Responding to climate change is one of the most important challenges of our century, in which the shift to greener and more sustainable modes of production and consumption will play a key role. Some labour lawyers have begun to examine the utility of the concept of “just transition” for mapping the intersection of labour and environmental law. In this context, climate change policies open new debates regarding the transformation of the European labour law. The Directive 2009/28/EC marked a turning point in the European Union labour rights transformation from a sustainable perspective, including the core elements of decent work.

European policy setting and regulatory bodies have begun to explore the implications of this shift for work systems and the structure of local labour markets, but their main focus has been the development of “green jobs” and “green skills” to promote sustainable growth. The European Commission has predicted that 240,000 additional green jobs will be created by 2020, but also noted the risks associated with structural changes, including gender issues.

The proposed panel will feature papers based on ideas originating from an exploratory, interdisciplinary seminar, held at the Warwick Law School (UK) in September 2016. The panel participants will discuss the following questions: 1) how the adoption of a broad ecological perspective, or one that is grounded in a notion of long-term sustainability challenges labour law frameworks, and 2) whether European labour regulations can play a role in facilitating the development of a more socially cohesive, egalitarian, and ecologically sustainable Europe.