States’ capacity to provide social security services in accordance with international standards.
For example, Angola’s 2013 severe drought (and the government’s difficulty in responding
to it) left approximately 1.8 million people without access to clean water.176
The additional stress caused by climate change also stands to directly affect social groups
that are already in positions of vulnerability, including women, children, the elderly, the
chronically ill, Indigenous peoples, and other minorities. As a result, existing social security
systems must be “climate-proofed” to take into account the effects of climate change and its
differentiated impact on particular groups. Climate proofing social security would require an
individual analysis for each subject area covered to determine the possible direct effects of
climate change.
5.2.2. Understanding the Right to Social Security in the Content of Climate Change
Mitigation Policies
Relatively little research or analysis has been undertaken to examine in-depth the effects of
climate change mitigation actions on the right to social security. The links between climate
change and its effects on social security therefore require further study. Nevertheless, climate
change mitigation activities do have the potential to impact this right – for example, as States
transition to greener, low-carbon economies.
CASE STUDY: Transitioning to a Low-Carbon Economy, Flexicurity, and the Case
of Germany
The transition to a low carbon economy has the potential to bring with it a new wave of
green jobs. However, these jobs will require workers to adapt to new technologies and
develop new skill sets. In this respect, as jobs in emission-heavy sectors are phased out and
the shift to creating green jobs via government policy to mitigate climate change is
intensified, there is a potential for “losers,” or individuals whose jobs do not transition into
the low carbon-economy. Thus, “flexicurity,” or work-related security, stands to be affected
by the transition to a low-carbon economy and should be developed to take these potential
effects into account.
Before analyzing the case of Germany, it is pertinent to outline the concept of flexicurity
with respect to the transition to a low-carbon economy. Flexicurity combines an appropriate
social insurance model, sufficiently flexible work contracts, and effective policies to support
labour market transitions and lifelong learning.177 In relation to the transition to a low-carbon
economy, various International Labour Organization (ILO) instruments detail the content of
the right to social security during transition.178 These instruments require States to take
specific work-related security measures, with specific regard to preventing unemployment
and underemployment resulting from the structural change.
Germany is a world leader in this respect. For the period of 2006-2010, Germany analyzed
its expected green job growth in various sectors such as geothermal energy, solar energy, and
biomass industries,179 enabling the country to estimate where jobs would be created.
Germany has also institutionalized a dialog between unions, employers, environmental
groups and government through the Alliance for Work and the Environment to ensure a just
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