RP eyes more 'green jobs' to help protect environment

NEW YORK CITY — The Philippines will do well to creat more “green jobs” to help reduce the environmental footprint of economic activity, according to a report presented during the recently concluded 63rd UN General Assembly.

The report noted that there are a lot of positive development resulting from of moves to promote green jobs,” which can be found in many sectors of the economy — from energy supply to recycling, and from agriculture and construction to transportation.

These jobs help reduce the consumption of energy, raw materials and water through high-efficiency strategies. They also help de-carbonize the economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and minimize or avoid altogether all forms of waste and pollution to protect and restore ecosystems and biodiversity.

While the impact of the green jobs to the economy may be gradual and can vary widely, they can help preserve and restore the quality of the environment, the report pointed out.

Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes has been supportive of efforts to mitigate the impact of global climate change being a former environment secretary before assuming his current post.

In a report during last month’s Philippine Economic Briefing, the energy chief cited the need for immediate and strategic intervention such as energy efficiency and conservation to address high fuel prices and climate change concerns.

Millions of green jobs are already in existence, and in areas like renewable energy their numbers are growing fast.

On the local front, Reyes acknowledged the importance of pushing for the utilization of renewable energy sources.

“The government is facilitating the transition of our energy sector to a sustainable system by developing renewable energy as a viable and competitive fuel option,” Reyes said.

In a World Watch Institute report disseminated during the UN General Assembly, another sector where forecasts of green jobs are possible is renewable energy.

The WWI report said investment in renewable energy is booming, surging from $10 billion in 1998 to at least $66 billion in 2007, equivalent to 18 percent of all energy investments.

The report estimated that this will soar to $343 billion in 2020 and to almost $630 billion by 2030.

“It may be noted that in the past even optimistic predictions concerning the development of renewables have consistently been exceeded. Projected investments would translate into at least 20 million additional jobs in the sector, making it a much larger source of employment than today’s fossil energy industry (mining, petroleum extraction, refining and fossil power generation), which inspite of rising production, have been shedding jobs through technological advances,” the WWI report noted.

Reyes believes that the development of renewable energy would relatively improve in the longer term.

“Fortunately, geographic circumstance has made the Philippines a potential center of renewable energy development. Under the government’s Renewable Energy Policy Framework, the Department of Energy has set two long-term goals – to increase RE-based capacity by 100 percent within the next 10 years and to increase non-power contribution to the energy mix by 10 million barrels of fuel oil equivalent in the next 10 years,” Reyes added.

The WWI study took note of the major contribution that green jobs can make to clean economic growth in developing countries and to a broad-based improvement of the standards of living among large parts of the population in poor countries.

“Renewable energy provided for the poor in Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Mali,” the study said.

According to the study, the number of green jobs already reported and expected to be created is substantial, but modest in relation to the total size of the global labor force of over three billion.

“In addition, not all of these jobs are additional jobs, as major gains and losses can take place in other parts of the economy. The significance of green jobs there can only be appreciated by taking a broader look at the transformation of a green economy,” it added.