Green jobs in Australia: what are we talking about?

Everyone is talking about ‘green jobs’, but just what do we mean by green jobs?

Economic stimulus packages announced in response to the 2008 economic crisis, such as that in the United States, and recognition of the need to engage with climate change have highlighted the role of green jobs. Much of this discussion has focused on the potential to create green jobs. However, while there is a lot of talk, to date, little data has been assembled to support the enthusiasm. This raises several issues, starting with what is a useful definition of a green job.

There is no clear understanding or agreement about a definition for green jobs. Annandale et al (2004: 81) ask:

• “Is a recycling plant that emits air pollution a producer of green jobs?
• is an aluminium smelter that dramatically reduces waste sent to landfill, yet contributes large emissions of greenhouse gases, a producer of green jobs?
• are all jobs associated with ‘ecotourism’ green jobs?”

Some see green jobs as being vocational. For example, in the US, for some at least, green-collar positions are “blue-collar jobs in green business” (Arias, 2009: 153). Also, many focus on jobs on the energy and climate change fields. However, in their report ‘Who are the Green Collar Workers? A Definition and Taxonomy’, Ehmcke et al (2009) define green-collar workers in two categories:

1. Managers, professionals and technicians who work in green organisations or who have green skills and responsibilities within other organisations that may not be considered green; and
2. Services, clerical, sales and semi-skilled workers who work in green organisations.” (p19)

Even broader, the United Nations Environment Programme in Green Jobs: Towards Decent Work in a Sustainable Low-Carbon World emphasises the role green jobs play in reducing the environmental footprint of economic activity. This leads towards the proposal of Greenskills Inc (2002; 11) that a green job may be one which “reduces the negative impact made on the environment, relative to the status quo”. This has the advantage of being broad enough to encompass the wide range of environmental and sustainability issues.

However, associated with such a definition should be the consideration of whether it will cover those jobs with both direct and indirect connections to environmental issues. Specifically, do we define green jobs as all those where employees work: for an organisation that has environmental management and/or sustainability as its core business (direct connection); in a role where environment or sustainability is their main responsibility - even though that may not be the core business of the organisation (direct connection); and in a role where they supply goods or services, the intent of which is to reduce any negative impact made on the environment (indirect connection).

Much discussion about green jobs is in relation to vocational jobs, in the trades, but this has been to almost the complete exclusion of recognition of the contribution made by the many professional areas. So, in future, we cannot limit ourselves to thinking that green jobs are only those that have a vocational focus. Green jobs must encompass those in all fields of employment: professional and vocational.

Then where are we up to? Inclusion of professional activity, and those jobs with direct and indirect connections, reinforces the need for a definition similar to ‘reducing the negative impact made on the environment’.

Of course, even when we have a workable and generally agreed definition of green jobs, there is the issue of the skills that are required in these jobs. Here, there may be a need to distinguish between vocational and professional areas. It could be argued that vocationally related jobs require a concentration on the very practical skills, whereas professional positions need to capture the broad conceptual and management skills. However, more research and discussion is needed to understand exactly the skills required, and how the tertiary education programs may need to change to develop these skills.

But the work does not end there. At the moment we have much speculation about the potential increase in the variety and number of green jobs, but there is generally limited data about current green jobs on which to base firm projections. Green jobs are already an identifiable contributor to employment statistics and national economies. Within the ‘clean energy’ sector alone, UNEP (2008b) recorded some 4.6 million people involved worldwide. Yet In the European Union alone, according to Ghani-Eneland and Renner (2009: 7), in the energy efficiency field there are some 3.4 million ‘direct jobs’ and ‘indirect jobs’ may cover an additional 5 million. The apparent differences in the statistics suggest some differences in the way these jobs are counted, or defined.

Things are little better in Australia. Since 1994, we have had two inquiries into environmental or green jobs by House of Representatives Standing Committees, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics has gathered data on employment. Despite this, Hatfield-Dodds et al (2008a: 18) have concluded the data “provides little insight into the availability - or scarcity - of skills and the wider supply dimensions of energy and water sensitive design and implementation across different economic sectors”.

Despite this, some attempts have been made to estimate the status and future of green jobs. Although using very broad categories of Environmental and Agricultural Scientists, and Environmental and OH&S Professionals, the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (2008) reported these categories had some 300,000 employees in 2007 and a growth of some 3500 over the previous five years, and future job prospects expected to be ‘good’.

In spite of the lack of clear historical data, significant growth in the number and range of green jobs is foreseen. Projections for international green job growth have been identified by UNEP (2008b) in the sectors of energy efficiency, transport, basic industry and recycling, agriculture and forestry, and renewable energy. Across the EU, USA, Canada and India, the forecast is that by 2030, as a result of energy-efficiency requirements in building construction and maintenance, over 4.5 million green jobs will be needed. Likewise, over 230,000 employees are expected to be directly involved with the manufacture of ‘green cars’ across the EU, USA, Japan and South Korea (UNEP 2008a).

Substantial growth is also predicted in Australia. Organisations like the Climate Institute, WWF in partnership with Australian Geothermal Energy Association and Carnegie Corporation Ltd, and CSIRO and Dusseldorp Skills Forum are enthusiastic about the growth in jobs in connection to energy management and climate change. Models predict that 230,000 to 340,000 new jobs will be created through more sustainable practices. These jobs will be created in the transport, construction, agriculture, manufacturing and mining sectors (Hatfield-Dodds et al 2008a).

However, without a reasonable database related to the current range of green jobs and the numbers employed, we do not have much of a starting point for speculation about the future. It is most unlikely that we could now try to delve into the historical data and develop a database. However, we can establish a database to monitor green jobs from now on. The dimensions of such a database will need discussion and broad agreement and, importantly, firm proposals to implement it.

This indicates an exciting future for green jobs. But, this will not eventuate unless people are trained, or retrained, so that they have the skills needed to undertake their jobs. In these jobs people will increasingly be required to demonstrate a range of skills in addition to specific knowledge and technical skills.

So ‘green jobs’ is a work in progress. At the moment there are many aspects that we are not clear about. We may talk about training and education programs, but this suggests we know what we expect in a green job. Likewise, accounting for green jobs requires that we know what we are counting. In essence, we need a definition of a green job; then we can begin to develop those needed databases and training opportunities.

References:

Annandale, D, Morrison-Saunders, A and Duxbury, L (2004) Regional sustainability initiatives: the growth of green jobs in Australia, Local Environment, Vol.9, No.1, pp81-87.

Arias, C (2009) Going Green to Make Green, Sustainability, Vol. 2 No. 3, pp152-156.

Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (2008) Australian Jobs 2008, Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, Canberra.

Ehmcke, W, Philipson, G & Kold-Christensen, C (2009) Who are the Green Collar Workers? A Definition and Taxonomy, Connection Research and DECC NSW [URL] http://www.connectionresearch.com.au/LiteratureRetrieve.aspx?ID=32292&A=SearchResult&SearchID=370668&ObjectID=32292&ObjectType=6, date accessed 27 July 2009

Ghani-Eneland, M & Renner, M (2009) Low Carbon Jobs for Europe: Current Opportunities and Future Prospects - Executive Summary, WWF [URL] http://assets.panda.org/downloads/low_carbon_jobs_summary_final.pdf, date accessed 5 September 2009

Greenskills Inc (2002) Environmental Jobs in Western Australia: The Results of a 2002 Employer Survey, Produced for the Western Australian Department of Education & Training, Greenskills Inc. acceded October 2009, http://www.greenskills.green.net.au/greenjobs/greenjobs.pdf

Hatfield-Dodds, S, Schandl, H, Doss T, & Turner, G (2008a) Growing the green collar economy: Skills and labour challenges in reducing our greenhouse emissions and national environmental footprint, Report to the Dusseldorp Skills Forum, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Canberra [URL] http://www.csiro.au/files/files/plej.pdf, accessed 27 July 2009

UNEP (2008a) Green Jobs: Towards Decent Work in a Sustainable Low-Carbon World, UNEP [URL] http://www.unep.org/labour_environment/PDFs/Greenjobs/UNEP-Green-Jobs-Report.pdf, accessed 5 September 2009

UNEP (2008b) Green Jobs: Towards Decent Work in a Sustainable Low-Carbon World: Policy messages and main findings for decision makers, UNEP [URL] http://www.unep.org/labour_environment/PDFs/Greenjobs/UNEP-Green-Jobs-Towards-Sustainable-Summary.pdf, accessed 5 September 2009

Written by Assoc Prof Ian Thomas, Ms Orana Sandri, Dr Kathryn Hegarty, School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning, RMIT University, Australia