Earth Day - Investment in Green Cities - creating jobs and a healthy environment - a union issue

22 April - This year's Earth Day focuses on Green Cities. Three issues are central for cities to become green - investments in buildings, energy, and transportation. The Earth Day Network, a group of primarily environmental organisations aims to help cities become more sustainable and reduce their carbon footprint. Investments will be needed to accelerate their transition to a cleaner, healthier, and more economically viable future. The ETUC investment plan reflects these priorities for Europe and underlines how it will also contribute to creating an estimated 11 million jobs in the European Union. With an estimated 3/4 of the European population living in cities and more than half of the world's population, cities play a key role in our economies and societies. Migration towards cities will be continuing and requires investments in water, energy, transport, waste, urban planning and health and social services. The contribution of cities and local authorities as well as other public services to mitigation and adaptation was underlined in the EPSU study The Impact of Climate Change on public services in Europe. EPSU supports ambitious and binding EU targets for energy efficiency improvements, CO2 emission reductions and electricity from renewables energy sources based on a just transition agenda.

Earth Day celebrates the positive steps that can be made and quality public services are central to this transition says EPSU's Jan Willem Goudriaan. The Commission's austerity agenda and pro-market-orientation are detrimental to this future and pushed the sustainable growth agenda back. Europe's trade union proposals for a New Path for Europe put it central again.

- For more information on Earth Day and the Green Cities campaign
- For more information on the trade union campaign New Path For Europe

EPSU supports the work of the Spring Alliance that promotes sustainable growth and organised a workshop on Beyond GDP together with ETUI in 2012

EPSU and the European local authorities CEMR Employers' Platform have delivery of quality and sustainable services to citizens high on their agenda