Supporting regions in the just transition: Role of social partners

In the EU, regions that are carbon intensive or where most of employment depends on fossil fuels are more affected by the transition to climate neutrality. Territorial just transition plans have been designed to protect these vulnerable regions by addressing the socioeconomic and environmental challenges brought by the green transition. Social partners are among the many actors contributing to shaping these regional plans.

At regional level, representatives of trade unions and employer organisations participate less in the design phase of the territorial just transition plans as countries tend to put more emphasis on consultation with peak-level and sectoral organisations. Considering that these plans mainly impact regions, it will be critical to promote the wider participation of social partners at regional level in the governance structure of the plans.

Social partners across Member States have provided vital input to the territorial just transition plans, focusing primarily on employment, including availability of jobs for displaced workers, mobility, job quality, investments in reskilling and upskilling, and regional development issues, such as subsidies and support for businesses, investments in digitalisation and creating a circular economy. While social partners in some countries indicated that their positions were taken on board, others were not entirely clear and, in a few countries, social partners felt that their proposals were not seriously considered.

Social dialogue and collective bargaining on just transition topics have taken place in some Member States but are not widespread. Sectoral collective agreements that include just transition elements were identified in only five Member States and the majority of the identified collective agreements were agreed at company level, with some concluded at cross-sectoral level. The topics covered by collective agreements at sectoral and cross-sectoral levels focus mainly on the reskilling and upskilling of workers and the monitoring of changes triggered by the digital and green transitions. Company level collective agreements also include social clauses that focus on restructuring processes linked to the green transition.

Overall, social partners are supportive of the EU’s climate neutrality objectives and have an essential role to play in partnerships for the transformation of regions and the just transition. However, findings show that some social partners, particularly in countries where social dialogue structures are rather weak, lack the capacity to meaningfully engage in the policy process, highlighting the importance of capacity building in dealing with the just transition.