There is powerful inspiration for the transformation of our economy to one that protects people and
the environment when two of South Africa’s biggest threats to security and stability, climate change
and unemployment, are confronted together.
The Million Climate Jobs Campaign presents tangible solutions to the ecological and economic crises,
and advocates for the South African government to create jobs in combating climate change.
Authentic, meaningful solutions to climate change offer vast opportunities for decent work in a new
low-carbon economy.
Our key actions are :
1. Promote civil society solutions to transition to a low carbon development and create decent
work in the process amongst all relevant stakeholders and decision makers.
2. Assist in enhancing the capacity and knowledge base of all South Africans to engage on
issues related to climate change and unemployment
3. Help to develop a broad alliance of civil society organisations that can promote civil society
solutions to climate change and unemployment, and engage in relevant policy debates.
The Million Climate Jobs Campaign is a research and advocacy project developed jointly by over
40 key components of the labour and social movements and other civil society formations which
recognise the merit of simultaneously addressing unemployment and climate change.
It is coordinated by the Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC), which initiated
the project in March 2011. The project works from the premise that a just transition to a low carbon
economy provides opportunities both to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and enhance the
quality of life of South Africans through reducing localised pollution and providing decent job and
skills development opportunities. Such a transition provides extensive opportunities to create over
a million jobs - if driven by the state and its agencies.
The project unfolds in the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) and specifically in relation to its seventeenth Conference of Parties (COP17) that will be
held in Durban, South Africa, from 28 November to 9 December 2011. It serves as an advocacy
and mobilisation tool in the build-up to COP17, and also provides a basis for ongoing advocacy and
engagement with government on economic policy, job creation and climate change.
The UNFCCC has delivered weak and disappointing options for addressing climate change. Even with
full consideration given to the magnitude of the task that the Convention has undertaken, it is clear
that it has failed to foster the intergovernmental commitment to reducing carbon pollution that is
required to ensure that the planet’s weather systems do not spin out of control. South Africa’s own
emissions are high due to energy intensive industry and highly polluting coal power generation
technologies. Despite its need for continued development to reduce poverty and inequality, the country
must commit to reducing its carbon pollution. Just as critical is the need for South Africa to implement
adaptation measures that protect poor and vulnerable communities from the threats of climate
change.
South Africans already face challenges with accessing basic needs. The country straddles the
industrialised/developing line and has an extremely high level of inequality, with a GINI coefficient of
0.73. One of the main factors behind the country’s extreme inequality is its very high rate of
unemployment, which give rise to social crises such as crime, drug abuse and ill health. While a small
percentage of South Africans live in first world wealth, the majority live on the margins of survival,
barely able to afford adequate water, food and clean energy. Climate change will exacerbate this
poverty by reducing water and food availability, thus increasing their cost and making them even
less accessible. There are millions of South Africans who will not be able to pay their way out of this all-
engulfing crisis.
COP17 provides an opportunity for South Africans to deliberate on the severity of the impacts of climate
change and the need to effectively address them, including through ambitious national mitigation
targets. Civil society proposals to prevent runaway climate change and create jobs in the process will
be highlighted through a range of advocacy initiatives, including demonstration and actions at the
Global Day of Action on 3 December 2011.
During 2011 the Million Climate Jobs Campaign is focused on mobilisation for COP17, to ensure that
South Africans are able to make informed interventions at the negotiations and parallel events.
An international conference on climate jobs will build international solidarity for the concept and
support similar initiatives in other countries. COP17 provides a striking landmark around which to
mobilise support for the Campaign.
Should the Million Climate Jobs Campaign be successful in the long term, South Africa would
become a model for other middle income and developing countries by providing examples of low-
carbon and pro-people development options that arise from successfully mitigating climate change
and adopting appropriate adaptation measures. At the very least, the Campaign will contribute to
the raising of consciousness across a very wide layer of society about climate change, the threats it
poses, and how the shift to a green economy can provide extensive opportunities for creating
decent work on a mass scale.
About forty organisations have played a role in the process of establishing the Campaign, including
developing the Campaign proposal and planning popular mobilisation :
1. 350.org (Environment)
2. Abahlahi baseMjondolo (Social)
3. Africa Centre for Biodiversity (Environment)
4. Alternative Information and Development Centre (Social)
5. Civil Society Research and Support Collective (Social)
6. Congress of South African Trade Unions (Labour)
7. Cooporative and Policy Alternative Centre (Social)
8. Democratic Left Front (Social)
9. Earthlife Africa Cape Town (Environment)
10. Earthlife Africa Johannesburg (Environment)
11. Environmental Monitoring Group (Environment)
12. Farmer Support Group UKZN (Social)
13. Food and Allied Workers Union (Labour)
14. Geasphere (Environment)
15. GroundWork (Environment)
16. Institute for Zero Waste (Environment)
17. International Alliance on Natural Resources in Africa (Environment)
18. National Council of Trade Unions (Labour)
19. National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Labour)
20. National Union of Mineworkers (Labour)
21. New Women’s Movement (Social)
22. Oxfam Australia (Environment)
23. Progressive Youth Movement (Social)
24. Public and Allied Workers Union of South Africa (Labour)
25. Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (Social)
26. Rural People’s Movement (Social)
27. South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Labour)
28. South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Labour)
29. South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (Environment)
30. Southern African Faith Communities Environmental Initiative (Environment)
31. Trust for Community Outreach and Education (Social)
32. Umphilo waManzi (Social)
33. University of Glasgow (Social)
34. University of Cape Town (Social)
35. University of KwaZulu-Natal : Farmer Support Group (Social)
36. University of Stellenbosch : Sustainability Institute (Environment)
37. University of Witwatersrand : School of Economics and Business Sciences (Social)
38. University of Witwatersrand : Society, Work and Development (Social)
39. WWF (Environment)
40. Youth Agricultural Ambassadors (Social)