Labour Law and Climate Change: Towards a Just Transition

Although the existential threat of climate change has at last been generally acknowledged, its influence on the labour market and the regulation of labour relations remains ambivalent at best. This supremely important volume, with contributions by thirteen prominent labour law practitioners and academics, shows how labour law not only can but absolutely must assume a greater role in the debate on the climate crisis and move towards a new eco-friendly labour paradigm.

Committed to the proposition that employment must come to terms with the natural environment and open a new chapter in the relationship between human work and the Earth, the authors examine critical issues and perspectives on the role of labour law in a just ecological transition, focusing on such aspects as the following:

• negative externalities associated with the value chains production model;

• (in)effectiveness of corporate social responsibility and sustainability initiatives;

• protection of human rights from violations attributable to private sector activities;

• protection of whistleblowers;

• need for professional training in new occupations;

• environmental migrants;

• reskilling and active inclusion of workers and jobseekers;

• role of remote work and flexible working time; and

• evaluation and reward of employees.

The impact of the green transition on industrial activities is already creating strong tensions among the social parties, leading inevitably to massive restructuring of enterprises and relocation of thousands of workers. This detailed analysis of the implications of climate change for the labour contract and the industrial relations system provides appropriate tools to understand trends and possible solutions for the future. It will be welcomed by managers, consultants, corporate lawyers, judges, human rights experts, trade unionists, researchers, and professors placed at the nexus of labour, industrial relations, and social rights in Europe and worldwide.

Adalberto Perulli is a Full Professor of Labour Law at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and Visiting Professor at the University of Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense since 2000. He is the Director of a First Level Master in Global Economics and Social Affairs and Scientific Director of a First Level Master in Labour Law at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. He did research and studies for the European Commission and for the International Labour Organization (ILO) of Geneva. Prof. Perulli has been rapporteur to the XVIII World Congress of Labour Law on ‘Labour Law and productive decentralization’ in Paris, in 2006; he is Master EMA Director at EIUC (European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation). Tiziano Treu is a Professor Emeritus of Labour Law at the Catholic University of Milan, Law School, and former President of CNEL (National Council for Economics and Labour). Previously he has been President of the Italian Association of Labour Law and Social Security and the International Society of Labour and Social Security Law (ISLSSL). During his political experience Prof. Treu has been Minister of Transportation and Minister of Labour and Social Security in the Italian Government, and more recently President of the XI Commission (Labour and Welfare) of the Italian Senate.