As the effects of climate change and environmental degradation are increasingly affecting the world of work, the involvement of ILO constituents in devising pro-active strategies is critical. Inversely, employment policies that ignore climate change and environmental risks may not achieve their objectives. This is the case with strategies and investments in sectors and enterprises that are not sustainable in the medium to long term given their exposure to climate risks (e.g., droughts, floods, increased heat) or due to practices that contaminate or deteriorate the natural capital upon which they depend (e.g., agriculture without soil conservation, over-fishing or excessive deforestation). In the past decade, a growing number of National Employment Policies (NEPs) have reflected on the need to safeguard national resources and enhance environmentally sustainability as a prerequisite for achieving employment targets. In more and more countries, staff of Ministries of Labour and Social Partners wish to improve their technical capacity around climate change and just transitions and related policy responses.

The aim of the Guidelines is to assist ILO constituents and supporting technical specialists to design and implement employment policies that enhance a green recovery from the Covid-19 crisis and also contribute to a just transition over the long term. They are intended to help shape NEPs to strive towards decent and productive employment with particular focus on “green jobs” that simultaneously contribute to achieving the targets of emission reductions consistent with the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and other sustainability objectives.