THE imminent threat of climate change and the mass labor displacement caused by business disruptions from the pandemic have reinvigorated the government efforts to push for the creation of more “green jobs.”
Unfortunately, Republic Act 107741 or the Green Jobs Act, which was supposed to help in that initiative, has yet to be fully implemented six years after it was signed by former President Benigno S. Aquino III.
In his speech at the 55th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. reiterated that his administration will aim for creating a “green sustainable and climate-resilient” economy.
He said this will boost international efforts to address rising sea levels and the increasing incidents of destructive extreme weather, which scientific experts attributed to climate change.
Marcos also hoped that “greening” specific parts of the economy like the energy industry will reduce the number of unemployed workers, which remained at 2.6 million as of July 2022.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated the so-called green economy is expected to generate between 15 million and 60 million jobs worldwide by 2030.
Green Jobs Act
RA 107741 aims to establish the National Green Jobs Human Resource Development Plan (NGJ-HRD) and provide incentives to employers who will engage in green practices and industries.
These incentives include fiscal and nonfiscal, such as a special deduction from taxable income, equivalent to 50 percent, for skills training and research and development expenses, as well as tax- and duty-free importation of capital equipment.
Under the Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 107741, as issued by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in 2017, the Climate Change Commission (CCC) was tasked to develop the standards that government will use to assess the qualified applicants for the incentives.
But in an e-mail to the BusinessMirror in August, CCC Development Management Officer Arnold G. Belver said they are still finalizing their “green thresholds” mandated by the said legislation.
“We are currently in the process of completing the data sets in the so-called ‘green thresholds’ of industry activities, and fine-tuning development and regulatory aspects of the draft guidelines and standards for the assessment and certification of green goods and services, and green technologies and practices for the purpose of regulating the availment of incentives, and ensuring green jobs content pursuant to the National Green Jobs Human Resource Development Plan spearheaded by the DOLE,” Belver said.
Among the challenges CCC faces in crafting the said standards were the overlapping provisions of RA 107741 with RA 11534 or the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act (CREATE), particularly those involved in the processes and innovations related to environmental protection systems and sustainability strategies.
The quarantine restrictions, which took effect during the onset of the pandemic, also caused delays in the consultations held by CCC for RA 107741.
The thresholds should have been completed by the CCC 120 days after the effectiveness of the IRR.
As of October 3, 2022, the CCC said the thresholds are still pending.
Just transition
THE former dean of the University of the Philippines-School of Labor and Industrial Relations (UP-SOLAIR), Rene E. Ofreneo, lamented the long delay in the full implementation of RA 107741, saying it would have encouraged more employers to create green jobs.
The legislation defined green jobs as “decent and productive employment that contributes to preserving or restoring the quality of the environment.”
“The vision and program of CCC [regarding RA 107741] will be critical for the green transformation of the economy,” Ofreneo said.
Aside from providing incentives to the private sector to adopt more sustainable measures, he said the law should also facilitate the “just transition” of workers from traditional less efficient and carbon-emitting activities, which are being phased out, to jobs with more sustainable operations.
The NGJ-HRD, which was finalized by DOLE in 2020, stipulates the importance of facilitating such transition through the consultation and capacity building of all tripartite stakeholders, including the affected workers, before the implementation of any economic restructuring to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Through such transition, the government will establish a framework to ensure the displaced workers will still enjoy basic labor rights through employment-centered macroeconomic policies and environmental regulations.
In his 2019 paper titled “Is the Philippines Getting Green and Just? A Baseline Study on the Application of Just Transition Framework in the Philippines,” labor leader Wilson Fortaleza noted that such a framework is currently lacking in the local power and transportation sector.
“The lack of a just transition process in the power sector was due to the fact that there was no phaseout plan for fossil fuels to begin with, while the continuing dispute between the government and the transport sector on PUV [public utility vehicle] modernization also points to a shoddy process as well as fear of economic dislocation among PUV drivers,” Fortaleza said.
Both sectors, he said, are currently the top sources of carbon emissions in the country.
He estimates around 4,500 workers employed in the power sector, and 3.2 million in the PUV sectors, will be affected if the government decides to decommission coal power plants and modernize PUVs, respectively, as part of efforts to achieve its carbon emissions reduction targets.
Implementation challenges
BESIDES incentivizing the creation of green jobs and ensuring the rights and welfare of affected workers are protected, the NGJ-HRD also contained capacity-building provisions.
A study conducted by the Institute of Labor Studies (ILS), an attached agency of DOLE, disclosed that a major challenge in promoting green jobs is the lack of professionals and workers with skills and competencies, which are necessary for implementing “environmentally sustainable activities, products and services.”
The said activities include mitigation actions (activities, products and services to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases); adaptation to climate change and disaster risk management; protection of the ecosystems and habitats and prevention of land degradation from human activities; efficiency of water and natural resources management; pollution prevention and control; environmental compliance; education and training; and public awareness.
The Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) said these emerging demands from employers have led to the creation of “green occupations,” such as Solid Waste Management Equipment Operator, Recycling Worker, Solar Technician and Urban Gardener, among others.
ILS noted that identifying the skill demands from the private sector will be crucial so schools and technical-vocational training centers could produce graduates to fill the new vacancies.
Other issues that hamper efforts of firms to implement green initiatives are existing regulatory environment constraints for businesses; inefficient infrastructure services, internal conflicts and climate change; and the lack of sustainable actions for enterprises to go green.
The NGJ-HRD has listed the measures to address such challenges, which include environmental education and skills development as well as the integration of green strategies on the industry road maps for the private sector and in the Philippine Development Plan for the public sector.
With the start of the Marcos administration, ILS Executive Director Charisma Lobrin-Satumba said some of the provisions of the plan may have to be updated to fit the current priorities of the present government leadership.
She said this may include the newly signed memorandum of agreement between DOLE and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), wherein emergency employment beneficiaries will be tapped to help in the reforestation efforts.
“The HRD plan, while it was already formulated in 2020, needs to be updated given the transition [in the government]. It will then be shared again with the [21] implementing agencies,” Satumba said.
To further institutionalize the NGJ-HRD, its provisions will be integrated in the new Labor and Employment Plan of DOLE, which is expected to be completed before the end of the year, she said.
Commercial value
BUT even with the delays in the implementation of RA 107441, the National Tripartite Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) said some companies are already engaging in green initiatives, cognizant of its inherent advantages to their operations.
“Business-wise, there is commercial value in going green or adopting green practices/processes as consumers nowadays place a lot of premium in an establishment providing green services and products,” NWPC Executive Director Maria Criselda R. Sy told the BusinessMirror in an email interview.
Likewise, she noted that green practices are also cost-efficient since these involve using locally available resources as well as conservation of energy and materials.
“This is timely amid the rising price of electricity and fuel,” Sy said.
The labor official said NWPC teaches such practices through their 7 S of Good Housekeeping modules (sort, systematize, sweep, standardize, safety, self-discipline, and sustain), which teach employers how to keep their operations clean, organized, systematic and safe—resulting in fewer wastage of raw materials, energy and water in their operations.
“The implementation of productivity programs ultimately aims to improve the bottom line [of the companies], leading to expansion and growth, thus more employment opportunities,” Sy said.
Despite the positive feedback from those who availed themselves of their “greening” modules, NWPC reported that only around 10,000 of the over 900,000 firms nationwide have implemented the programs.
Of these, 3,004 firms applied for NWPC’s Green My Enterprise (ME) module since 2012, while the remaining 7,137 made use of their 7 S of Good Housekeeping module since 2002.
Fortaleza said once the Green Jobs Act takes full effect, it will greatly help in mainstreaming such green activities and generate new employment opportunities.
“Tens of thousands of green and climate jobs can be created depending on what sector, type of technology, level of investment, and the kind of policies and programs the government employs,” Fortaleza said.
Image credits: Cherylramalho | Dreamstime.com, Alejandro P. Echavez, DOLE-IPS