, the actors involved and the implications for Europe.


DOWNLOAD HERE

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

The macroeconomic effects of re-applying the EU fiscal rules

Against the background of the European Commission's reform plans for the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), this policy brief uses the macroeconometric multi-country model NiGEM to simulate the macroeconomic implications of the most relevant reform options from 2024 onwards. Next to a return to the existing and unreformed rules, the most prominent options include an expenditure rule linked to a debt anchor.

Our results for the euro area and its four biggest economies—France, Italy, Germany and Spain—indicate that returning to the rules of the SGP would lead to severe cuts in public spending, particularly if the SGP rules were interpreted as in the past. A more flexible interpretation would only somewhat ease the fiscal-adjustment burden. An expenditure rule along the lines of the European Fiscal Board would, however, not necessarily alleviate that burden in and of itself.

Our simulations show great care must be taken to specify the expenditure rule, such that fiscal consolidation is achieved in a growth-friendly way. Raising the debt ceiling to 90 per cent of gross domestic product and applying less demanding fiscal adjustments, as proposed by the IMK, would go a long way.


DOWNLOAD HERE

ILO advertisement

Global Wage Report 2022-23: The impact of inflation and COVID-19 on wages and purchasing power

The International Labour Organization's Global Wage Report is a key reference on wages and wage inequality for the academic community and policy-makers around the world.

This eighth edition of the report, The Impact of inflation and COVID-19 on wages and purchasing power, examines the evolution of real wages, giving a unique picture of wage trends globally and by region. The report includes evidence on how wages have evolved through the COVID-19 crisis as well as how the current inflationary context is biting into real wage growth in most regions of the world. The report shows that for the first time in the 21st century real wage growth has fallen to negative values while, at the same time, the gap between real productivity growth and real wage growth continues to widen.

The report analysis the evolution of the real total wage bill from 2019 to 2022 to show how its different components—employment, nominal wages and inflation—have changed during the COVID-19 crisis and, more recently, during the cost-of-living crisis. The decomposition of the total wage bill, and its evolution, is shown for all wage employees and distinguishes between women and men. The report also looks at changes in wage inequality and the gender pay gap to reveal how COVID-19 may have contributed to increasing income inequality in different regions of the world. Together, the empirical evidence in the report becomes the backbone of a policy discussion that could play a key role in a human-centred recovery from the different ongoing crises.


DOWNLOAD HERE

ETUI advertisement

Social policy in the European Union: state of play 2022

Since 2000, the annual Bilan social volume has been analysing the state of play of social policy in the European Union during the preceding year, the better to forecast developments in the new one. Co-produced by the European Social Observatory (OSE) and the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), the new edition is no exception. In the context of multiple crises, the authors find that social policies gained in ambition in 2022. At the same time, the new EU economic framework, expected for 2023, should be made compatible with achieving the EU’s social and ‘green’ objectives. Finally, they raise the question whether the EU Social Imbalances Procedure and Open Strategic Autonomy paradigm could provide windows of opportunity to sustain the EU’s social ambition in the long run.


DOWNLOAD HERE

About Social Europe

Our Mission

Article Submission

Membership

Advertisements

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641

Social Europe Archives

Search Social Europe

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Follow us

RSS Feed

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow us on YouTube