As politicians, business leaders and activists gather in Glasgow for COP26, Maisie Caro from the Living Wage Foundation argues that a real Living Wage is crucial to any just climate agenda.
History is being made in Glasgow. Over the next two weeks, world leaders will meet in Scotland's second city to try to tackle the climate crisis as the UK hosts the 26th Conference of the Parties. At the heart of COP26 is the task of setting out a concrete road to limit global warming to below 1.5 degrees. With no time to waste, we must set out towards a hopeful, green future on a path that brings everyone with us. Paying a real Living wage is a crucial step in the right direction.
So, what's the link between tackling the climate crisis and paying a real Living Wage?
At its core, the Living Wage movement is about people: their lives, their families, their futures. Employers going above and beyond the government minimum to pay the real Living Wage affirm that no one should be going hungry because their pay is too low to make ends meet (as 27% of people on low pay do). They make a statement that they care about the lives they touch. It's a choice that resonates across generations, showing children that their parents are valued in their work, and that they too will be valued in their turn.
With its foundational concern for the lives and wellbeing of people, our movement for liveable wages is inseparable from the movement for a liveable planet. Without meaningful action to address the climate crisis, the future looks terrifying for all of us. The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported that the latest scientific consensus on the state of the climate spells "code red for humanity", while UN General Secretary António Guterres affirmed that, without a swift and immediate response, we face a "hellscape"¦ a catastrophe" of fire, flood and famine. In other words, urgent action is needed.
Moving towards net zero at the pace now necessary to avoid calamity will require unprecedented change across societies, and some are fearful about what reshaping the way we live our lives to tackle climate change will mean their for livelihoods. They have good reason: climate action without climate justice risks leaving millions behind. That's why employers must show that low pay has no place in our shared green future and commit to paying their staff a real Living Wage.
The importance of putting justice at the heart of our efforts to address the crisis was enshrined into the 2015 Paris Agreement signed at COP21, which promised "a just transition of the workforce and the creation of decent work and quality jobs" in its preamble. The idea is simple: we must move to a more sustainable economy in a way that's fair to everyone, including those who work in polluting industries. By supporting the creation of good quality jobs and decent livelihoods for all, strategies like the 'just transition' aim to address the climate crisis and create a more just and equal society in the process.
Our movement has always been about justice, about doing right by people. As the only independently calculated rate that takes the cost of living into account, it's clear that a real Living Wage is an integral part of any just transition to net zero, any green new deal for the future.
It's clear that our causes are inseparable. The green future we so urgently need must be one that leaves behind the wrongs of the past. Equally, it's only a hopeful vision of the future that can galvanise the level of action that we so desperately need. As the representatives of 195 nation-states gather in Glasgow, employers have a unique opportunity to lead the way into a future that truly puts people and planet at its heart, by committing to pay their staff a real Living Wage as a part of a just climate agenda.
Want to learn more about the real Living Wage? Join us during Living Wage Week at our event "The real Living Wage: What is it and why does it matter?" We'll be welcoming a panel of experts including Kate Wallace Lockhart from SEE. Register here.