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About the Green Jobs Programme of the ILO
The ILO Green Jobs Programme has been implemented for four years and has been growing steadily in terms of geographic coverage, staff and network linkages. Numerous states raise questions about the potential of a green economy to create productive employment and reduce poverty. This challenge underpins much of the Programme’s efforts to make green jobs a reality.
The Programme operates at various levels:
At the UN level, this includes promoting partnership with other UN agencies, developing common position on relevant international environmental discussions and participating in relevant international conferences. Hence, the ILO also contributed to and participated actively in the Rio+20 conference held in June 2012.
The raising interest among stakeholders and partners on the impact of environmental degradation and climate change on economic activities and employment is answered by the Green Jobs Programme with the provision of training and capacity building. Training programmes, offered at international, regional and national level, aim to provide stakeholders with the necessary knowledge to engage efficiently in labour and environmental policy discussions.
The Initiative was launched to assess, analyse and promote the creation of decent jobs as a consequence of the needed environmental policies to address the global environmental challenges, among others, climate change.
As a result of the partnership, the report “Green Jobs: Towards decent work in a sustainable, low carbon world” was released in 2008. In 2010, as a follow-up to this partnership, the Green Jobs Programme contributed to UNEP’s Green Economy Report and produced a Background on the decent work dimension of the green economy. Shortly before Rio+20, the Green Jobs Initiative launched its second global report on green jobs “Working towards sustainable development. Opportunities for decent work and social inclusion in a green economy”.
The Programme operates at various levels:
- Promotion of international policy coherence through research and advocacy;
- Support to constituents at national level through policy and technical advisory services;
- Capacity development of constituents and partners through training and knowledge sharing.
Promotion of international policy coherence
Enhancing international policy coherence has been considered essential by the ILO constituents to set the path towards sustainable development. The ILO Green Jobs Programme responds to this need by enhancing coherence between economic, environmental and social policies at national and international level.At the UN level, this includes promoting partnership with other UN agencies, developing common position on relevant international environmental discussions and participating in relevant international conferences. Hence, the ILO also contributed to and participated actively in the Rio+20 conference held in June 2012.
Support to constituents at national level
The number of countries the Green Jobs Programme is actively collaborating with increased over the past years and the areas of work cover a great variety. The Programme supports national initiatives through advocacy workshops and capacity building, assessments on green jobs potential, policy advice and strategic planning and implementation of pilot projects in various economic sectors. It also supports local initiatives by promoting green entrepreneurship, the greening of enterprises and local development for adaptation to climate change.Capacity development and knowledge sharing
Since its creation in 2009, the Green Jobs Programme has put emphasis on the creation and exchange of relevant information. In the past years, several knowledge products and tools were produced by the Programme including global, regional and national reports, tools for green jobs assessments, policy papers and strategy notes, case studies, training and awareness raising material as well as general information material.The raising interest among stakeholders and partners on the impact of environmental degradation and climate change on economic activities and employment is answered by the Green Jobs Programme with the provision of training and capacity building. Training programmes, offered at international, regional and national level, aim to provide stakeholders with the necessary knowledge to engage efficiently in labour and environmental policy discussions.
The Green Jobs Network
The Green Jobs Programme initiated ILO internal networks on Green Jobs with the aim to better mainstream environmental issues into the different ILO programmes and projects. Regular network meetings at Headquarters and regional level ensure strong cooperation between the different departments and have led to joint actions.The Green Jobs Initiative
The Green Jobs Initiative is a partnership established in 2007 between the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Labour Organization (ILO), and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). The International Organization of Employers (IOE) joined the Initiative in 2008.The Initiative was launched to assess, analyse and promote the creation of decent jobs as a consequence of the needed environmental policies to address the global environmental challenges, among others, climate change.
As a result of the partnership, the report “Green Jobs: Towards decent work in a sustainable, low carbon world” was released in 2008. In 2010, as a follow-up to this partnership, the Green Jobs Programme contributed to UNEP’s Green Economy Report and produced a Background on the decent work dimension of the green economy. Shortly before Rio+20, the Green Jobs Initiative launched its second global report on green jobs “Working towards sustainable development. Opportunities for decent work and social inclusion in a green economy”.