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03 November 2023

People at the Heart of PAGE work – Cecilia Nicolini

Discover the People at the heart of PAGE work interview featuring people that have collaborated with PAGE at a given time. The purpose is to voice experiences, opinions, and insights on how the green economy is evolving and how the green economic transformation is being implemented around the world. In this interview, Cecilia Nicolini shares her experience in advancing an Inclusive and Green Economy in Argentina.

 

Putting in place important tools to reconvert industries, develop strategic sectors for a green economy and promote a just transition in the labour market.

 

Cecilia Nicolini is the State Secretary for Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Innovation at the National Ministry of Environment and Advisor to the President of Argentina. Outside of her work with the Argentine executive, she is an international consultant with more than 15 years of experience working with governments, politicians, and organizations worldwide. Nicolini holds a master in public administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of government, a master in political communication, a bachelor’s in political science, and an MBA from the IE Business School.

Q1. When was your first contact with the PAGE team, and how this impact the IGE in the country?

My first contact with PAGE was a few days after taking office as Secretary for Climate Change in February 2022. I had just come from working on the negotiations to acquire vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic, among other issues related to my role as presidential advisor, and from the very beginning we found in the PAGE Argentina team, headed by Joaquín Etorena, a great ally to promote our transitions in the face of the triple planetary crisis that the planet is suffering from: climate change, loss of biodiversity and pollution.

Since then, with the support of PAGE, we have been able to put in place important tools to reconvert industries, develop strategic sectors for a green economy and promote a just transition in the labour market.

For example, the work we have been doing since the Climate Action Agreement, a platform with which we have already trained more than 1000 companies, SMEs and entrepreneurs to measure their carbon footprint, obtain funds for mitigation projects or be more competitive and transparent, using tools such as the framework for sustainability reporting, which we also designed with the support of PAGE. This initiative is very valuable for us because in addition to strengthening the sustainable perspective in the private sector, it allowed us to make a public commitment with hundreds of companies and organisations to align the goals of each sector with the country’s commitments.

Similarly, with the support of PAGE, Argentina launched the Advisory Council of the Ministry of Labour to promote green employment policies, designed its National Strategy for the Development of the Hydrogen Economy and elaborated the Sustainability Guide for SMEs, which we will formally present in mid-November.

 

Year by year, the sustainability agenda is becoming more relevant. I believe that this is due to society's awareness of the impact of environmental issues on our lives, to the commitment and influence of environmental movements in the public debate, and to the transformations that are increasingly necessary in the productive sector. From the national government, we understood these demands from the beginning and made the environmental agenda a priority.

Q3. How has IGE evolved in the country since then?

Year by year, the sustainability agenda is becoming more relevant. I believe that this is due to society’s awareness of the impact of environmental issues on our lives, to the commitment and influence of environmental movements in the public debate, and to the transformations that are increasingly necessary in the productive sector. From the national government, we understood these demands from the beginning and made the environmental agenda a priority.

We updated our second NDC with an emissions reduction target almost 30% more ambitious than the first, and in it we also committed to just transition, sustainable jobs and the circular economy as cross-cutting axes to address our vulnerabilities. In addition, we presented the National Adaptation and Mitigation Plan 2030, an instrument developed together with the different sectors of society, with measures to boost our sustainable development through a just and inclusive transition.

We know that there is still a lot to do from the political leadership and from all sectors.

Q4. What are the challenges and opportunities for your country and why?

As we always say, the sustainability agenda is the great opportunity for our development, perhaps the last one. It is an opportunity to develop productive sectors that add value to the potential of our natural commons. Green hydrogen is one of them, but we also have a huge potential with solar energy, wind energy and with the transformation of key industries such as the oil & gas sector, so that they can make their processes more sustainable by capturing fugitive emissions, for example.

In addition, we have the opportunity to improve the competitiveness of our companies, adapting their processes and standards to the sustainability requirements of international trade, as well as providing them with tools to access financial mechanisms that enhance their mitigation capabilities, such as carbon markets.

And finally, the great opportunity to boost new green jobs, because we are going to need professionals with strong technical knowledge to develop green hydrogen, lithium batteries or to design strategies for logistics companies to have a more efficient distribution, with less emissions and saving costs.

Boats in Argentina harbor

Q5. How can South-South and Triangular Cooperation contribute to the green economic transition in Argentina?

The scenario of inequality we have in the world after the COVID-19 pandemic and the impacts we are suffering day by day due to global warming alert us that this system does not work well: it is environmentally, socially and economically unsustainable. We need financial institutions to understand this and to support our ambition: by eliminating surcharges, adopting debt-for-environment swaps and promoting the allocation of funds for sustainability: it is not enough to direct available funds to this agenda, we also need the cake to be enlarged, for more to be invested.

This is key for our countries, because it will allow us to overcome dilemmas that often arise when we have to respond to poverty or vulnerabilities in the world of work and, at the same time, promote renewable energies, adapt productive sectors, assist agriculture when it suffers from a drought that pulverises 3% of our GDP or conserve ecosystems. We want to play a leading role in global transitions. But we cannot do it alone.

We need a multilateralism that helps us, that recovers its purpose and that unites us to work for the just and sustainable future that young people demand, and that the peoples of Latin America deserve.

Argentina Aerial view of city buildings

Aerial view of city buildings

PAGE and Argentina

Argentina has the third-largest economy in Latin America. While well-diversified, it has recently experienced a slowdown in economic progress with low growth and a rise in unemployment. Fluctuations in growth and recession have negatively impacted productivity as well as investments in technology. This has led the government to pursue structural changes that can facilitate growth, employment and sustainability within the context of an inclusive, green economy (IGE). Argentina joined PAGE in 2018.

The government of Argentina launched the Green Jobs Programme, focusing on decent work and environmental sustainability. The Green Jobs Programme aims to promote the use of incentives for the greening of employment, to develop professional training actions and to accompany workers and productive units in the just transition towards a more environmentally sustainable society.

The PAGE brings together five United Nations agencies; UNEP, UNDP, ILO, UNIDO, and UNITAR, whose expertise and support assist and lead partner countries towards their transition to an Inclusive Green Economy (IGE) by providing policy advice, assessments, capacity building and analytical tools outputs.

Through PAGE, Arentina has promoted its Green Jobs Programme, policies that contribute to the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, and a framework for non-financial reporting to improve the competitiveness of enterprises.

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