Associazione per gli Studi Internazionali e Comparati sul Diritto del lavoro e sulle Relazioni industriali FINAL REPORT PRESENTED TO THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION Modena, 2009-2010 ADAPT Association for International and Comparative Studies in Labour Law and Industrial Relations (Italy) Partners involved: UPEE (Bulgaria) University of Szeged – Faculty of Law (Hungary) Co-funded by the European Commission Agreement n. VS/2010/0197 Addendum title No 1 to VS/2009/0441 Adapt Associazione – c/o Centro Studi Marco Biagi, Viale Berengario n. 51 – 41100 Modena, [email protected] – www.adapt.it The project is jointly organized in consortium with Union for private University of Szeged economic Faculty of Law enterprise Hungary Supporters of the project are: BUSINESSEUROPE, CISL, City of Chemnitz -Zwickau (Germany), Enel Green Power (Italy), Etech Germany, FLAEI-CISL, ISTUR – Institute for Social and Trade Union Research (Bulgaria), LIFE – Genanet (Germany), National Counsellor for Gender Equality at Work (Italy), Sardinia Region-Labour Department (Italy), VBFF-Verein zur beruflichen Förderung von Frauen (Germany) With support from the European Union WiRES (Women in Renewable Energy Sector) is a project co-funded by the European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (budget heading 04.03.03.01, Industrial Relations and Social Dialogue). The sole responsibility of this report lies with the author and the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. FINAL REPORT WiRES PART I SUMMARY OF THE PROJECT 1. – WiRES – Women in renewable energy sector 1. The network 3 2. The project 4 3. Policy context 6 4. Methodology and means employed to conduct the research 9 5. Results 10 2. – Findings 1. Facts on the renewable energy sector 12 2. Women in renewable energy sector: psychological perception and stereotypical views 14 3. Social dialogue for women in the renewable energy sector: the role of social partners 15 4. Social dialogue for women in the renewable energy sector: problems 19 3. – Evaluation of the project 1. The project contribution to the objectives and priorities of the budget heading 20 2. The transnational dimension of the project and role of partners and supporters 21 3. The added value, innovativeness and efforts to ensure the project a lasting impact 25 4. – Follow up 1. Arrangements to publicize the operation and dissemination of results 28 2. Lessons learnt 30 3. Follow up of the operation 31 III PART II RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT AND OUTCOMES 1. – Theoretical framework a) The employment perspectives of the green economy between myth and reality 1. Framing the issue 35 2. The problem of the definition of green jobs and their impact on the labour market 39 3. Implications for women workers 46 4. Skills for the green economy: towards a new concept of education and training 49 5. The role of industrial relations and social dialogue 57 b) Social dialogue for women in renewable energy sector: new scenarios, old stories 1. Challenges for green job and green employment 62 2. Social dialogue 72 3. Gender issue 88 2. – Empirical research a) Female employment in green jobs: the state of the art in European labour markets 1. Female employment in Europe 96 2. Female employment in green jobs 103 3. Female employment in renewable energy sector 106 4. Challenges and opportunities for women in renewable energy sector 113 5. Concluding remarks 122 b) Social dialogue for WiRES 1. Introduction 124 2. The green economy and employment 124 3. Social dialogue in the renewable energy sector: potential 126 4. Social dialogue in the renewable energy sector: state of the art 128 5. Conclusion 133 IV PART III CASE STUDIES 1. – Social dialogue and employment of women in the field of biomass utilization in Bulgaria 1. Introduction 137 2. Social dialogue for female employment in renewables 184 3. Conclusions 217 Appendix 225 2. – Hungarian case study: focus on the renewable energy Center of Hárskút 1. Background 285 2. Female employment in renewables 289 3. Summary 295 3. – Italian case study: Enel Green Power 1. Background 297 2. Social dialogue for female employment in renewables 307 PART IV ANNEXES 1. – Statistical Annex: a set of indicators for WiRES 1. Employment, unemployment and activity rates in Europe 323 2. Gender segregation 325 3. Work-life balance 327 4. Renewable energy sources 331 5. Energy structural indicators 332 6. Energy statistics, supply, transformation and consumption 334 2. – Literature review 1. European social dialogue committees in the field of energy 337 2. Occupational outlook for women in green jobs: an institutional perspective 345 V 3. Contractual arrangements, wages and working time arrangements 362 4. Family-friendly policies and work-life balance instruments 368 5. Professional development and female entrepreneurship 372 6. The role of social dialogue for education and training opportunities in renewable energy sector in Europe 381 7. Social dialogue and bargaining experiences in the fields of energy and environmental safeguard. National case studies 387 List of authors 397 VI Part I SUMMARY OF THE PROJECT 1. WiRES – WOMEN IN RENEWABLE ENERGY SECTOR 1. The network Adapt – Association for International and Comparative Studies in Labour Law and Industrial Relations – headed and carried out the project with WiRES partners, namely: the University of Szeged from Hungary and UPEE – Union for Private Economic Enterprise – from Bulgaria. The project has been supported by an international and interdisciplinary network, which gradually expanded over time, since the project attracted the interest of experts and stakeholders in the fields of social dialogue, renewable energies, equal opportunities and labour policies. The experts involved represent a number of institutions and authorities, namely: European and Italian social partners such as BUSINESSEUROPE, the Italian national trade union CISL and its national sectoral affiliate of the electricity branch FLAEI-CISL, a Bulgarian labour association at the National level (ISTUR – Institute for Social and Trade Union Research). Likewise, the project was supported by local and regional authorities such as the City of Chemnitz-Zwickau in Germany and the Labor department of the Sardinia Region. Companies, including Enel Green Power, one of the leading players in renewables, also gave their active support to the project, together with other actors in the same field, namely ETech Germany, an international network developing green technologies and research in related fields. Sound experience in the gender mainstreaming approach has been provided by a network dealing with gender and Energy issues – LIFE-Genanet – and also the project network VBFF – Verein zur beruflichen Förderung von Frauen (Germany). The National Counsellor for Gender Equality at Work in Italy considerably contributed to the 3 SUMMARY OF THE PROJECT European project development by also involving the National network of Gender Equality Counsellors: besides fostering an information exchange, the National Counsellor for Gender Equality at Work actively and widely supported and sponsored the project. 2. The project WiRES’ main objective has been to investigate the role of social dialogue in boosting female employment rates and improving working conditions of women workers in the renewable energy sector in Europe. The idea of the project stemmed from the analysis of the impact of a new regulatory framework – at a European and national level – in the field of environmental protection, on employment and labour market and the fight against climate change. The European Climate and Energy Package, adopted by the EU Commission in 2008, set new binding standards aimed at tackling climate change. One of the ambitious objectives was to increase the use of renewables (wind, solar, biomass, etc) to 20% of the total energy production (currently it is around 8.5%). Among the benefits of these measures, the Citizens’ summary of the EU Climate and Energy Package highlighted that about 1 million jobs will be created in the European renewable energy industry by 2020. While the employment impact is a controversial and debated issue around the world, experts agree that environmental legislation is going to significantly affect national economies, particularly production methods and processes. On the side of labour demand, the so called “job churn” effect is likely to be experienced, both across sectors and within the same industry: new jobs will be created; some occupations may be replaced; others will disappear without any replacement, while still different ones will change in terms of job content, required skills and work methods. Business- restructuring processes often entail potentially high costs, not only for the local or regional economies but also for the workers they concern, especially when the most vulnerable groups on the labour market, including women, are involved. 4 WIRES – WOMEN IN RENEWABLE ENERGY SECTOR Besides, in many European countries low female employment rates remain a challenging issue – especially in traditionally male-dominated sectors, such as the energy sector, where “non-traditional” occupations prevail. Scarce participation of women to the labour market goes hand in hand with the challenge of equal opportunities promotion, entailing issues such as fair treatment, recruitment, equal access to employment, gender pay gap, career paths and family friendly policies. These issues are likely to represent a relevant bargaining ground also in eco- industries