BaCCC/Module 4/Lesson 3/Part 3
Contents
How jobs can be “greened” so that they contribute to climate change mitigation – and which should be phased out
According to the International Labour Organization (2016), green or blue jobs help
- improve energy and raw materials efficiency
- limit greenhouse gas emissions
- minimise waste and pollution
- protect and restore ecosystems
- support adaptation to the effects of climate change
At the enterprise level, green jobs can produce goods or provide services that benefit the environment, for example, green buildings or clean transportation. Or they can produce goods and provide services by using green raw materials, processes and technologies. In other words, green jobs do not necessarily produce environmental goods or services, but their materials and processes have been greened, or vice versa.
|
The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) expects that job markets will be affected in at least four ways as climate change mitigation and adaptation regulations are enforced and the economy is orientated towards greater sustainability: 1. In some cases, additional jobs will be created – as in the manufacturing of pollution-control devices added to existing production equipment. 2. Some employment will be substituted – as in shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy, or from truck manufacturing to rail car manufacturing, or from landfilling and waste incineration to recycling. 3. Some jobs may be eliminated without direct replacement – as when packaging materials are discouraged or banned, and their production is discontinued. 4. Many existing jobs (particularly for plumbers, electricians, metal workers and construction workers) will simply be transformed and redefined as their day-to-day skill sets, work methods and profiles are greened – as in construction work that may start to include the installation of solar panels. |
For a deep dive into the world of green jobs and green skills in the age of climate change, you can read the OECD’s Green Jobs and Skills: The Local Labour Market Implications of Addressing Climate Change (a working document) by Martinez-Fernandez et al. (2010):
Green Jobs and Skills: The Local Labour Market Implications of Addressing Climate Change (a working document)[2]
One of the ways to green jobs is for more and more young people to learn green skills and then take them into the workplace. Construction Placements explains it as follows:
Green skills are the employment skills that relate to careers in sustainability. This includes engineering, architecture, construction, and renewable energy. These areas of study often focus on climate change, ecology, and low-carbon transportation. Green skills are becoming increasingly important as the shift away from fossil fuels continues. More jobs are opening up in the green sector than in any other industry.
Employers need people with these skills to work in global warming research, analysis, and advocacy. Jobs like this help maintain healthy ecosystems on Earth while mitigating climate change’s effects.
| “ | There are many reasons to learn green skills. The first reason is that good jobs are available in the green economy. The second reason is that being green is good for the environment. A third reason is that it reduces your carbon footprint and can help [protect] the Earth. | ” |
| —Construction Placements (2023), What Are Green Jobs? Guide to Green Careers | ||
The so-called just transition is an increasingly common strategy for equitably moving workers out of carbon-intensive jobs into equivalent low-carbon positions. It is a framework developed by the trade union movement in the United States in the 1980s to protect workers affected by new water and air pollution regulations.
About a just transition to a low-carbon economy, the following is said:
| “ | The just transition approach ensures that the affected people are considered by those making decisions. The world has seen many transitions in the past, from automation to the decline or relocation of entire industries, leading to job losses and economic hardship. This has created a fear that future transitions will be similarly painful. | ” |
| —International Institute for Sustainable Development, n.d. | ||
Nowadays, the just transition means working to secure (mainly) fossil fuel workers’ rights and livelihoods as economies are shifting to the sustainable production of zero-carbon energy to combat climate change and protect biodiversity.
If you would like more information, see Just Transition to a Green Economy, a report on the just transition in developing countries, from GIZ (Germany) which can be accessed here:
Just Transition to a Green Economy[3]
Something we must keep in mind is that climate change itself is going to impact jobs in the future.
According to the International Labour Organization, global warming is expected to cause an increase in work-related heat stress, which will damage productivity and cause job losses equivalent to 80 million full-time positions. That is because people will be unable to work, as higher temperatures pose serious health risks.
The phenomenon of heat stress refers to heat received in excess of that which the body can tolerate without physiological impairment. Heat stress affects, above all, outdoor workers such as those engaged in agriculture and on construction sites. It is a serious problem for a large proportion of the world’s 1 billion agricultural workers and 66 million textile workers (many of whom have to work inside factories and workshops without air conditioning), and for workers employed, inter alia, in refuse collection, emergency repair work, transport, tourism and sports. — Grimshaw and Van Vuuren (2019) in International Labour Organization, Working on a Warmer Planet: The Effect of Heat Stress on Productivity and Decent Work
If you have trouble accessing the video, a summary is available below.
H5P Object Parameters
The H5P parameters below will be replaced by the actual H5P object when it's rendered on the WordPress site to which it's been snapshotted.
(You can adjust the playback speed and/or turn on subtitles/captions.)
If you have trouble accessing the video, a summary is available below.
H5P Object Parameters
The H5P parameters below will be replaced by the actual H5P object when it's rendered on the WordPress site to which it's been snapshotted.
If you have trouble accessing the video, a summary is available below.
ClimateBase.org – a database of jobs in climate change sectors – allows you to explore the most comprehensive database of climate technology companies, environmental non-profit organisations and green jobs around the world. It uses the following climate change job sectors:
- Transportation
- Energy
- Food, agriculture and land use
- Buildings and cities
- Nature-based solutions
- Materials and manufacturing
- Engineered carbon removal
- Advocacy and policy
- Capital (finance)
- Media and journalism
(You can adjust the playback speed and/or turn on subtitles/captions.)
H5P Object Parameters
The H5P parameters below will be replaced by the actual H5P object when it's rendered on the WordPress site to which it's been snapshotted.
|
(Remember that each of these job sectors requires people working on the innovation side as well, to “green” these sectors and the jobs in them even more.)
(The fossil fuel sector must and will be mostly phased out – although not soon, it appears – as we move to zero-carbon renewable energy as a climate change mitigation strategy.) |
Next, Module 5 – Intersectionality will take a much closer look at the people who are the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Just as you would not want your family’s mitigation measures to make life worse for your grandparents or the youngest child in your household or even your neighbours, it is important to ensure that our community and national mitigation strategies do not trample on the social, economic and environmental needs and rights of vulnerable people, disadvantaging them even further.
References
- ↑ ILO, 2022. Green Jobs News
- ↑ Martinez-Fernandez et al. (2010). Green Jobs and Skills: The Local Labour Market Implications of Addressing Climate Change (a working document)
- ↑ Gedirect.com/science/IZ, n.d. Just Transition to a Green Economy
