Climate jobs are jobs that would be created through a Just Transition from employment in fossil fuel industries to employment in renewables, public transport, building refurbishment, appropriate production and disposal, reformed agriculture, and healthcare and education.

The conference will provide impetus to the Million Climate Jobs campaign that recognises the need to jointly tackle unemployment and climate change through progress towards a low-carbon economy. The expected impact of climate change is the exacerbation of inequality and poverty in South Africa through reduction in access to adequate food, water, energy and housing.

The One Million Climate Jobs Campaign seeks to mobilise South Africans to demand and implement real solutions to stop climate change and to protect and enhance the human quality of life and the natural environment, while also creating the jobs the society so desperately needs.

South Africa has the potential to lead the way in reducing carbon emissions by shifting to renewable energy, by developing a public transport system, by promoting small scale agriculture, and retrofitting buildings and houses to be energy efficient. Khulumani member groups seek to participate in this important programme of building local economies through activities that reduce carbon emissions.