Climate change mitigation to create new jobs - DOLE

MANILA, Philippines - After causing disasters, climate change is expected to bring about a new breed of jobs for Filipinos.

According to Labor Undersecretary Lourdes Trasmonte, the government is now looking at the emergence of new kinds of employment as a result of ongoing efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Trasmonte said protecting the country’s environment from the negative effects of climate change would require new skills in different industries.

She said the shift to more environment-friendly industries would also pave the way for a new pattern of production and give rise to new demand for labor.

“There are new skills to be needed by the industry and these are what we are calling green jobs or those that contribute substantially to preserving or restoring the environment,” she said.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the country’s different industries must shift to a new pattern of production and consumption to protect the environment.

She said the business community must adopt measures for productivity improvement and resource efficiency that would create demand for these new skills.

An initial study undertaken by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), new jobs likely to emerge are those involved in solid waste management, renewable energy, natural resources preservation, and disaster risk reduction management.

But Trasmonte said the DOLE is still in the process of identifying jobs that could be eliminated and those to be created as the government promotes environment-friendly programs.

“While jobs could be eliminated, there could also be transformation and creation of new skills that are more environment-friendly like we are looking at jobs to be produced through waste management,” she said.

Trasmonte said the government is also still determining the actual number of green jobs to be generated and is now drafting a national action agenda to promote these green jobs.