25 March 2009
AWU National Secretary Paul Howes and Community Union (UK) General Secretary Michael Leahy joint opinion piece written for The Australian on 25 March 2009.
As 20 world leaders prepare for a summit to deal with pollution of the world's financial markets, 10 global steel trade unions, under the banner of the International Metalworkers' Federation, are in Sydney to deal with a potentially larger environmental disater caused by the looming failure to make an all-encompassing international agreement. These unions represent more than seven million steelworkers and they want G20 participants to get real on steelworkers' jobs and climate change.
Steel unions have called for an international response to the propaganda of a green economy and green jobs, and the spin that the way to achieve this is to punish energy-intensive traditional industries such as steel. Any international agreement to reduce carbon emissions must avoid unfair trade conditions and guarantee a level playing field.
In our view the G20 should provide significant financial support for research and development in breakthrough technologies such as carbon capture and storage, and clean coal.
These technologies could potentially reduce CO2 emissions in steel production by more than 50 per cent.
Our unions, from 10 leading steel-producing nations, have called on the G20 governments to recognise the opportunities that steel provides to support the transition to a lower-carbon world.
That the globe faces a serious threat from environmental degradation is no longer subject to serious challenge. But the notion that in order to move to a low carbon future some jobs will be lost as part of the transition and a new form of employment, called a green job, will emerge is, at best, unfounded.
Policymakers are yet to define what constitutes a green job. Is it a maintenance engineer who repairs and services a new energy source such as a wind turbine? Or is a green job the same maintenance engineer working in a steel plant, making a product that plays an important role in renewable energy technologies?
Almost every component of a wind turbine is made of steel, from the foundation to the tower, gears and casings. Steel is also a vital component in wave, tidal and solar energy solutions. And steel is 100 per cent recyclable. Steel created 100 years ago can be recycled today and used in new products and applications.
Steelworkers make products that contribute to a more energy-efficient world. However, they don't feature in the vision of a lower carbon economy.
Internationally, the iron and steel industry is responsible for 4 to 5 per cent of total world emissions, but if the developed world moved to a low carbon economy tomorrow, the level of emissions would increase as the average Chinese steel plant emits twice as much CO2 as a European one and 2.5 times as much as a US steel plant.
As demand grows in response to the nation-building infrastructure investment projects being pursued by many governments, steel plants must be given the confidence to invest locally in future technologies to tackle this issue. Do we honestly believe those plants still operating after the introduction of either a carbon tax or carbon trading scheme will take on these investments?
The way forward is not just to impose a carbon trading or tax system, but to give industry the confidence to invest in its facilities and encourage, through government support, research programs to develop the breakthrough technologies that will make a difference to our environment. Industries and companies that demonstrate a reduction in emissions by greater energy efficiency should be rewarded to support further reductions.
Much more needs to be done to understand the production processes and life cycles of materials. For instance, steel production produces a high level of emissions initially but this declines each time it is recycled.
If you compare steel with cement or plastic over its life, then the emissions are lower. And using advanced steel, we can build stronger, lighter, safer structures that offset the carbon footprint of production.
Today, renewable energy sources account for only 13 per cent of the world's energy use. According to Greenpeace, existing wind, wave, solar and geothermal technologies could provide six times more power than the world presently uses.
But these technologies all have one other thing in common: steel is a major component in their production.
The International Metalworkers Federation believes that international action is vital.
But only a well thought out approach will work and so far we do not believe the G20 governments have a coherent global strategy
All electoral matter is authorised by Paul Howes, National Secretary