Problem

The Philippines is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to climate change, and as of 2015 was one of just eight countries to have a nationally determined contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement compatible with keeping global warming below 2°C. A comprehensive climate policy agenda was put in place in 2015, integrated with the Philippine Development Plan.

As of 2011, 9.3 million Filipinos worked in the high-emissions sectors, with inadequate respect for workers’ rights in many cases. In 2016, the Philippines was ranked the second-lowest of six categories in workers’ rights by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

If handled wrong, the country’s ambitious climate target would pose a risk of social disruption and job losses.

Responses

In April 2016, the Philippines passed the Green Jobs Act to promote sustainable growth, create decent jobs, and build resilience against climate change through incentives to businesses generating green jobs. The Act also provided specific financial incentives for green job creation, including tax deductions (equivalent to 50% of total cost) for skills training, research and development for green jobs, and tax-free imports of capital equipment that would be used directly and exclusively to promote green jobs.

The Government of the Philippines also joined Ghana and Uruguay in a pilot implementation of the ILO’s Just Transition Guidelines from June 2016 to December 2017. Social dialogues with workers and community representatives were conducted, resulting in a set of implementation rules and regulations for the Green Jobs Act. Other notable outcomes from the pilot include formulating the National Green Jobs Human Resource Development Plan, a Just Transition Framework for mining communities, and a series of multistakeholder forums to gather input on green jobs policies and systems, including financial incentives and metrics for assessing green jobs.

Find out more: World Resources Institute, International Labour Organisation