Social protection and active labour market policies for inclusive green structural transformation

Abstract

The green economic transformation will be disruptive, entailing both significant challenges as well as opportunities for people, their livelihoods and their well-being. Policy coherence and coordination between social protection and active labour market policies (ALMPs), on one hand, and economic and environmental policies, on the other, can facilitate transitions within the labour market into emerging green sectors and industries. Social protection is also essential to smooth the transition by protecting consumption levels in a context of (temporarily) higher costs to meet basic needs such as food, energy, housing, transportation, and access to services. Adequate, comprehensive social protection that leaves no one behind, and the access of vulnerable groups to labour market opportunities through ALMPs will be essential to ensure inclusion as well as the acceptance and long-term success of transition policies. At the same time, structural transformation and changes in the environment demand the strengthening and adaption of social protection systems. This chapter discusses how adequate social protection and ALMPs can be designed and financed to bring about inclusive green structural transformation.