A Just Transition based on social justice, and labour rights

A Just Transition based on social justice, and labour rights

PSI General Secretary, Rosa Pavanelli, took the floor at the UN High Level Political Forum during the review of SDG 7 Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

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SDG 7 - on behalf of Public Services International, Major Group of Workers and Trade Unions

In modern societies, our social and private lives depend on reliable and affordable energy services.

Yet more than 1 billion people still lack access, and many hundreds of millions more have only unreliable and unaffordable access.  Among those, women are the most affected as energy supply is not gender neutral.

We must ensure universal energy access by 2030, and we must decarbonise energy production. 

The current market-based approaches are not providing the answer. 

We have seen too many Independent Power Producers use their legally-binding Power Purchase Agreements to drain tax-payers’ money for their shareholders.  The IPP-PPA model proves to be a disgrace for too many communities. 

While innovative and blended finance, financialisation, and more PPPs will likely make the finance sector happy, these proposals will not reach those most in need. 

There are too many examples of failures of the privatisation and financialisation models and this is why we believe that to achieve SDG7, we cannot continue with business as usual.

For the future of people and planet, we must be bold and daring:

To leave fossil fuels in the ground.

To harness research and technology for the needs of the poorest people, not just corporate profits. But we need more than technological fixes.

We need :

- Strong public policies and governance, with the participation of users and workers for quality public service to defend our common interests and meet our collective needs.
- To address the inequality of the global tax system to make all pay their fair share.
- To protect the workers and communities that will suffer the worst dislocations as we move to a low-carbon planet. A Just Transition based on social justice, and labour rights. 

Energy services are too important to be left to the market.
We must put people and planet over profit. 

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