Mining union wants more efforts to unleash energy transition's job potentials
Clean Energy Wire
German industrial trade union IG BCE is calling for greater innovation and investment in an effort to turn the country’s energy transition into a job-creating engine for Germany. "This government has to risk more transformation," said IG BCE President Michael Vassiliadis. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s recently formed “climate cabinet,” set up to devise policy to cut CO2 emissions, needs to focus more on support rather than demands in order to trigger a modernisation push in the country, Vassiliadis added. He warned that by 2050, the decline in employment in the energy and energy-intensive sectors would be relatively greater than that in all other economic sectors. A concerted political, economic and social effort is now needed to transform Germany into the technological leader of the transition, otherwise a great deal of “good industrial work will be lost”, Vassiliadis stressed. The energy transition will only succeed if it presents new perspectives for both the economy and the public and not simply perceived as a job killer, he added. IG BCE represents a number of industrial sectors, including mining, chemicals, energy, plastics and mineral oil and gas.
From solar-panel cleaners to housing-insulation specialists and wind-turbine climbers, Germany's move to a low-carbon economy powered by renewable energy sources is shaping new businesses and the jobs market, but also leads to turmoil in whole industry sectors.
