The global transition to a carbon-neutral economy is expected to create many opportunities in the labour market, often referred to as ‘green’ jobs. In developing countries, active public policy at the national and local levels are needed for reskilling and upskilling workers into greener, higher-productivity occupations. This requires a better understanding of what green jobs are and how to quantify them

Oliveira Cunha, Juliana

English

The global transition to a carbon-neutral economy is expected to create many opportunities in the labour market, often referred to as green jobs. Juliana Oliveira-Cunha writes that in developing countries, active public policy at the national and local levels are needed for reskilling and upskilling workers into greener, higher-productivity occupations, and this requires a better understanding of what green jobs are and how to quantify them

LSE Research Online

22/09/2022, 12:10 Front-lining green jobs in the sustainable urbanisation agenda - IGChttps://www.theigc.org/blog/front-lining-green-jobs-in-the-sustainable-urbanisation-agenda/ 1/4Authors Juliana Oliveira-CunhaPolicy EconomistCities that Work, IGCLondon HubPublished on: 5 Sep 2022Countries: Africa, AsiaResearch themes: Cities that Work Front-lining green jobs in thesustainable urbanisation agendaThe global transition to a carbon-neutraleconomy is expected to create manyopportunities in the labour market, oftenreferred to as ‘green’ jobs. In developingcountries, active public policy at the nationaland local levels are needed for reskilling andupskilling workers into greener, higher-productivity occupations. This requires abetter understanding of what green jobs areand how to quantify them.Decarbonising the economy and tackling climate change is apro-growth strategy in the long term. Beyond avoiding thedevastating effects on the environment and quality of life, whichcould cost the world at least 5% of GDP per year, the globaltransition to a carbon-neutral economy offers many growthopportunities. These include the creation of new markets andassociated value chains to serve the growing internationaldemand for low-carbon goods and services. The invention anddiffusion of cleaner technologies across the economy alsoprovide opportunities for productivity improvements andgreater resource efficiency.For developing countries to reap the benefits of sustainablegrowth, cities must be on the frontline of climate action. This isparticularly important for poorer countries in sub-SaharanAfrica and South Asia, which are urbanising at extremely rapidrates and will need to accommodate higher demand for servicesand employment in cities. At the 11th session of the WorldUrban Forum focusing on “transforming our cities for a betterurban future”, many events stressed the need for sustainabilityand resilience to be embedded in all areas of urban policy. Fromlow-emitting construction materials to environmentally friendlyurban planning, panels and training events presented readilyavailable solutions that can be quickly deployed by localgovernments and the private sector.Only a few events, however, explicitly discussed jobs – morespecifically, green jobs – and the associated skills and labourmarket policies that are needed to support job creation in aclimate-resilient and more productive economy. Rather thansignalling the importance of green jobs for sustainable urbandevelopment, their relative underrepresentation at the WorldUrban Forum may have in fact reflected a lack of clarity onwhat constitutes a green job, especially in developing country22/09/2022, 12:10 Front-lining green jobs in the sustainable urbanisation agenda - IGChttps://www.theigc.org/blog/front-lining-green-jobs-in-the-sustainable-urbanisation-agenda/ 2/4g j , p y p g ycities.What are green jobs?With no singular or universally accepted definition for greenjobs, it is rather challenging to quantify them. Furthermore,definitions are often too vague to encourage policy action, ortoo narrowly focused on a few industries or activities likeenvironment protection and resource management. Combinedwith the data constraints documented in many developingcountries, this creates barriers for the roll out of comprehensiveprogrammes aimed at supporting much needed job creation andtraining of the workforce. It also means that public policy andinvestments are often poorly directed, and the green jobsagenda is consequently side-lined.In simple terms, a green job can be defined as one that isaligned with or supportive of the low-carbon objective. For thisreason, green jobs can be found in many sectors of theeconomy, both emerging and existing ones, as workers adapt tolower-emitting technologies and more sustainable practices.Restricting green jobs to employment in a small set of industriesthat are directly relevant to decarbonisation or that contributethe least to greenhouse gas emission may underestimate thepotential of job creation.For example, a narrow sectoral approach excludes importantjobs that are key to delivering the transition, including those ineducation, consulting, and government. This ‘top-down’methodology also creates further measurement issues as thesame job may be considered green or ‘brown/dirty’ dependingon the industry it is situated in. Even within industries, there ishigh variation in carbon footprints and sustainability practicesof individual firms. More granular measurement approaches aretherefore needed to enable estimations of green job creationthat complement the industry-level ones.Understanding the ‘greenness’ potential ofjobsAn alternative exercise is assessing the ‘greenness’ potential ofoccupations based on their skill requirements or task content.This allows for a more nuanced and dynamic analysis of thelabour market, directing attention to sustainable growthopportunities that stem from ‘greening’ occupations. Forexample, a recent study in the UK mapped both direct andindirect green jobs, which currently account for approximately20% of employment according to conservative estimates. Fordescriptive and measurement purposes, these occupations weregrouped into three main categories (shown in the figure below).22/09/2022, 12:10 Front-lining green jobs in the sustainable urbanisation agenda - IGChttps://www.theigc.org/blog/front-lining-green-jobs-in-the-sustainable-urbanisation-agenda/ 3/4Note: The study is based on an occupation-level classificationdeveloped by O*NET in the United States. It applies arelatively broad definition of green jobs across twelve sectors ofthe economy. In the directly green group, represented by the two darkershades:New and emerging occupations are those that are being createdas a result of cleaner technologies and processes and are eitherentirely novel or derived from an existing activity. Examples arerecycling coordinators, biomass plant technicians, air-qualitycontrol specialists, and environmental economists.Enhanced skills occupations are those that will be significantlyaltered to be compatible with low-carbon objectives. Theseinclude agriculture workers – who will need to learn new farmingand land management techniques, construction workers – whowill need to adapt to more sustainable building materials, andmachinists – who will need to train on operating new machinery.Finally, the outer circle represents the indirectly green groupwhich are occupations that will not be significantly altered butare expected to increase in demand. These include bus drivers,railroad conductors, electricians, forest conservation workers,health and safety specialists, and wildlife biologists.Embracing change to reap sustainable growthopportunitiesMany of the job families described constitute a tiny fraction ofemployment in developing-country cities, which ispredominantly informal and survival-based. However, thisincipient literature using occupation-level analysis highlights theimportance of programmes aimed at reskilling and upskillingthe workforce. As governments increase their commitments topursuing sustainable growth paths, policymakers will need toensure equitable access to the new labour market opportunitiesthat will be created. This requires an assessment of the gapbetween the current skill set of different worker categories tothat which will be required in the jobs of the future.Understanding this ‘ease of transition’ is especially importantfor low-skilled workers who are likely to be displaced due toincreasingly tighter environmental regulations.Developing countries are undergoing continuous structuraltransformation, with old patterns of economic growth doing aworse job at explaining the development trajectories of today.This is particularly true when it comes to employment growth.Economic change is being amplified by climate deteriorationwhich is already affecting the pace of reallocation of workersacross and within urban labour markets. A successful economicstrategy towards sustainable urbanisation needs to be forward-looking and flexible enough to embrace change, identifying newopportunities to be seized and challenges to be overcome.22/09/2022, 12:10 Front-lining green jobs in the sustainable urbanisation agenda - IGChttps://www.theigc.org/blog/front-lining-green-jobs-in-the-sustainable-urbanisation-agenda/ 4/4pp gForthcoming IGC work seeks to unpack some of theseopportunities and challenges. In particular, it will seek tocontextualise the green jobs agenda in developing-country cities,discussing some of the trade-offs and policy recommendationsaimed at providing decent employment for the poor whilebalancing the immediate systemic needs of a changing climate.Editor’s note: If you are interested in the topic of green jobs andsustainable urbanisation, join our upcoming webinarAddressing the sustainable urbanisation challenge indeveloping countries, part of LSE Environment Week.

Front-lining green jobs in the sustainable urbanisation agenda

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Front-lining green jobs in the sustainable urbanisation agenda

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