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The scope of PAGE work aims to put sustainability at the centre of economic policies and practices to advance towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. PAGE coordinates with countries to achieve and monitor the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In particular, the SDG 8 focus on promoting a sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. The SDG 8 highlights the need for decent and fulfilling jobs, protecting labour rights, putting a stop to modern slavery and child labour, all while creating jobs with access to banking and financial services and decoupling the economic growth from environmental degradation.
PAGE focus its support on the Inclusive Green Economy (IGE), that seeks sustainable options for national economies, using targeted, fiscal and social protection policies, safeguarding social and ecological aspects. The IGE has economical, health, security, social, and environmental benefits to nations. Through these principles and targeting the SDG 8, PAGE has promoted partnerships with several countries.
In this blog, we will look at some of PAGE’s work since its beginning regarding the SDG 8 advances in three regions: Africa, Asia and the Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean.
South Africa started its engagement with PAGE in 2015 and is now a graduated country. In 2016 PAGE produced the Green Economy Industry and Trade Analysis, meant to identify areas offering trade opportunities for green industrial development. Following the analysis, PAGE developed a sector-specific assessment on green industry.
The information extracted then supported the creation of the Bio-composite Action Plan and Implementation Strategy completed in 2018 and a feasibility study for biomaterials launched at the Bio Africa Convention in August 2020. In 2018, PAGE contributed to high-level roundtable discussions regarding renewable energy technologies, identifying growth and development areas, together with the skills needed to apply renewable energy.
PAGE and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment (DFFE) met on 28 October 2022 in Pretoria to mark a seven-year successful collaboration and partnership with the Government of South Africa.
Indonesia began its partnership with PAGE in 2018 and is nowadays a graduating country. During 2019, PAGE centred around the implementation of Indonesia’s Low Carbon Development Initiative, that focused on accomplishing better planning in the energy sector and the greenhouse gases emission reduction.
To support this initiative, PAGE developed a framework with crucial components and a role matrix and provided a tool to assess policy scenarios. In 2019, PAGE provided support in identifying policy interventions for a green economy modelling exercise, that enabled the incorporation of the Inclusive Green Economy policy scenarios in the creation of the National Medium-term Development Plan (2020-2024).
In 2022, Indonesia launched its Green Economy Index, which builds on PAGE’s Green Economy Progress Index methodology. One of the main targets of this index was to create 1.8 million green jobs.
In 2023, the ILO, as part of PAGE Indonesia’s activities, recently released a Green Jobs and Just Transition Policy Assessment to develop a baseline perspective of current green jobs and just transition policy frameworks in Indonesia. The assessment focused in detail on the energy sector. This policy brief captures the key findings and recommendations of the assessment.
Uruguay joined PAGE in 2017 and is a graduated country since 2022. In 2018, PAGE collaborated with the Energy Efficiency Programme, in the creation of an app supporting a programme for the greening of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, with an emphasis on cleaner production and labour formalization.
In 2019, PAGE participated in the creation of the National Development Strategy Uruguay 2050, particularly supporting the inclusion of environmental components and the value chain regarding forest-wood-cellulose environmental impacts.
In addition, PAGE collaborated addressing issues related to artisanal brick production. During late-2019, PAGE supported the creation of the Pando Brick Production School and Park, that provided theoretical and practical training in the production of bricks, incorporating good practices, efficiency and improving marketing as well as working conditions. Moreover, PAGE organized capacity-building workshops on raw materials and cleaner production throughout Uruguay.
In 2020, PAGE launched a Sustainable Entrepreneurship Training Programme for youth held in collaboration with GIZ and DESEM.
In 2022, PAGE Uruguay, its national partners and the Government of Uruguay reached a milestone in their collaboration. They met on October 18-19 in Montevideo to reflect on five years of work under the PAGE program and celebrated this milestone.
Since 2013, PAGE has worked with partner countries, focusing on decent work, strengthening the capacity of domestic financial institutions, facilitating economic diversification, technological upgrading, and innovation. The accomplishment of the SDG 8 is fundamental to achieve an Inclusive Green Economy.
