Transport workers set demands for ‘finance COP’

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has laid out its demands as it prepares to negotiate with representatives of business and government at the COP29 climate summit. Rob Coston looks at the details

At the International Transport Federation (ITF’s) 46th Congress, held in Marrakech, the organisation’s component unions unanimously agreed to support a motion on Making Transport Sustainable.

This motion calls on the ITF to engage with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) ‘to secure concrete measures to guarantee a rights-based Just Transition for transport workers’. This is, of course, supported by Nautilus – whose members voted at our own General Meeting in 2023 to commit the Union to fighting for a Just Transition for maritime professionals with a particular focus on safety and access to training .

COP29, the UNFCCC’s annual conference, began on 11 November in Baku, Azerbaijan. Ahead of the COP, ITF general secretary Stephen Cotton asked all affiliates to support the ITF’s demands for Just Transition standards in climate finance and national climate plans.

‘The stakes could not be higher,’ Mr Cotton said. ‘COP29 is “the finance COP”, with a once-in-a-generation climate finance deal up for agreement. The ITF is playing a leading role in the Global Unions’ campaign on the climate finance deal, and our demands are included in the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Climate finance for a labour-focused just transition.’

At COP29, the ITF also committed to campaign for stronger national climate plans, improvements to the Just Transition Work Programme, a transport workers’ dimension to the Gender Action Plan and Adaptation Agenda, and progress on the Loss and Damage Fund.

Nautilus head of international relations Danny McGowan said: ‘ITUC’s demands for COP29, supported by the ITF, are essential to ensure that no-one is left behind in the move to new and alternative fuels and energy sources.

‘It will only be a Just Transition in maritime if seafarers’ voices are at the heart of the conversation. That is why Nautilus continues to monitor developments at COP and in other forums, and it is why we provide input via initiatives such as our recent Mapping Our Maritime Future report.

‘Climate change and the associated extreme weather events will affect maritime professionals at sea and ashore. We have to ensure that as maritime decarbonises, we take the opportunity to deal with systemic issues, increase the attractiveness of our industry, and ensure that we are able to recruit and retain the people and skills necessary to have decent work in a net-zero industry.’