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Thanks to a strong partnership and support from the Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety of Germany, PAGE is announcing the first wave of green recovery funds for five partner countries — Senegal, Argentina, South Africa, Brazil (Mato Grosso) and Thailand. With funding support first announced in July at the High Level Political Forum, PAGE has since engaged across its five UN agencies along with UN Resident Coordinators and government ministries to develop country-specific proposals for additional support — with all proposals targeting actions that will fuel green and inclusive recoveries from the impacts of COVID-19. Thanks to this coordinated effort, these targeted green recovery funds will be disbursed by the end of the year.  

After conducting a rapid Needs Assessment Survey and tracking impacts in a Data Observatory of its 20 partner countries, PAGE has been able to assist in identifying areas where support for green recovery would be most impactful.   

Through wide engagement on the country-level, this additional PAGE support mechanism will be aiding efforts led by and embedded within each country context — being both demand-driven and tactical for maximum effect. With this, PAGE is answering the call to be a catalyst for green recovery at the global level: named within “A UN framework for the immediate socio-economic response to COVID-19” to support the development of green stimulus packages (p 18).  

PAGE and Cambridge Econometrics (CE) have partnered to conduct a modeling exercise analyzing and comparing the potential immediate to long-term impacts of varying recovery scenarios. Focusing on multisectoral impacts, employment, resource-efficiency and nature, the analysis will specifically compare brown recovery scenarios and Inclusive Green Economy recovery scenarios - providing global guidance and messaging, supporting a future that would reverse current unsustainable practices.

The approach is two-fold: there will be research to provide global estimates, which can give broader messages regarding COVID-19 recovery scenarios, as well as research which focuses on two PAGE countries, to analyze spending plans and multisectoral impacts in detail, eventually providing targeted policy advice. 

CE will use its own global assessment model, E3ME, which will also receive inputs on the biodiversity components of the modelling scenarios, which will be provided by UNEP-WCMC.     

The E3ME model covers world GDP, CO2, energy, jobs and trade for around 40 industries in each country. Aggregating all countries and industries, E3ME will assess global social, economic and environmental outcomes of green vs brown recovery spending. With the bottom-up research, PAGE and CE plan to engage national stakeholders at the outset, building the national model in unison. Through this engagement on the national level, the goal is to provide a truly evidence-based analysis of alternative policies to reach inclusive green economy objectives, such as job gains, GDP and CO2 reductions. The input and output indicators will be defined by the respective government. 

This project is currently ongoing and scheduled for completion in December 2020 with the findings being reported in early 2021. For more information, please contact Marek Harsdorff, harsdorff@ilo.org or Ade Odegbile, adebiyi.odegbile@un.org.

Through knowledge development and capacity-building with studies, diagnostic tools and workshops, Argentina’s green economy transformation is well-underway with the support of PAGE. In July, the Country Diagnostic Tool on the Labour Market, Green Jobs and Circular Economy has been finalized on behalf of the ILO, as well as the Stocktaking Study and Report. The two documents were developed in collaboration with National Universities and validated at a workshop on 24 July, where they were discussed with the National Entities, Trade Unions representatives, Employer´s representatives, NGOs and the UN System.  

Supporting capacity-building, a training workshop was held under the frame of the Argentine Network of Municipalities against Climate Change (RAMCC), a signatory to the Global Covenant of Mayors, which involves 140 municipalities on local Government Options for Green Jobs. PAGE Argentina National Coordinator Joaquin Etorena facilitated the workshop together with ILO Employment Specialist Christoph Ernst, discussing how to begin the transition to a green economy and focused on the areas of agro-ecological production, eco-design, recycling, solar energy, energy efficiency, and sustainable tourism services, among others.  

Operating under the framework of the Global Covenant of Mayors, the Argentinian Network of Municipalities facing Climate Change (RAMCC), which hosted the training workshop, supports coordination and promotion of local public policies fighting climate change in Argentina's cities and towns. 

In addition, a seminar was delivered in July by PAGE to the ACUMAR Basin authority, a multi governmental authority in charge of the recovery of one of the most contaminated regions in Argentina, home to 12 departments and more than 5 million inhabitants. The ACUMAR Basin, located at the industrial belt of the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area and previously used as a discharge site for industrial waste and sewage, is a highly complex territory. The ongoing process of sanitation and environmental restoration requires a permanent exercise of integration of different approaches and dimensions: environmental, economic, productive, social and cultural.  

PAGE Argentina continues on its path of capacity-building activities, which engaged tripartite constituents to the ILO International Labour Convention, Government representatives from the Ministries of Environment, Production, Labour, Trade Union Centrals and Employers representations, into various trainings of the International Training Center of the ILO this year. Courses on Green Jobs for Sustainable Development as well as on Management of Just Transition policies have been actively assisted, and a first tripartite draft for a Just Transition Strategy was presented to partners and colleagues around the world in this frame. 

Further, PAGE Argentina has supported the Institute of the World of Labour (IMT) of the National University UNTREF, providing a seminar on global challenges for Just Transition and green post-pandemic recovery by the National Coordinator of PAGE Argentina and the ILO Country Director. The IMT is a training platform for Trade Union representatives in the frame of the academic programme “International Trade Union Relations” which is presided on behalf of UNIGLOBAL, one of the mayor international Trade Union Associations. In this frame, PAGE has also provided the opening remarks to the incoming students on behalf of the ILO Director General, Guy Rider, for the present cohort. It is envisioned to continue fostering the relationship between PAGE Argentina and the IMT through the design of specific training modules. 

Moving forward, PAGE Argentina will contribute to a new national strategy that will promote green jobs with the Ministry of Labour, as well as the setup of a Circular Economy Promotion Framework with UNIDO and the Ministry of Production. Additionally, three studies will be starting: a position paper from the Workers Union Centrals on Just Transition, a position paper of the Employer´s Union on Just Transition and a policy document on lessons learned of the COVID-19 response measures for developing Just Transition and Green Recovery policies at the national level. 

Image copyright Rodolfo Morel-ILO