New
York, 24 September 2008 (ILO/UNEP)-A new,
landmark study on the impact of an emerging
global "green economy" on the
world of work says efforts to tackle climate
change could result in the creation of millions
of new "green jobs" in the coming
decades.
The new report entitled Green Jobs: Towards
Decent work in a Sustainable, Low-Carbon
World, says changing patterns of employment
and investment resulting from efforts to
reduce climate change and its effects are
already generating new jobs in many sectors
and economies, and could create millions
more in both developed and developing countries.
However, the report
also finds that the process of climate change,
already underway, will continue to have
negative effects on workers and their families,
especially those whose livelihoods depend
on agriculture and tourism. Action to tackle
climate change as well as to cope with its
effects is therefore urgent and should be
designed to generate decent jobs.
Though the report is generally
optimistic about the creation of new jobs
to address climate change, it also warns
that many of these new jobs can be "dirty,
dangerous and difficult". Sectors of
concern, especially but not exclusively
in developing economies, include agriculture
and recycling where all too often low pay,
insecure employment contracts and exposure
to health hazardous materials needs to change
fast.
What's more, it says
too few green jobs are being created for
the most vulnerable: the 1.3 billion working
poor (43 per cent of the global workforce)
in the world with earnings too low to lift
them and their dependants above the poverty
threshold of US$2 per person, per day, or
for the estimated 500 million youth who
will be seeking work over the next 10 years.
Green jobs reduce the
environmental impact of enterprises and
economic sectors, ultimately to levels that
are sustainable. The report focuses on "green
jobs" in agriculture, industry, services
and administration that contribute to preserving
or restoring the quality of the environment.
It also calls for measures to ensure that
they constitute "decent work"
that helps reduce poverty while protecting
the environment.
The report says that
climate change itself, adaptation to it
and efforts to arrest it by reducing emissions
have far-reaching implications for economic
and social development, for production and
consumption patterns and thus for employment,
incomes and poverty reduction. These implications
harbour both major risks and opportunities
for working people in all countries, but
particularly for the most vulnerable in
the least developed countries and in small
island States.
The report calls for
"just transitions" for those affected
by transformation to a green economy and
for those who must also adapt to climate
change with access to alternative economic
and employment opportunities for enterprises
and workers. According to the report, meaningful
social dialogue between government, workers
and employers will be essential not only
to ease tensions and support better informed
and more coherent environmental, economic
and social policies, but for all social
partners to be involved in the development
of such policies.
Among other key findings
in the report:
- The global market
for environmental products and services
is projected to double from US$1,370 billion
(1.37 trillion) per year at present to US$2,1000
billion (2.74 trillion) by 2020, according
to a study cited in the report.
- Half of this market
is in energy efficiency and the balance
in sustainable transport, water supply,
sanitation and waste management. In Germany
for example, environmental technology is
to grow fourfold to 16 per cent of industrial
output by 2030, with employment in this
sector surpassing that in the country's
big machine tool and automotive industries.
- Sectors that will
be particularly important in terms of their
environmental, economic and employment impact
are energy supply, in particular renewable
energy, buildings and construction, transportation,basic
industries, agriculture and forestry.
- Clean technologies
are already the third largest sector for
venture capital after information and biotechnology
in the United States, while green venture
capital in China more than doubled to 19
per cent of total investment in recent years.
- 2.3 million people
have in recent years found new jobs in the
renewable energy sector alone, and the potential
for job growth in the sector is huge. Employment
in alternative energies may rise to 2.1
million in wind and 6.3 million in solar
power by 2030.
- Renewable energy generates
more jobs than employment in fossil fuels.
Projected investments of US$630 billion
by 2030 would translate into at least 20
million additional jobs in the renewable
energy sector.
- In agriculture, 12
million could be employed in biomass for
energy and related industries. In a country
like Venezuela, an ethanol blend of 10 per
cent in fuels might provide one million
jobs in the sugar cane sector by 2012.
- A worldwide transition
to energy-efficient buildings would create
millions of jobs, as well as "greening"
existing employment for many of the estimated
111 million people already working in the
construction sector.
- Investments in improved
energy efficiency in buildings could generate
an additional 2-3.5 million green jobs in
Europe and the United States alone, with
the potential much higher in developing
countries.
- Recycling and waste
management employs an estimated 10 million
in China and 500,000 in Brazil today. This
sector is expected to grow rapidly in many
countries in the face of escalating commodity
prices.
The report provides
examples of massive green jobs creation,
throughout the world, such as: 600,000 people
in China who are already employed in solar
thermal making and installing products such
as solar water heaters; in Nigeria, a bio
fuels industry based on cassava and sugar
cane crops might sustain an industry employing
200,000 people; India could generate 900,000
jobs by 2025 in biomass gasification of
which 300,000 would be in the manufacturing
of stoves and 600,000 in areas such as processing
into briquettes and pellets and the fuel
supply chain; and in South Africa, 25,000
previously unemployed people are now employed
in conservation as part of the 'Working
for Water' initiative.
Pathways to green jobs
and decent work
"A sustainable
economy can no longer externalize environmental
and social costs. The price society pays
for the consequences of pollution or ill
health for example, must be reflected in
the prices paid in the marketplace. Green
jobs therefore need to be decent work",
the report says.
The report recommends
a number of pathways to a more sustainable
future directing investment to low-cost
measures that should be taken immediately
including: assessing the potential for green
jobs and monitoring progress to provide
a framework for policy and investment; addressing
the current skills bottleneck by meeting
skill requirements because available technology
and resources for investments can only be
deployed effectively with qualified entrepreneurs
and skilled workers; and ensuring individual
enterprises' and economic sectors' contribution
to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases
with labour-management initiatives to green
workplaces.
The report finds that
green markets have thrived and transformation
has advanced most where there has been strong
and consistent political support at the
highest level, including targets, penalties
and incentives such as feed-in laws and
efficiency standards for buildings and appliances
as well as proactive research and development.
The report says that
delivery of a deep and decisive new climate
agreement when countries meet for the crucial
UN climate convention meeting in Copenhagen
in late 2009 will be vital for accelerating
green job growth.
The report was funded
and commissioned by the UN Environment Programme
(UNEP) under a joint Green Jobs Initiative
with the International Labour Office (ILO),
and the International Trade Union Confederation
(ITUC) and the International Organization
of Employers (IOE), which together represent
millions of workers and employers worldwide
2/. It was produced by the Worldwatch Institute,
with technical assistance from the Cornell
University Global Labour Institute.
ILO's Department of Communication
UNEP: Jim Sniffen, New York
ITUC: Mathieu Debroux
IOE: Peter Glynn
The Green Jobs
Initiative is a partnership established
in 2007 between UNEP, the ILO and the ITUC,
joined by the IOE in 2008. The Initiative
was launched in order to promote opportunity,
equity and just transitions, to mobilize
governments, employers and workers to engage
in dialogue on coherent policies and effective
programs leading to a green economy with
green jobs and decent work for all. The
ILO is a tripartite UN agency that brings
together governments, employers and workers
of its member states in common action to
promote decent work throughout the world.
IOE is recognized as the only organization
at the international level that represents
the interests of business in the labor and
social policy fields. Today, it consists
of 146 national employer organizations from
138 countries from all over the world. ITUC
is the International Trade Union Confederation.
Its primary mission is the promotion and
defense of workers' rights and interests,
through international cooperation between
trade unions, global campaigning and advocacy
within the major global institutions. The
ITUC represents 168 million workers in 155
countries and territories and has 311 national
affiliates. UNEP is the voice for the environment
in the United Nations system. It is an advocate,
educator, catalyst and facilitator, promoting
the wise use of the planet's natural assets
for sustainable development.
www.ilo.org/integration/greenjobs/index.htm
- www.unep.org/labour_environment/features/greenjobs.asp
