In a cramped conference room in Manila in late April, 25 youth trade union leaders from six countries made a choice that could reshape how an entire region responds to climate change. They didn't demand an end to environmental action—they demanded that the action protect them.
The youth leaders, gathered from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Timor-Leste, and the Philippines, adopted a just transition resolution at the Regional Trade Union Youth Conference on Just Transition, calling for climate policies that deliver decent work and economic security rather than leaving young workers behind. Their resolution comes at a moment when the stakes could hardly be higher: the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines warned that the region's gross domestic product could fall by up to 41 per cent by the end of the century if climate impacts are not addressed.
Yet the crisis extends beyond climate itself. Khalid Hassan, Director of the International Labour Organization Country Office for the Philippines, laid bare the underlying problem: between 60 to 70 per cent of young workers in the region remain trapped in the informal economy with limited protection. Many already face informal employment, insecure contracts, and minimal social safety nets. The worry among these leaders was straightforward but urgent—that a rush toward green economies could worsen those conditions if it wasn't paired with deliberate protections.
"A just transition is not just about climate. It is about fairness. If we focus only on green growth without addressing job quality, we will create new problems while trying to solve the old ones," Hassan said, capturing the resolution's core insight.
The resolution itself is remarkably specific. It demands that green jobs be genuinely high-quality, with fair wages, safe working conditions, and collective bargaining rights—not a continuation of the precarious work that already defines young workers' lives. It calls for youth to hold real voting roles in social dialogue and climate governance, not token seats at the table. It pushes for state-led, worker-centered industrial policies and climate finance that doesn't pile debt onto developing nations. And it urges both governments and unions to negotiate green clauses into collective bargaining agreements and engage directly in national climate commitments.
Gigi Mathay, Director for National and International Affairs of the TUCP, framed the shift in stark terms: "Workers must not be at the back of the line, but rather they must lead from the front. Just transition is essentially about making sure that our response to climate crisis will not leave behind the very people whose welfare we should be working so hard for."
The conference, held April 23–24, 2026, and organized by the ILO Bureau for Workers' Activities in partnership with the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines and the ASEAN Trade Union Council, marked a deliberate shift in strategy. Rather than project-based interventions, the focus has moved toward sustained, youth-led and union-driven action. Ariel Castro, Desk Officer for ILO ACTRAV Asia-Pacific, called the conference a signal that young workers are no longer waiting to be consulted—they are moving to shape economic policy directly.
What makes this moment distinct is not the aspirational language but the grounded specificity of the demands. The resolution doesn't ask for permission; it outlines concrete pathways: upskilling programs tied to actual green jobs, meaningful participation in decision-making bodies, and practical tools like green clauses in workplace agreements. For young workers across the Asia-Pacific region already navigating precarity and inequality, it represents a unified voice demanding that climate action and worker protection move together.