GENEVA (ILO News) – According to a new report from the International Labor Organization (ILO), business can play a key role in protecting the environment and creating a just transition based on equity and the participation of all The interested parts.
Greening Enterprises: Transforming processes and workplaces (Green Businesses: Transforming Workplaces and Processes) is the first ILO study focused specifically on the “green” transition of companies. According to this study, an increasing number of companies are taking steps to reduce carbon emissions in response to scarcity of resources, the frequency of natural disasters, and the exhortation of consumers and customers to take an earlier stance with regarding climate issues. Since the 2010s, with the holding of the Conference and the adoption of the Paris Agreement, these issues have become more and more important.
The determinants of the greening of companies include regulations on sustainable transport and the sustainable use of resources in the workplace, legislation governing public procurement, the organization of working time, teleworking and the model of sustainable companies, concludes the report.
In the words of Catherine Saget, head of the ILO’s Income and Employment Equity team, the team that wrote the report, “the values of employers and the desire of workers to work in a healthy working environment are powerful drivers of change for green companies”.
The report notes that two-thirds of the regulations in force in 2019 were implemented after 2004, an indication of the extensive adaptation effort by companies in all regions in that period.
The values of employers and the desire of workers to work in a healthy work environment are powerful drivers of change for green companies.”
Catherine Saget, head of the ILO Income and Labor Equity team
For example, in 2021, nine out of ten companies surveyed by the Eurobarometer (a survey carried out by the European Union that also covers candidate countries, such as Turkey, and the US), indicated that they were adopting measures towards the ecological transition although the percentage of companies varied between 99 per cent in Norway and 58 per cent in Albania.
In lower-middle and upper-middle-income countries outside of Europe, most formal sector companies are also taking steps towards the green transition. The 65 countries and territories analyzed for the report are from Asia, Europe and Latin America, the regions most active in promoting workplace sustainability.
The study found that larger companies are more likely to take measures to make efficient use of resources and offer green products and services, in part because green technology is more readily available and they have more legal obligations. But many micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (mypimes) are also applying measures to save energy and resources, and waste management.
Both workers and employers increasingly say that greening workplaces is important to them, including issues such as sustainable transport, sustainable resource consumption, waste management, work organization and food sustainable at work.
However, companies have to overcome many obstacles to transform. Problems for multinationals include uncertainty about climate policies, limited availability of green technology, and doubts about return on investment. MSMEs face problems such as limited availability of finance and skills, lack of information and knowledge about innovation, and inconsistent application of regulations.
The report includes recommendations to help companies adopt environmentally sound practices and achieve a just transition. These include, inter alia: promoting a business-friendly environment by improving policy and regulatory frameworks; greater clarity before companies and other agents about the strategy; helps managers and workers prepare for the effects on employment, skills and wages (both in sectors that need to be reduced and those where jobs will be created), and fights against gender segregation , among other things, through training, so that women can benefit from the creation of green jobs.