How to Change the World. Clare Feeney
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jobs by 2032, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO)3, lifting tens of millions of workers out of poverty while improving social and environmental outcomes.
The report says ‘the growth model of the past few decades has been inefficient, not only economically, but also from environmental, employment and social perspectives. It overuses natural resources, is environmentally unsustainable and has failed to meet the aspirations of a large proportion of society seeking productive, decent work and dignified lives.’ Just some of its many findings about how green jobs could start to redress these issues are:
A ‘qualified and well-informed workforce is the key to ensure the industry’s responsible use of our planet’s resources’, according to UNESCO-UNEVOC4, UNESCO’s specialized centre for technical and vocational education and training.
There is a skills gap here – and environmental training can bridge it. More and more organisations, conferences and training courses are focusing on professional development for people, old and young, to provide the green skills that every sector of the economy needs.
The ILO says that green jobs summarize the ‘transformation of economies, enterprises, workplaces and labour markets into a sustainable, low-carbon economy providing decent work.’ It defines5 green jobs as decent jobs that:
A 2012 China-Australia Green Skills Conference6 defined the skills needed by workers in those green jobs as:
the skills for sustainable development, including the required technical skills, knowledge and values for industries and future workers in terms of social, economic and environmental development. Sustainable development skills relate to all facets of the society, not only including renewable energy, reuse and recycle of waste, utilization level of resources, green housing and sustainable planning, but also including wider areas, such as commerce, tourism, hospitality, information technology and finance and more.
Another green skills conference, this time in the UK7, noted that the ‘breadth and depth of skills we need is vast. Just within the energy sector itself we estimate that there is a need for up to 100,000 new workers by 2015 for the Green Deal; 70,000 more workers in off-shore wind by 2020 and around 10,000 jobs for new nuclear builds. Across the whole economy we need leaders and managers who understand the green economy and are planning for it. And we need workers of all kinds who understand green issues, have the necessary specialised skills, and react accordingly.’ Many of the speakers focused on the need for good jobs for young people that build skills and restore environments for a more secure and sustainable national future.
Interestingly, on the very day I published the first edition of this book, I came across an article8 saying that such is the drive for more sustainable retail in the UK that retail companies are recruiting entire sustainability teams – building a workforce of sustainability professionals in the retail sector. This was exactly in line with the experience of erosion and sediment control training that led me to write this book: we ended up creating a whole new profession – environmental managers on large construction sites. Every sector in a global sustainable economy needs its own environmental professionals, and they will add tremendous value to businesses and communities.
In the more specific context of the training industry, training is increasingly being seen as a way of building workforce and organizational capacity. A US paper9 predicted that total spending for in-house and external training services would increase by 8-10% in 2011, and that learning leaders will be more focused on relevancy of information. A 2011 summary of European research10 found that training is delivering good outcomes, and is increasingly demand-driven – that is, people are identifying their own workplace training needs and pathways. Environmental skills are increasingly among those in demand. Given increasing concern about matters environmental and economic, this trend is also likely to continue11, with ‘green learning’ consuming a larger proportion of corporate social responsibility budgets, and trainers who are knowledgeable about environmental matters and sustainability likely to be in greater demand12.
As the ILO says, a ‘new development model – one which puts people, fairness and the planet at the core of policy-making – is urgently needed, and is eminently achievable’. And not only is it achievable – it’s happening already.
Storm Cunningham calls it the ‘restoration economy’. He says13 that restoration of built and natural environments already constitutes a major but overlooked part of global economic activity and will soon account for the vast majority of development.
And the economic need is great. Ecosystem services are good things the natural world does for us for free, and a 1997 study14 estimated their value to business equated to at least US$33 trillion a year. A 2008 study15 estimated the annual economic cost of loss of ecosystem services by biodiversity and ecosystem degradation at 3.3-7.5% of global GDP, or US$2-4.5 trillion. Green jobs can transform these huge and avoidable economic losses into health, social, environmental and economic gains.
In Storm Cunningham’s restoration economy, eight ‘giant, fast-growing industries are renewing our natural and built environments’ – and creating vibrant businesses as they revitalize communities. He sees future economic growth being based on renewing our natural, built and socio-economic assets:
It’s such a wonderful alternative to the empty growth-based consumerism that has left so many of us stranded on the shores of the current recession. The emerging focus on adult vocational training as a positive force for employment gains and environmental change brings together the knowledge-based and the restoration economies.
With this inspiring vision in mind, let’s see who can become part of this gathering economic wave.