This article discusses international trade unions’ engagement with climate change. Using a qualitative methodology based on an analysis of interviews and archive documents, the article investigates the factors shaping the climate policies of the international union movement. It finds that these policies have been framed at the nexus of unions’ internal politics, coalition strategies and the institutional environment of the UNFCCC process. As a result of contentious intra-organizational politics, contrasting alliances with external organizations and the institutional constraints of the UNFCCC process, international unions’ climate policies have been torn between the competing priorities of ensuring workers’ economic security and protecting the climate, leading to the inherently ambiguous just transition framework. The article speaks to the broader issues of the socio-political forces affecting global climate governance and, ultimately, to the preconditions for an inclusive transition to a low-carbon economy.

本文讨论了国际工会对气候变化的参与。本文使用基于访谈和档案文件分析的定性方法，调查了影响国际工会运动气候政策的因素。报告发现，这些政策是在工会内部政治、联盟战略和 UNFCCC 进程的制度环境之间建立的。由于有争议的组织内部政治、与外部组织的对比联盟以及 UNFCCC 进程的体制限制，国际工会的气候政策在确保工人经济安全和保护气候这两个相互竞争的优先事项之间摇摆不定，导致本质上是模棱两可的只是过渡框架。