What are green jobs?
ACCORDING to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), green jobs are jobs in any economic sector that contributes to the preservation or restoration of the environment, ultimately to sustainable levels.
ILO also defines green jobs as decent jobs where employees are provided with at least minimum wages, safe working conditions, social protection and which promote and respect social dialogue and worker rights.
Green jobs are meant to improve efficiency in the use of energy and raw materials, limit greenhouse gas emissions, minimise waste and pollution, protect and restore ecosystems as well as support adaptation to the effects of climate change.
ILO senior skills and employability specialist Akiko Sakamoto says for example, renewable energy is one of the most significant sectors for the development of new occupations under green jobs.
Linkedin’s Global Green Report from 2022 also identified some of the fastest-growing green and greening jobs globally in the period between 2016 to 2021.
These include sustainability managers, environmental health safety specialists, solar consultants, wind turbine technicians, and ecologists.
Some other examples are compliance managers, regulatory affairs consultants, risk advisors, geotechnical engineers, safety technicians and many more.
But it is not just about the new green jobs that are being created as part of the trend.
There are industries such as the environmental goods and services sector which will see a significant occupational change in waste and recycling, including in research and development functions to create new or improved waste management and recycling.
Akiko also points to sectors where skills will be added onto and adopted by existing occupations such as in construction and building services and agriculture and forestry.
Jobs in these sectors that will be affected are likely to be carpenters, plumbers, electricians, heating engineers, architects, agricultural technicians, soil and water conservationists, land managers and farmers with new organic farming techniques.