ILS Executive Director Jeanette T. Damo emphasized that Green Jobs are environment- and climate-responsive jobs that are also decent during the Green Economy Programme for the Philippines (GEPP) Technical Working Group (TWG) meeting, held on March 11, 2025 at the Department of Trade and Industry – Board of Investment Office.

The TWG Meeting is convened to commence the implementation of the GEPP Strategic Outcome (SO) 3 this year. GEPP SO3 focuses on greening businesses, infrastructure and finance, including micro, small, and medium enterprises. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) together with Expertise France lead the implementation of the GEPP SO3.

During the meeting, Executive Director Damo clarified that the green jobs definition in the log frame must be aligned with the definition of the Philippine Green Jobs Act of 2016. She also mentioned that SO3's target must be enhanced into green jobs sustained and created. This ensures alignment with the Philippine Development Plan and Philippine Labor and Employment Plan 2023-2028 targets.

Furthermore, Executive Director Damo recommended that recycling roadmap to consider those jobs and industries undergoing and affected by green transitions. She also suggested to include labor dimension criteria (OSH, just transition mechanism) for solid waste management projects to be selected as part of public-private partnership (PPP) in view of the GEPP SO3 outcome on green jobs generation.  

Expertise France reported that it will engage with DOLE in the coming weeks to discuss the Department's study on informal waste workers as part of the waste workers' diagnostic. Meanwhile, DTI also said that a meeting with DOLE will be arranged to discuss the latter's existing research on Just Transition Pathway of MSMEs. The GEPP SO3 is part of the Green Economy Programme for the Philippines worth PHP 3.65 billion grant. ILS together with Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and Bureau of Local Employment represent DOLE in this working group.

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