CoLABOR's contribution to the public discussion of the National Hydrogen Strategy (EN-H2): Impact on work and employment
On June 22, a discussion took place on the challenges and opportunities for research and development offered by the hydrogen economy. CoLABOR was asked to comment on its impact on work and employment.
The first stage of creating an industrial cluster around green industrial hydrogen is a true industrial policy initiative, capable of mobilizing different social sectors around a national project geared towards relevant priorities of environmental sustainability, economic sustainability, but also social sustainability, repositioning the need for the social revaluation of work and prioritizing the issues of decent work and quality employment (adequately paid, secure and adequately covered by social security).
Significant in the design of the strategy is the reference to human resources as "one of the most important in the context of the energy transition and the decarbonization of the economy" and the concern with safeguarding "a just transition and the creation of qualified, quality jobs". The proposal to create a "Collaborative Laboratory that sets a benchmark at national and international level, with the participation of the business and industrial fabric, including European and international partnerships, that focuses on research and development and that fosters the development of new industries and services, based on highly qualified human resources, is indicative of the intention to qualify the productive specialization of employment."
With regard to the impact of EN-H2 on employment and job quality, we believe that the quantification of impacts and the definition of qualification profiles should be based on an in-depth reflection on the social and economic challenges associated with this strategy. We have identified five vectors of analysis: (a) identification of the geostrategic and geo-economic tensions and dynamics associated with the global energy value chains and, in particular, hydrogen; (b) characterization of the role of the state and its relationship with the multiple actors involved; (c) identification of gaps in market provisioning regimes and complementary provisioning regimes; (d) alignment of business behaviour with social needs through the design of financing and financial incentive instruments with conditionality; (e) assessment of the impact of technology on work and employment in the energy transition.
With the prospect of a trend towards shortening global value chains by reducing external dependence, with greater re-territorialization and bringing production and consumption circuits closer together, to which the energy value chain is no stranger, employment policies must accommodate this reconfiguration of the international organization of work, promoting a more diverse and flexible production and skills ecology, based on more plural and resilient vocational training and research profiles, only possible with more qualified human resources and institutional arrangements that preserve job quality and prioritize public policy responses that meet human needs.
See here.