Climate Change, Employment and Local Development in Extremadura
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OECD Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Papers 2011/04 Gabriela Miranda, Climate Change, Hyoung-Woo Chung, Employment and Local David Gibbs, Development Richard Howard, in Extremadura, Spain Lisa Rustico https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/5kgdpmh7zxzv-en Climate Change, Employment and Local Development in Extremadura, Spain Climate Change, In times of economic and financial uncertainty, associating sustainability with prosperous economic development is not obvious. However, governments need to respond in Employment and a more responsible manner to the issues raised in international debates concerning environmental degradation and the need for job creation. How can governments generate Spain Extremadura, in Development Local and Employment Change, Climate Local Development economic activity while preserving their natural assets? How can governments support the development of businesses in the green economy? Which jobs will be created and in Extremadura, Spain how can the workforce meet the demands of the new jobs? This report analyses the case of Extremadura, which is one of the largest regions in Spain with one of the most diverse eco-systems and abundant natural resources. The regional government has put in place an ambitious strategy to tackle climate change to ensure that Extremadura remains one of the least polluting regions in Spain and contributes to the national and international GHG emission reduction targets. But making the best use of its assets and the regional capacities under this constraining framework requires the leadership of the government, long-term commitments and the participation of the various actors in the “green” system. State-of-the-art infrastructures like El Anillo outdoor sport centre, a strong SME fabric, a good position worldwide in renewables, an international tourist destination and countless natural resources provide Extremadura with a unique set of assets that could serve as solid base for job creation and local development in a green economy if well utilised. This report offers an analysis of the labour market and the human capital in place, and provides a set of policy recommendations on how best to support the development of green activity to create wealth and jobs in a sustainable way. www.oecd.org Climate Change, Employment and Local Development in Extremadura, Spain A review by the Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Programme of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Photo credit: View of El Anillo (Regional Ministry of Youth and Sports of Extremadura. Reproduced with permission) © OECD 2011 You can copy, download or print OECD content for your own use, and you can include excerpts from OECD publications, databases and multimedia products in your own documents, presentations, blogs, websites and teaching materials, provided that suitable acknowledgment of OECD as source and copyright owner is given. All requests for public or commercial use and translation rights should be submitted to [email protected]. Requests for permission to photocopy portions of this material for public or commercial use shall be addressed directly to the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) at [email protected] or the Centre français d’exploitation du droit de copie (CFC) at [email protected]. ForeWord – 3 Foreword In the early 1990s, the OECD Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Programme produced a series of working papers analysing the relationship between employment, the environment and local development issues. Indeed, LEED’s research showed that while introducing new environment protection regulations may lead to the closure of polluting factories, increasing unemployment in the short-term; in the medium-term of 6-9 years, this would lead to the creation of cleaner and more technologically- advanced jobs. At that time, climate change was not the pressing issue it is today, but evi- dence was already showing that the traditional economic model was unsus- tainable and that it would, over time, lead to a reallocation of labour and jobs. Today, the debates around environmental sustainability and job creation have taken on a global dimension, creating uncertainty at the local level. The OECD project on “Climate change, employment and local devel- opment” was conceived in the aftermath of the Copenhagen conference in 2009 and the assessment of progress made since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol. Climate change is a reality now. The majority of countries have made ambitious commitments to mitigate climate change and to adapt to the new environmental conditions while continuing to combat the job crisis. LEED is a platform where governments at national and local levels come together and share practices and policy approaches on local economic and employment development issues. With almost 30 years of experience in policy analysis, LEED is well positioned to provide guidance and policy recommendations to public authorities on how to define and implement a new policy agenda that takes into consideration the economic, social and environmental aspects. Extremadura has been a precursor in understanding the opportunities arising from moving towards an economic model that decouples economic and environmental performances. Despite the economic and financial crisis, the region engaged in a very demanding OECD exercise that implied the assessment by an international expert of the policies and programmes in CLIMATE CHANGE, EMPLoyMENT AND LocaL deVELOPMENT IN EXTreMadUra, SPAIn – © OECD 2011 4 – ForeWord place to support employment and local development in the region in the con- text of the transition to a greener economy. The various political and social actors approached were very supportive of this project, and the OECD ben- efitted from their insights all along the process. The natural heritage of Extremadura and the state-of-the-art centres dedi- cated to energy and outdoor sports, among others, provide the region with a set of assets that can serve as a solid basis for job creation if the sustainable agenda is defined and implemented appropriately. The partnership with Extremadura has brought to the LEED Committee an inspiring model of approaching growth and job creation in an innovative and “green” way. The analysis in this report offers an illustration of the approaches successfully undertaken in Extremadura towards employment and local development in the green economy, and it also identifies alternative ways of creating greener jobs in the region. This project is the core contribution of the LEED Committee to the OECD Green Growth Strategy. It is being matched and coordinated within the OECD Secretariat with the project “The Production of Renewable Energy as a Regional Development Policy in Rural Areas” carried out in Extremadura by the OECD Directorate for Public Governance and Territorial Development. The project is being developed by Gabriela Miranda, LEED Policy Analyst. It has benefitted from the participation of Extremadura (Spain), London (UK), Sydney (Australia), Podlaskie and Pomorskie (Poland) as well as the European Commission. The findings of the various case studies will be synthesised in an OECD report that will be finalised by the end of 2011. I am confident that this work will provide a valuable contribution to Extremadura, Spain and other OECD countries that are looking at alterna- tive ways to achieve economic growth using innovative approaches to the economic, social and environmental challenges that are omnipresent in our economies today. Sergio Arzeni Director, OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship Head, OECD LEED Programme CLIMATE CHANGE, EMPLoyMENT AND LocaL deVELOPMENT IN EXTreMadUra, SPAIn – © OECD 2011 AckNOWLedGEMENTS – 5 Acknowledgements The study on “Climate Change, Employment and Local Development in Extremadura”, Spain, has been undertaken by the Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED) Programme of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in collaboration with the Regional Ministry of Equality and Employment of Extremadura. The work was supervised by Gabriela Miranda of the OECD LEED Programme, who also put together the report. The OECD is grateful to Ms Pilar Lucio Carrasco, Regional Minister for Equality and Employment of Extremadura, for her continuous support and interest in this review. The LEED Programme would like to thank Mr. Alejandro Cercas, European Parliament, for his confidence and sup- port to concretise this project. The work would not have been possible without the commitment of all interview partners and the engagement of Ms Virginia Jiménez, Manager of the Regional Institute of Qualifications and Accreditations. Mr. Carlos Ongallo and his team at the University of Extremadura provided essential assistance in the implementation and analysis of the surveys. Additional thanks go to the various actors in Extremadura that took the time to meet with the OECD international expert team during the study visit and provided invaluable insights to this study. The OECD LEED Programme would like to acknowledge the valu- able contribution of Mr. Hyoung-Woo Chung, Policy Analyst at the OECD Employment Analysis and Policy Division. In addition to Gabriela Miranda and Hyoung-Woo Chung from the OECD Secretariat, the international expert team consisted of the following experts: Prof. David Gibbs, Department of Geography, University of Hull, UK, Mr. Richard Howard, Analyst of DTZ Consulting in the UK, and Ms Lisa Rustico, research fellow at the Department of Economics of the University of Modena