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Report: Global Green Job Market Expected To Explode

Global Green Job Market Expected To Explode
September 29, 2008 Report: New York, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]Last week four international organizations released a report on the global impact of the green economy. The report, entitled Green Jobs: Towards Decent Work in a Sustainable, Low-Carbon World, says that millions of new green jobs will be created across the globe in the coming decades around efforts to mitigate climate change.

The UN Environment Program (UNEP) under a joint Green Jobs Initiative with the International Labor Office (ILO), as well as the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the International Organization of Employers (IOE) funded and commissioned the report, which was ultimately produced by the Worldwatch Institute, with technical assistance from the Cornell University Global Labor Institute.

Many sectors are already experiencing job growth around such efforts, notes the report, indicating that 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. 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.

Specifically the report says that 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 renewable energies may rise to 2.1 million in wind and 6.3 million in solar power by 2030. Projected investments in renewable energy of US $630 billion by 2030 would translate into at least 20 million additional jobs in the renewable energy sector.

In addition, the report says that 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.

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 manufacturing and installing products such as solar water heaters

Report: Global Green Job Market Expected To Explode

Tags: renewables, renewableenergy

October 2, 2008 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | ENERGY