Green jobs: Landscape change in employment

Over the past several years, the country bore witness to how “going green” has shaped and revolutionized the way buildings are structured and how companies conduct their businesses to adopt a triple bottom-line approach.

“Going green” now extends to another crucial aspect in local businesses as this concept is seen to soon change the landscape of employment in the Philippines.

Recently, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE), the Climate Change Commission, the National Youth Commission and labor group Federation of Free Workers (FFW) have begun pushing for the creation of “green jobs” to help increase employment opportunities while helping the country achieve sustainability.

Green jobs, as defined by DoLE, are jobs that reduce environmental impact, contribute to climate change solutions and result not only in environmental but also in economic and social benefits to the community and to the workers.

“Green jobs include those resulting from investments using green technology and green industry practices. It could also be green goods and green services,” says Cynthia Cruz, executive director at the Institute for Labor Studies at DoLE.

“Green jobs could therefore be new or existing jobs and everybody can contribute to the creation and expansion of green jobs,” Cruz adds.

In a paper published by the Institute for Labor Studies titled “From Jobs to Green Jobs: A Just Transition Framework,” Cruz explains that investments in transitioning the economy away from carbon-intensive energy, minimizing degradation of natural resources, maximizing the efficient use of natural capital and protecting people and the planet from pollution and waste can give rise to a new demand for labor.

These green investments are expected to create measurable impacts on employment as these now become the source of new green jobs.

“A green jobs strategy that will propel the move to a low carbon economy should place premium on creativity and innovation and put the general economic pressure for higher level skills and risk-management strategies—all of which need to be better understood if the Philippines is to capitalize on arising opportunities,” Cruz says in a statement.

Renewable Energy: source of green jobs

One of the industries that could contribute immensely to the creation of green jobs over the next several years is the power industry, particularly the renewable energy (RE) industry. And the timing could have not been more perfect.

The Department of Energy (DoE), under the Aquino administration, is pushing for a three-fold increase in the use of RE resources to over 15,000 megawatts within a 20-year period. Thus, there is a great potential to create green jobs in this sector.

Industry estimates showed that once the RE Law will be fully implemented without delay, the industry alone can generate up to 50,000 new jobs over the next 20 years. This assumes that the other emerging technologies such as wind, solar, biomass are also developed.

“Generating renewable energy does not only produce clean energy from sustainable sources that will benefit the community through the protection of the environment. It also creates much needed green jobs for Filipinos,” says Jerome Cainglet, vice president of First Gen Corp., during the recently concluded “1st Philippine Green Jobs Conference.

Cainglet explains that at the peak of the construction of a run-of-river hydropower plant, more than 100 skilled and unskilled workers are expected to be employed. Operation and maintenance will require about 30 employees, excluding those who may be employed from other economic or business activities that could result from the construction and operation of the power plant.

“Green jobs include those in their operations and technical services, administrative works, repairs and maintenance, security, and other support services,” Cainglet adds.

First Gen’s own facilities can help generate these green jobs as the Lopez-led firm is currently the leading clean and renewable energy company in the Philippines. It operates natural gas, geothermal and hydro-power plants across the country and accounts for 18 percent of the country’s total installed capacity.

Similar to what it did for its previous projects, Cainglet says that First Gen can partner with institutions such as the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) to train residents in the host communities to help them acquire the needed skills and qualifications for employment in the projects.

“We give back to the community by working with its members and the relevant government agencies to uplift the quality of life of the project’s host communities with activities such as the conduct of medical missions, livelihood and skills training, watershed management and environmental protection programs,” Cainglet explains.

“First Gen has partnered with various nonprofit institutions to develop and implement projects that have a significant impact in the fields of environmental conservation and education,” he adds.