Working
harmoniously
on the earth
CUPE’S NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
2021

The Canadian Union of Public
Employees (CUPE) represents
700,000 workers in a wide variety
of jobs. Many of these jobs have an
environmental component, such as
in municipal water work; compost,
recycling, and waste collection;
energy generation and distribution
and other jobs. CUPE members
can be part of the solution and
help contribute to a greener
workplace and world. Public sector
work is integral to sustaining and
enriching Canadian communities.
CUPE has a responsibility, as a
large organization, to set a positive
environmental example through its
own policies and practices.

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1.
Background
CUPE has been responding
to the climate crisis for
years. As the crisis grows
more intense, it is time to
strengthen our position.
Responding to this emergency
is among humanity’s most
urgent priorities now and
over the coming decades.
We have got to get this right
to put humanity on a path
to true sustainability.
Climate change and other
environmental problems
are widespread issues, but
their causes and impacts are
not equally shared. Burning
fossil fuels (mostly oil, coal,
and natural gas) that emit
greenhouse gases (GHGs
– mostly carbon dioxide and
methane) causes climate
change. Greenhouse gases
trap heat in the atmosphere.
Large sectors of the
Canadian and international
economy are based on,
or related to, fossil fuel
extraction and industries
that depend heavily on
fossil fuels (e.g., automotive,
mining, steel, and many
other big corporate
enterprises). We must
shift away from fossilfuel dependent work,
while having effective

just transition strategies
and programs in place to
minimize impacts on working
people.
While all of humanity is
confronted with climate
change, not everyone
contributes equally to the
problem and not everyone
is at equal risk. Societal
inequality can make climate
change impacts worse on
some people and some
regions of the world. Part of
CUPE’s role environmentally
is to push back against the
economic and political forces
responsible for the current
environmental crisis. At the
same time, we all inhabit
the same planet, and all
have a duty to be better
environmental citizens.

This is a second, revised
edition of CUPE’s national
environmental policy.
With the climate crisis
escalating, our policy needs
to stay current. Originally,
CUPE members adopted
a resolution at our 2011
convention (Resolution
#94) calling on CUPE to
develop an environmental
policy to give direction
to the union on climate
change and set a course
for future environmental
work. The environmental
policy provides guidance
for the work we do and
positions we take with
governments, businesses,
our employers and allies, with
the objective of overcoming
the environmental crisis. This
policy also offers guidance
for CUPE’s own internal and
operational environmental
vision.
This policy contains
statements in three main
areas:
• Broader policy statements.
• Recommendations for
CUPE workplaces where
our members work.
• Recommendations for
CUPE’s operations.
The policy informs CUPE
members, the broader
labour movement, policy

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makers and citizens about
what constitutes the best
choices for sustainable
work, while promoting
universally-accessible public
sector services. It promotes
sustainability, sound
environmental stewardship,
conservation, and efficient
use of natural resources in
a zero-carbon economy.
Other core environmental
issues are dealt with in this
policy but climate change
underscores each. Some
other environmental issues
(e.g., loss of biodiversity,
deforestation, desertification,
etc.) are not mentioned
explicitly in this policy; this
does not mean that these
issues are not important.

2.
The environmental
crisis
The science-based evidence
is clear: the earth is warming.
A warmer planet is less
stable, hospitable, and less
socio-economically balanced.
At the time this policy was
first published, the Earth had
warmed 0.8°C on average.
Presently, in 2021, average
global temperatures are
slightly more than 1.0°C℃
higher than they were in
1880. Two-thirds of global

warming has happened
since 1975, with global
temperatures steadily rising
0.15 to 0.2°C per decade.
The planet is warming at a
dangerous pace.
This warming is not evenly
distributed across the earth,
nor will future warming
be. Parts of Canada have
already warmed well above
the global average, such
as in the far north where
communities have been
adversely affected by
steadily rising temperatures.
The effects of climate change
are clear. In every corner of
the world, there have been
more frequent and intense
storms, floods, prolonged
droughts, wildfires, rapidly
retreating glaciers, surging
and rising seas, damaging
invasive species, and
other outcomes linked to
a changing climate. These
impacts affect human survival
with decreased and poorer
fresh water supplies, lower
crop yields, exacerbated
food insecurity for some
people, destructive storms,
wider disease vectors, and
other negative outcomes.
Moreover, climate change
disproportionately affects
poorer regions of the
world and disadvantaged
communities.

Despite decades of research,
knowledge, and awareness,
not enough has been done
to cut greenhouse gases that
cause climate change. As a
result, the planet is on course
to warm by as much as
4 to 6°C by 2100 if we don’t
flatten the emissions curve
and drastically ramp up GHG
cuts. That level of warming
would lead to disastrous
climate conditions that
would make large areas of
the planet uninhabitable for
humans, while threatening
global food supply, political
stability and peace, and
other ruinous impacts.
Labour, environmental, and
social justice groups have
been calling for action on
climate change for decades.
All sectors of society must

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fuels in favour of renewable
public sources of energy.
All CUPE workplaces
are affected by climate
change. Existing public
infrastructure (e.g.,
buildings, transportation,
communications, electricity
and water and social systems)
is not ready to withstand the
impacts from the greater risk
of heat, droughts, floods,
and storms brought on by
increasing levels of global
warming.
take bold steps to slow
climate change to avoid and
adapt to its worst impacts.
All other environmental
issues are affected by climate
change, from stressing
compromised freshwater
reserves, to jeopardizing
fragile ecosystems, such as
forests and coral reefs. The
climate must be stabilized by
fully decarbonizing our way
of working and living if there
is to be any hope of solving
our environmental problems.
This means phasing out and
rejecting fossil fuels for good,
along a timeline that permits
sharp cuts while the economy
transforms. Solving the
climate crisis leaves no place
for fossil fuels in our lives.
For our survival, we have no
choice but to abandon fossil

Since this policy was first
adopted in 2013, new
environmental challenges
have emerged and/or
intensified that are addressed
in this second edition.
The enormous plastic
pollution problem must be
solved by dealing with the
largest sources of plastic
pollution from industrial
fishing operations, plastics
packaging, and containers.
The global health pandemic
spurred by COVID-19 has
exposed the importance
of having effective just
transition strategies in place
for displaced workers. The
pandemic has decimated
many industries, causing
job losses and community
upheavals that can only be
solved with just transition
programs. Environmental

racism has also come into
sharper focus as global
socio-economic inequality
has made worse some
environmental problems,
cascading their effects onto
already disadvantaged
segments of society.
Indigenous people in
Canada continue to face
widespread problems with
clean, public, and accessible
drinking water that must be
fully and finally fixed.
We are faced with three
main challenges that must
be solved together. There
is a clear environmental
crisis. The economic system
based on continuous growth
is unsustainable. There are
limits to an economy that
seeks infinite growth in the
face of finite resources.
And there is an equality
challenge, both globally
and within Canada.
CUPE believes that
affordable access to clean
air, water, soil, and energy
are fundamental human
rights. Plus, everyone has a
right to live within a stable
geophysical climate. To
restore harmony with the
earth and live safe and stable
lives, we must build
an equitable society.

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3.
CUPE’s
environmental
vision
Ensuring the vitality of the
natural environment is a
priority for CUPE. Many
CUPE jobs are closely linked
to the environment and all
CUPE jobs can contribute to
a greener world. As union
members, we know the earth
sustains all life. But we also
know the earth is in trouble.
Humans have not always
been the best stewards of
the natural environment.
The air, water, soil, climate,
and all types of ecosystems
have been damaged
and degraded. CUPE will
continue its work to be
part of the solution to the
climate crisis.
Climate change is a critical
environmental issue that
compromises our jobs,
communities, health,
quality of life, food, and
water supplies. CUPE, with
its influence and vision,
is a progressive force for
tackling environmental issues
through education, activism,
workplace, and political
action, and by setting a
positive example. CUPE
must apply an environmental

to, the earth. We cannot
abuse or over-exploit
its resources. We must
reaffirm our connection
with nature and our place
in the natural world.

lens to all its work and
seriously consider, limit, and
mitigate the climate impacts
of the union’s decisions,
policies, and procedures.

4.
Environment
principles
CUPE supports the following
principles and values:
• Human beings must
restore harmony and
balance with the earth
by understanding our
interconnectedness with
the earth and all living
things. We must have an
ecological approach to life
that realizes that our lives
rely on, and are linked

• This policy supports
the seventh-generation
principle which is
rooted in an Indigenous
worldview and states that
decisions that are made
today must consider what
is best for the next seven
generations. As each
generation advances,
it must continue to look
seven generations ahead
to ensure that a long-term,
sustainable, and holistic
view is maintained.
• Sustainability is at the
heart of this policy.
Sustainability simply
means the ability of
humans to carry on
by taking a balanced
approach that does not
unduly harm the earth or
take too much from it so
that it cannot be restored.
• Economic moves away
from environmentally
harmful to environmentally
sustainable industries
and practices should not
be at the cost of decent,
meaningful work and
jobs. There must be a
just transition for workers

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and their communities.
Just transition means
training, education and
job placement programs
for workers who might
lose their jobs because
their work changes or is
made obsolete due to
environmental reasons.
Just transition means
consultation with workers
and their communities.
CUPE strives to protect
the rights of all working
people. There are many
opportunities for work in
a greener economy that
creates new climate jobs.
The shift to sustainable
work must include CUPE’s
vision that all people have
a right to meaningful
work.
• All people have a right
to access clean air, water,
soil, and to energy to help
sustain their lives. Societal
inequalities must be
overcome to help ensure
this access occurs.
• All people have the
right to a stable climate.
Equality must underscore
our environmental vision,
so that all people can
live decent lives. Our
quality of life should be
measured by how we
enrich our community and
help to preserve a stable
and clean earth for all
humanity.

• Ensuring the survival and
good health of our planet
is a moral and ethical
requirement. We have a
duty as good ecological
citizens to maintain the
vitality of the earth by
being stewards of the
earth. Environmental
steward ship here simply
means that we should
treat the earth as if it is
held in trust and leave
it in no worse condition
for future generations
than we found it, while
working to fix the damage
we have done to it over
generations.
• To achieve environmental
sustainability, our water,
energy, transportation,
and other critical public
services must be publicly
owned and operated to
work for environmental
objectives and the
common good, rather
than for private profit.
• Public sector work is often
community-based. Many
of our jobs put us in close
proximity to the natural
environment. CUPE
members can, therefore,
be good stewards of the
earth in the same way we
are good stewards of our
workplaces.

5.
Environmental
priorities and
positions
5.1 Climate change
The world is getting warmer
because of human behaviour.
Burning fossil fuels that emit
greenhouse gases is the
primary cause of climate
change. To drastically cut
greenhouse gas emissions
we must work to eliminate
the use of fossil fuels and
ensure that just transition
strategies keep pace with
GHG cuts and economic
transformation. At the same
time, we must adapt to the
inevitable impacts of climate
change that are already
“locked in” because of GHG
emissions already in the
atmosphere.

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legislation must correct
past failed promises.
• We will push the federal
government to enact
Just Transition legislation
to create systems and
strategies to fairly
deal with workers and
communities adversely
affected by the shift to
a zero-carbon economy.
No worker should be left
behind as we transition
to more ecologically
harmonious ways of
working.
CUPE supports actions to
cut GHGs that cause climate
change to create a zerocarbon economy, while
adapting to the impacts
of climate change.
• We will work as a union
to push Canadian
governments and
industries to reverse
the degradation and
destabilization of our
environment.
• We will push the federal
government to enforce
its Net-Zero Emissions
Accountability Act and
ensure the legislation
is used as a vehicle to
cut Canadian emissions
deeply and quickly
down to zero as soon as
possible. We cannot afford
to go through more cycles
of missed targets. This

• CUPE calls for GHG
reductions across all
spheres of Canadian
society to limit planetary
warming to no more than
1.5°C, which is considered
a manageable and realistic
warming threshold, based
on scientific evidence.
Achieving 1.5°C of warming
maximum means cutting
carbon emissions to zero.
• We will promote a move
to an economy that
favours renewable sources
of public energy rather
than energy derived from
fossil fuels. We call for
an end to government
financial incentives and
subsidies for the oil and
gas industry. We call for
a fair and rising price to
be applied to carbon
emissions to send a clear

signal that polluters must
pay for the damage they
exact on climate systems.
• We will promote greener
work practices that help
cut and eliminate GHGs.
• We will support new job
growth in areas that help
adapt to the impacts of
climate change.
• We will cut CUPE’s
operational greenhouse
gas emissions at pace or
quicker than emissions
reductions targets set by
the federal government.
We will do this by
encouraging energy
efficiency in all CUPE
buildings and workplaces,
reducing travel that
damages the climate,
promoting public transit
for all CUPE members and
staff, using technologies
that cut operational
GHGs, reducing materials
across all spheres of
CUPE work, promoting
procurement practices
that are better for the
climate and other steps.

5.2 Water
Water is necessary for human
survival. It is also a core
concern for CUPE, both from
an environmental and a jobs
perspective. All humans must
have access to affordable,
publicly-supplied, clean

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drinking water to ensure
human health and vitality.
Water supply and quality are
threatened with increasing
scarcity due to climate
change, from contamination
from industry, agriculture,
and other sources. Our water
is threatened by privatization
and trade deals that strive to
turn this life-giving resource
exclusively into a for-profit
commodity. Water then
becomes inaccessible for all
but the wealthy in developed
parts of the world.
CUPE is committed to
protecting clean, accessible,
publicly owned, and
delivered fresh water.
• We will promote public
municipal tap water over
private, for-profit bottled
water.
• We will oppose water
privatization (including
bottled water) and trade
deals that promote the
commodification of water.
• We will support access to
reliable, safe, clean public
water in all Canadian
communities, including
Indigenous communities
that we recognize have
historically, and often at
present, been denied
those services.

• We will work to protect
water from contamination
from all sources,
particularly from industrial
chemical contamination,
from energy extraction
(including from
underground fracking
and oil), agriculture,
transportation, and
other sources. We will
also ensure wastewater
is adequately treated
to reduce its negative
environmental impacts.
• We will support and
recognize Indigenous
peoples’ role as the
stewards and protectors of
the waters of their treaty
lands, and their traditional
unceded territories.
• We will promote water
conservation and efficient
use of existing and future
water resources in all
sectors of society, in CUPE
workplaces and CUPE
offices.
• We will push at all levels
to slow climate change,
which has a huge impact
on fresh water supply
and quality, particularly in
disadvantaged areas of
the earth.

5.3 Energy
Energy and environmental
issues are closely linked.
Energy is essential for our
economy and our modern
society to function, but
its generation can have
negative environmental
consequences. Energy
derived from burning fossil
fuels is not sustainable
and contributes to climate
change. There is abundant
evidence that less
environmentally destructive
and more sustainable sources
of energy are available. We
must choose to promote
public energy generation and
transmission and renewable
sources of energy (as spelled
out in CUPE’s Electrical
Energy Generation policy)
that are less harmful to the
environment and the climate.

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A sustainable economy must
be diverse and not heavily
weighted on the direct
export of energy derived
from our natural resources.
CUPE recognizes that
while energy is integral
to economic and social
prosperity, it must be
produced and supplied in
a way that is sustainable
and does not compromise
the environment.
• We will promote the
principle that access to
energy – especially public
energy – is a human right.
• We will work to keep
energy generation and
transmission public and
promote public renewable
energy, including
advocating for bringing
energy generation and
transmission back into
public ownership and
control where it has
been privatized. Publiclyowned energy utilities
have lower rates, ensuring
more affordable access
to energy than private
electrical utilities, which
typically have higher rates.
• We will support renewable
energy that has a less
harmful impact on
the climate and the
environment.

• We will encourage a
rapid move away from
non-renewable, fossil fuel
derived forms of energy
to democratic, newer,
green energy solutions.
• We will work to ensure
that Indigenous territorial
rights are respected
according to the United
Nations Declaration on
the Rights of Indigenous
People, and recognize
that they have a right
to free, informed prior
consent to any energy
project developments
on those lands. We will
also work to ensure
clear processes are in
place for sustainable
and clean Indigenous
energy development for
the benefit of Indigenous
communities and workers.
• We will support phasing
out fossil fuel use in all its
forms over a timeframe
consistent with the need
to sharply cut GHGs to
net zero. We will oppose
federal fossil fuel subsidies
and incentives. Fossil fuel
use is incompatible with
solving the climate crisis.
• We will promote energy
conservation in all CUPE
workplaces.

• We will reduce and
minimize energy use
through efficient CUPE
operational practices.

5.4 Waste and
environmental toxins
Waste must be reduced and
natural resources need to
be conserved. A society that
over consumes depletes it
resources and contaminates
its air, water and soil with
the waste that results.
Waste can be reduced by
consuming less, reducing
excess packaging, changing
industrial processes, and
diverting materials to
recycling and composting
streams that create good
green public sector jobs.
The plastic waste crisis has
grown enormously in recent
years and must be fixed.

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• We will support all
efforts to reduce,
eliminate and ban plastics
in our workplaces and
municipalities to help
stop plastic waste from
despoiling our waterways
and, most significantly,
our oceans. We call
for industrial fishing to
develop new methods
to ensure no plastic
waste enters the ocean
from their operations.

Environmental toxins are
harmful to human health and
to the natural environment
and must be eliminated.
Large resource and industrial
enterprises produce huge
amounts of waste and
environmental toxins. These
sectors of our economy must
be at the leading edge of
waste reduction and cleaner
industrial practices.
CUPE promotes efficient
use of resources to decrease
waste and the proliferation
of environmental toxins,
while ensuring that waste
collection and diversion work
is kept in the public sector.
• We will promote waste
reduction and encourage
recycling, composting
and all effective waste
diversion methods.

• We will demand
governments institute
serious and effective
plastic waste reduction
and elimination strategies
by targeting the main
contributors to the
problem: industrial-scaled
fishing operations as well
as plastic packaging in
all its forms.
• We will promote
rigorous regulations and
standards to eliminate
toxic substances. We will
support municipal bans
on toxic pesticides.
• We will promote
substitution of toxic
substances and
products with more
environmentally-benign
alternatives.
• We will support
campaigns and programs
to buy local and buy
toxic-free.

• We will encourage the
adoption of regulations
to make polluters pay the
full costs of their products
via extended producer
responsibility programs
to fund publicly-provided
recycling and waste
systems.
• We will promote efficient
and full use of consumer
products and oppose
the disposable culture
mentality in areas such as
clothing, footwear, plastic
containers, furniture,
building materials and
many other products.

5.5 Green jobs
and greening the
workplace
Good environmental
choices are good for
job growth and human
development. There are
opportunities – particularly
in the public sector – to
protect our environment
while creating good, green
jobs at the municipal level,
in transportation, renewable
energy, and other sectors.
Our current jobs can be
improved by reducing their
environmental impact.
CUPE members can push
for changes to green their
workplaces and improve
the environmental record
of CUPE work. We have

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to change in two ways:
promoting jobs that are
better for the environment
and making existing jobs
better for the environment.

as jobs in urban design,
urban landscaping and
forestry, infrastructure
resiliency, and other forms
of work that will come
online in a changing
climate.

CUPE calls for greener work
practices in existing CUPE
jobs and a just transition to
good green jobs that reduce
the environmental harm
of all forms of work in the
Canadian economy.
• We will promote all facets
of greening the workplace,
such as through green
bargaining language,
workplace environmental
stewards and committees,
workplace environmental
policies, green audits,
and other programs.
Whatever workplace
CUPE members work in,
these steps, if taken, can
have a significant positive
environmental impact.
• We will encourage good
green job growth while
simultaneously making
existing CUPE work
greener.
• We will promote just
transition strategies
for workers and their
communities that will help
train and prepare workers
for meaningful work in a
new, green economy.

5.6 Just Transition

• We will promote all facets
of green jobs, including
jobs that directly help to
clean up the environment
(e.g., in recycling and
reusing waste), jobs
that protect and restore
ecosystems, jobs that
spread information that
is needed to improve our
environmental record,
and jobs in production
in a new green economy,
such as in new energy
efficiency technology,
energy efficiency building
inspectors, manufacturing,
and other types of work.
• We will promote public
sector job growth via
jobs necessary for climate
change adaptation, such

The shift toward a zerocarbon economy will mean
significant changes that will
affect working people. But
it must be a just transition
to minimize impacts
on workers and their
communities. It must also
help generate new jobs.
A just transition strategy
is an environmental and
economic program aimed
at helping workers retain
work as the economy
shifts to greener ways of
working. Just transition is an
internationally-recognized
trade union priority. It
has been enshrined as a
principle, for example, in the
United Nations framework
agreement on climate
change negotiated in 2015,
the Paris Climate Agreement.
This resulted from trade
unionists pushing for its
inclusion.

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Just transition is focussed
on economic shifts due
to environmental reasons
and the push for more
sustainable ways of working.
Just transition is based on
many principles, including
worker consultation, new
education, retraining,
reskilling programs, as well
as strategies to identify
opportunities for new
work. It is a tool to help
smooth the shift toward a
more sustainable society,
while working to ensure
the benefits of economic
transformation are shared by
all workers. Just transition
has among its goals decent
work for all, social inclusion,
and the eradication of
poverty.

• We will demand the
federal government
follow through on its
commitment to establish
just transition legislation
to help guide Canada’s
move to a zero-carbon
economy.

CUPE recognizes that
governments have a
role to play in economic
transformation and must
take responsibility for
adverse impacts and find
ways to minimize the
damage on workers and their
communities. Specifically,
governments have a duty
to support those negatively
affected by the move to a
zero-carbon economy. In this
necessary move to a greener
economy, we cannot leave
workers behind.

• We will demand that just
transition strategies be
fair, inclusive, and based
on open communication
and collaborative planning
with all affected workers
and their community
members, including with
their unions.

• We will promote just
transition strategies as
part of the solution to
the climate crisis.
• We will support new
public sector jobs that
will help drive Canada’s
economy to eliminate
greenhouse gases and
cut emissions to net zero.
• We will educate CUPE
members on the benefits
of effective just transition
strategies and programs.

• We will encourage all
levels of government to
establish transition centres
in communities with
affected workers, rather
than distant supports, so
that workers can get oneon-one, local assistance.

• We will demand that just
transition programs use or
build on existing skills that
workers have and aim to
earn comparable wages
and benefits. Programs
must take an inventory
of workers’ skill sets to
get a sense of where
prospects for new work
exist and can happen.
• We will promote the idea
of people working in
their own communities.
Transition programs will
be more successful if there
is as little socio-economic
and geographic upheaval
as possible.

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5.7 Environmental
and climate justice
Environmental racism
is a form of systemic
racism that results in the
disproportionate exposure
of Indigenous, Black, and
other racialized communities
to environmental hazards.
It includes industrial,
environmental, and other
policies and practices that
lead to environmentallyhazardous sites in close
proximity to Black,
Indigenous and racialized
communities. Environmental
hazards associated with
environmental racism include
polluting industries, landfills,
toxic waste disposal sites,
garbage dumps, noise from
ground transportation, such
as highways and trains,

and other harmful activities
that add to community
contamination and pollution.

CUPE calls for steps to
advance environmental and
climate justice.

Environmental racism
and its impacts can
be severe and lead to
overall negative health
outcomes for community
members. Marginalized
communities lack political
power to take on or resist
industries, corporations
and government officials
determining the fate of their
communities. Environmental
racism is not a practice
that can be remedied
overnight. There is a need
for environmental justice
strategies to address the
root causes of environmental
racism and through ensuring
that Indigenous, Black and
other racialized communities
make the decisions that
impact their communities.

• We will promote training
and awareness on
environmental racism
and environmental justice
as a strategy to address
environmental racism.

The climate movement
is rooted in justice for all,
including youth and future
generations. Abiding by
CUPE’s commitment to a
seven-generations approach
and recognizing that the
climate crisis will persist for
centuries, CUPE must work
with partners in the climate
justice movement to make
the future fair for all and help
ensure everyone can live in a
stable geophysical climate.

– Collect information
and statistics relating
to the location of
environmental hazards.

• We will support
Indigenous, Black and
racialized communities
led consultations
on environmental
assessments.
• We will support
local, national, and
global coalitions for
environmental justice.
• We will encourage
governments to:

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– Examine the link
between race, socioeconomic status and
environmental risk.

– Collect information
and statistics relating
to negative health
outcomes in
communities that
have been affected by
environmental racism.

– Ensure access to clean
air, land and water to
affected communities.
– Provide compensation
to individuals and
affected communities
and ongoing funding
as needed.
• We will work with
international partners
in the climate justice
movement, including
youth, student, and
Indigenous groups, to
help establish a stable
climate and a global
zero-carbon economy that
benefits all humans and
all living things on earth.

Conclusion:
CUPE commits to confronting the climate crisis
This policy looks outward from CUPE and describes a way forward for taking on today’s
critical environmental issues, such as climate change, which requires immediate action
to cut greenhouse gases and adapt to an already-changing climate. The policy generates
momentum to act on environmental issues. CUPE will also apply an environmental lens
to all we do.
Confronting the climate crisis, we will help build an equitable, safe, clean, and ecologically
sustainable future for all people and for all living things. Humans must restore a balanced
and respectful relationship with the natural world.
CUPE will build on the strong steps that it has already taken (e.g., greener CUPE office
buildings, less travel, materials conservation, greener meetings and conventions) to
further improve our environmental performance.

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What can I do now?
So, you’ve read the policy and now you wonder what’s next. What can you do
immediately? Here are a few ideas.
• Talk to your local president or executive to set up an environment committee
in your workplace. For tips on how to create such committee, have a look
at this fact sheet: cupe.ca/greening-workplace
• Host a climate change discussion in your workplace using
CUPE climate change education/discussion tool:
https://cupe.ca/how-lead-workplace-discussion-climate-change
• Volunteer to be your local’s contact on environmental issues.
Connect with CUPE National’s network of environmental activists.
Simply send an email to: enviro@cupe.ca
• Assess the environmental record of your workplace with this simple tool:
cupe.ca/forms/ecoaudit.php
• Organize an event or workshop to present and discuss this
CUPE environment policy with your co-workers. Start a conversation.
Keep us informed: enviro@cupe.ca
• Participate in local Earth Day events (or other environmental days of action).
Take photos and videos you can share.
• Join forces with climate and environmental allies in your community
to fight for climate justice.

i

This policy was developed in response to Resolution #94 from 2011 CUPE National Convention. It was developed from a two-day
meeting of approximately fifty members and staff, with input from a wide cross-section of our union, including representatives of the
CUPE National Environment Committee, National Aboriginal Council, energy workers, the National Young Workers Committee and others.

ii

www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov (retrieve April 2021).

iii

Peters, G.P., Andrew, R.M., Boden, T., Canadell, J.G., Ciais, P., Le Quere, C., Marland, G., Raupach, M.R., & Wilson, C.: “The challenge
to keep global warming below 2°C” Nature Climate Change, London, Vol. 3, No. 1, January 2013.

iv

Schaeffer, M., Hare, W., Rahmstorf, S. & Vermeer, M., “Long-term sea level rise implied by 1.5°C and 2°C warming levels”
Nature Climate Change, London, Vol. 2, No. 12, December 2012.

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