By Josua Mata, secretary general of Sentro
The 2026 Asean Green Jobs Forum has concluded, but the central question remains unanswered: Where are the industries and investments that will create the green jobs Asean is preparing its workers for?
The Asean Framework and Action Plan for a Just and Inclusive Transition to Green Jobs (2025–2030) provides an important basis for regional cooperation. But a just transition requires more than workforce readiness. It demands a concrete strategy for building the industries and productive capacity that will employ workers.
Governments must invest in green industries, build productive capacity and create decent jobs — not simply prepare workers for an economic transformation that policy-makers have yet to commit to delivering.
This requires industrial policy backed by sustained public investment. Asean countries must develop renewable energy, green technologies, sustainable infrastructure, public transport and more sustainable agriculture and fisheries. They must strengthen domestic supply chains and build the productive capacity needed to generate employment at scale.
The critical question is: where are the industries, investments and funded projects that will create these jobs? Governments cannot assume that private investment alone will generate sufficient secure, well-paid employment. Public policy must actively shape the economy to ensure that the green transition creates opportunities for workers, rather than leaving their futures to market forces.
A just transition also requires a public pathway to productive employment. Public investment should generate work in renewable energy, ecological restoration, low-carbon infrastructure and essential public services. Apprenticeships and other workforce programmes must be linked to actual projects and job opportunities, while workers displaced by economic restructuring need social protection and credible pathways to new employment.
And green jobs must be decent jobs. Workers need fair wages, secure employment, safe working conditions, social protection, freedom of association and collective bargaining. Public subsidies and business incentives should be tied to clear commitments to workers’ rights, domestic productive development and quality job creation.
The Asean Framework must therefore move beyond coordinating skills programmes. Its implementation should establish concrete commitments on green industrial policy, public financing, technology development, domestic supply chains and employment creation. Progress must be measured not only by workforce readiness, but by the number and quality of jobs created, the industries developed and the workers protected.
This challenge is particularly urgent for the Philippines. Our green jobs agenda must be part of a coherent national industrial policy supported by public investment. We cannot expect workers to carry the burden of economic transformation while leaving the creation of decent jobs to market forces.
A just transition is not simply about preparing workers for a changing economy. It is about transforming the economy so that it delivers decent work, social protection, and a sustainable future for workers and their communities.
Build the industries, make the investments, and create the decent jobs workers deserve. That is what a worker-centered just transition must deliver.