Cyprus is expected to be among the countries with the most severe impacts on vulnerable households due to climate change, as it was reported today in a discussion at the extraordinary meeting of the EESC Workers’ Group, held in Nicosia as part of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
In the first part of the conference the impact on labour due to climate change was examined, through a presentation entitled “Climate Change and Labour: Costs of Action and Inaction, by Professor and Acting Director at the Cyprus Institute Theodoros Zachariades.
Through the presentation, Zachariades highlighted the costs of action and inaction in terms of social change in relation to labour productivity and worker health, noting among other things that heat stress harms health and that climate change undermines social justice. He said research has shown that “worker productivity decreases by 2-3% for every degree above 20 degrees Celsius”.
In relation to productivity at work, he said that a “negative footprint” is identified, particularly in relation to outdoor work, noting that the increased heat wave intensity already experienced in Cyprus increases the risk to workers both outdoors and indoors.
Secretary General of the Cyprus Workers Confederation (SEK) Andreas Matsas, referred to the agreement the unions achieved with the government, in order to avoid heat stress for workers. “It is part of the employer’s obligation to either take breaks of a certain duration or to stop work and this is monitored by the labour inspection department,” he said. He also indicated concern that while efforts were initiated for Europe’s energy self-sufficiency, “geopolitical developments and reversals have led to a diversification of priorities from issues related to green development to issues related to defence and military policy.”
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Regarding climate policies, Theodoros Zachariades said that they entail costs particularly for vulnerable households and that they increase inequalities, between the richest and poorest countries on the planet and, respectively, at the level of inhabitants.
As Zacharias said “lower-income countries experience a greater loss of biodiversity due to high consumption by rich countries, while on the other hand, inequality is reinforced within the country due to climate change”, since it is linked to increased costs of electricity, food and health services.
He noted that the impact of climate change by 2050 in an inaction scenario could reach pound 18.3 billion by 2050 and exceed pound 90 billion by 2100. The largest losses are expected in tourism, public health, labour productivity, energy consumption and agriculture.
On the contrary, investments in climate change adaptation are considered to be economically advantageous. It is estimated that around pound 4.1 billion will be needed by 2050, which represents only 0.5% of total GDP over the period. Without these investments, the damages would be at least 3.5 times higher by 2050 and more than 20 times higher by 2100.
According to Zachariades climate change damages without adaptation measures “will be at least 3.5 times higher by 2050, and over 20 times higher by 2100”.
In terms of additional adaptation investments in Cyprus up to 2050 are estimated at pound 4.1 billion (2023), or 0.5% of national GDP for the whole period. He noted, however, that less than 30% is currently planned, i.e. projects worth around pound 1.2 billion, and a gap of pound 2.9 billion is identified in terms of investment in adaptation projects.
“We need to compare the current costs with the costs of the new normal, which will be the additional climate-related damages over the next decade or two. I believe that we will only gain from the green transition,” he said.
He attributed his assessment to the fact that the benefits of avoiding fossil fuel imports outweigh the costs of imported technologies (solar panels, electric vehicles), and added that the benefits of adapting to climate change can help alleviate energy poverty (especially poverty in cooling capacity).
He also underlined that a key challenge for policy makers is to enable the benefits of the green transition to be spread throughout society, which translates into lower energy costs and increased resilience for vulnerable workers and households.