Greener Skills and Jobs
Green skills, that is, skills needed in a low-carbon economy, will be required in all sectors and at all levels in the workforce as emerging economic activities create new (or renewed) occupations. Structural changes will realign sectors that are likely to decline as a result of the greening of the economy and workers will need to be retrained accordingly. The successful transition to a low-carbon economy will only be possible if workers can flexibly adapt and transfer from areas of decreasing employment to new industries. This report suggests that the role of skills and education and training policies should be an important component of the ecological transformation process.
The interaction of environmental and labour market policy: An overview of the quantity and quality of green jobs in Europe
The scale and nature of “green” jobs has come to the fore in political discussion in Europe at both national and international levels. Particularly in the light of the continuing recession, the idea that economic growth could be stimulated and new jobs created by activities that also meet environmental objectives is clearly attractive. Green jobs are an important part of the EU’s Europe 2020 strategy, which explicitly quotes figures for jobs that could be created from meeting environmental goals. This chapter gives an overview of the current situation and possible development of green jobs in the period up to 2020. It combines quantitative and qualitative analysis, at both the macro and detailed sectoral level, to develop an understanding of the number and nature of green jobs and how they might be influenced by future policy.