Business involvement in climate change mitigation and adaptation programmes is urgent and important.

This was the strong message driven by the recent partnership of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) with La Liga in promoting ADAPTAYO.

AdapTayo is a multi-sectoral Information, Education, and Communication (IEC) Programme, an advocacy campaign aimed at influencing people’s behavior in relation to climate change. Developed by the Joint Programme of the Millennium Development Goal Achievement Fund (MDGF): 1656, AdapTayo seeks to strengthen the institutional capacity of the different sectors of society to adapt to climate change. Inspired by the words “adapt” and the Filipino word “tayo” with its double meaning of togetherness and standing up).

La Liga or the La Liga Policy Institute, Inc. is a development organization promoting reform interventions for effective governance towards sustainable urban and rural development. It has been contracted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to provide technical assistance in implementing “Outcome 2” of the “Millennium Development Goal-Fund 1656 Joint Program on Strengthening Philippine Institutional Capacity to Adapt to Climate Change”.

La Liga’s mandate is to help organize awareness-raising activities on climate change adaptation such as forums, RTDs and workshops as part of the ADAPTAYO advocacy campaign, targeting specifically national and local policy makers and executives and leaders of the private sector and the civil society. It does this by “partnering” with organized groups or associations representing various sectors in society. ECOP is the AdapTayo partner representing the business community.

Among the lessons for the business sector resulting from ECOP’s involvement in ADAPTAYO promoted by La Liga, as summarized by Dr. Rene Ofreneo and lawyer Alberto Quimpo, ECOP Corporate Secretary (both of them were involved in ECOP and La Liga consultations with the business sector), are as follows:

• Business involvement in both mitigation and adaptation programmes is urgent and important. A big challenge in the Philippines is how to make greener existing industries, agriculture and services, and the jobs in these sectors, greener.
• Going green/greener is a must for businesses. And this is doable, if CEOs have the will. The various case studies discussed in the RTDs show that this is indeed doable and even desirable, from the perspective of the company’s bottomline. Enviromentalism can not be compartmentalized. It should be company-wide. Hence, training and re-training are important.
• Enlightened and environmentally-friendly businesses can provide green/greener transformation leadership for the nation. For this, however, social dialogue, capacity building and social partnership with all stakeholders are needed, which is what AdapTayo is all about

ECOP Green Initiatives

The AdapTayo Programme blends well with and reinforces ECOP’s existing programme on sustainable business and the economy. Among others, ECOP is actively involved in the following:

Greener Business Asia Project

The Greener Business Asia (GBA) Project is an initiative of the International Labor Organization (ILO) aimed at promoting capacity building and social dialogue to support greener workplaces and sustainable enterprises, which is a key to ensuring inclusive and job-full growth and development in the region

At the enterprise level, ECOP and ILO are piloting this programme in the automotive industry, through the industry’s auto assemblers and auto parts manufacturers. The piloting project aims to build up the capacity of enterprises to green their workplaces by adopting environmentally-sound practices and technologies to achieve both business viability and sustainable development.

Ultimately, it is expected that ECOP shall be able to provide advisory services to its members in various industries. Specifically, ECOP shall set up Green Information Services, which shall enable ECOP members to have easy access on information resources related to resource efficiency and good environmental practices.

Green Jobs in Asia Project

The Green Jobs in Asia (GJA) Project is another ILO initiative, which seeks to deepen the ILO constituents’ understanding and commitment in the promotion of gender-sensitive green job creation opportunities and the crafting of a just transition for workers and employers towards a low-carbon, climate-resilient, environmentally-friendly development.

The GJA Project supports ECOP’s capacity in crafting and facilitating just transition measures for enterprises, as they move from business as usual to more environmentally-friendly business arrangements, which result in triple dividends -- profit, resource efficiency and workers well-being. ECOP’s overarching goal is to contribute to the ongoing business efforts to adapt, innovate, and create new but environmentally-friendly goods and services for an emerging eco-market.