overview of green jobs report wcms_098487

8/6/2019 Overview of Green Jobs Report Wcms_098487

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Policy messages and main fndings or decision makers

Towards decent work in a sustainable, low-carbon world

Green Jobs:


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UNEP

promotes the use of

environmentally sound practicesglobally and follows such practices in its

own activities. This brochure is printed on 100

per cent recycled paper, using vegetable-based

inks and other eco-friendly practices. Our

distribution policy aims to reduce UNEPs

carbon footprint.

Cover Photos

Wolfgang Steche / VISUM / Still Pictures

Solar panels being installed at a former mining site in Germany.

Wolfgang Maria Weber / argus / Still Pictures

E-recycling of old mobile phones: employee is repairing mobile phone for re-usage.

Peter Frischmuth / argus / Still Pictures

Construction of a wind engine by workers.


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Green Jobs:

Towards decent work in a sustainable, low-carbon world

Policy messages and main fndings or decision makers


4/36ii Green Jobs: Towards decent work in a sustainable, low-carbon world

Copyright September 2008, United Nations Environment Programme

Note by the editors:

The present overview draws on evidence and ndings presented in the report Green Jobs: TowardsDecent Work in a Sustainable, Low-Carbon World. While the overview is consistent with the report,it also includes reections emerging rom the exchanges among the partners o the Green Jobs Initiativenot contained in the original report.

The original report is commissioned and unded by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),as part o the Green Jobs Initiative jointly mounted by UNEP, the International Labour Organization (ILO),the International Organisation o Employers (IOE) and the International Trade Union Conederation (ITUC).It is produced by the Worldwatch Institute, with technical assistance rom the Cornell University Global

Labour Institute, or UNEP.

Copies o the report:

The report has been published in electronic ormat, in English only. It is available or downloading at theUNEP and ILO websites:

www.unep.org/civil_society/Publications/index.asp

www.unep.org/labour_environment/eatures/greenjobs.asp

www.ilo.org

Copies o the overview are available in English, French and Spanish rom:

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)P. O. Box. 30552 Nairobi, KenyaEmail: [email protected]: www.unep.org/civil_society

Design, layout and printing:

Publishing Services SectionUnited Nations Oce at Nairobi (UNON)


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with technical assistance rom

Report produced by

UNEP, ILO, IOE, ITUC

Green Jobs Initiative

United NationsEnvironment

Programme

InternationalOrganisation

o Employers

InternationalLabour

Organization

InternationalTrade Union

Conederation


6/36iv Green Jobs: Towards decent work in a sustainable, low-carbon world

Acknowledgments

UNEP acknowledges the contributions made by the International Labour Organization (ILO), theInternational Organisation o Employers (IOE), the International Trade Union Conederation (ITUC), theWorldwatch Institute, and the Cornell University Global Labor Institute in the preparation and publicationo the present report.

Explanatory notes

In this document all units are metric unless otherwise indicated. Currency values are reported in USdollars throughout the report. Original currency values other than dollars are reported in parenthesesand are translated into US dollars using the ollowing 2007 average exchange rates: 1 (euro) = $1.37; 1

(British pound) = $2.00 (Federal Reserve Bank o New York Foreign Exchange Rates Historical Search, atwww.ny.rb.org/markets/xrates/historical/home.cm).


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Muxaun-UNEP / Still PicturesChimneys billowing out industrial pollution into the air. Many industrial processes have led to the

pollution o virtually every aspect o the biosphere: land, rivers, seas and the atmosphere. Romania.


9/36Global Challenges And Pressing Questions

I. GlobalChallengesandPressingQuestions

Facing up to the dual challenge

The notion o green jobs has become something o an emblem o a more sustainable economy

and society, that aims to preserve the environment or both present and uture generations and to

be more equitable and inclusive o all people and all countries.

Green jobs hold the promise that humankind will be able to ace up to the ollowing two deningchallenges o the twentyrst century:

q Averting dangerous and potentially unmanageable climate change and protecting the naturalenvironment which supports lie on earth

q Providing decent work and thus the prospect o wellbeing and dignity or all in the ace o rapid

population growth worldwide and the current exclusion o over a billion people rom economic andsocial development

The above challenges are closely linked and cannot thereore be addressed separately. Green jobs are keyto meeting both simultaneously.

Environmental degradation, including the pollution o water, land and air, the irreversible loss o biodiversity,the deterioration and exhaustion o natural resources like water, ertile agricultural land, and sh, is one othe most serious threats acing economic and broader sustainable development. The environmental andhealth costs already oten outweigh the gains rom the economic activity causing the damage.

Such degradation will, in the uture, be exacerbated by the impacts o climate change, which are alreadyelt in many developing countries. In the mediumtolong term, projected climate change will lead to

the serious disruption o economic and social activity in many sectors worldwide. Scientic scenarios oravoiding dangerous and possibly unmanageable climate change require global emissions o greenhousegases to peak over the next 1015 years and then to decline by hal until the middle o the century.Stabilizing the climate will require a rapid shit to a lowcarbon world economy.

The social challenge looms just as large: a staggering 1.3 billion people, over 40 per cent o the globalworkorce, and their dependants are condemned to a lie in poverty and insecurity because their earningsare too low and they are relegated to the inormal economy. There are 190 million unemployed and tenso millions o young job seekers cannot nd a place in society.

Labour markets are vital not only or the production and generation o wealth, but equally or its distribution.Income rom work plays a prime role in poverty reduction and in sharing the benets o economic growth.Beyond its undamental economic role or countries, enterprises, amilies and individuals, work enablesindividuals to build identities, to participate in and to contribute to society. Gainul employment and decentwork are thereore also critical or social cohesion and stability.

Box 1: Decent work

Decent work is dened as opportunities or women and men to obtain decent and productive workin conditions o reedom, equity, security and human dignity.

Decent work sums up the aspirations o people in their working lives their aspirations or opportunityand income; rights, voice and recognition; or amily stability and personal development; or airness andgender equality. Ultimately these various dimensions o decent work underpin peace in communitiesand society. Decent work is central to eforts to reduce poverty, and is a means or achieving equitable,inclusive and sustainable development.

(ILO denition)Source: http://www.ilo.org/global/About_the_ILO/Mainpillars/WhatisDecentWork/index.htm


10/36Green Jobs: Towards decent work in a sustainable, low-carbon world

Dual challenge: Climate change itsel, adaptation to it and eforts to arrest it by reducing emissionshave arreaching implications or economic and social development, or production and consumptionpatterns and thus or employment, incomes and poverty reduction. These implications harbour bothmajor risks and opportunities or working people in all countries, but particularly or the most vulnerablein the least developed countries and in small island States.

Making economic growth and development compatible with stabilizing the climate and with a sustainableenvironmental ootprint will require a drastic shit towards clean development and green, lowcarbon

economies worldwide. This will require a second great transormation o economies and societies, asarreaching as the rst transormation brought about by the Industrial Revolution. The rationale or greengrowth and clean development has mostly been presented as a winwin situation or the environment andor economic development. Relatively little and supercial attention has been paid to the social dimensiono sustainable development, in particular to the implications or employment and or decent work.

Box 2: The dual challenge in numbers

Environmental challenge

q Climaterelated disasters: 262 million people afected annually over the period 20002004

q Water shortages: 1.8 billion expected to sufer rom resh water scarcity by 2025, mostly in Asiaand Arica

q Environmental reugees: 50 million people potentially orced to become environmental reugeesby climate change over the next ew years

q Displacement by ooding: 330 million people increasingly exposed to ooding in coastal areas,ood plains o rivers and small island States

q Food shortages and malnutrition: currently afect 180 million people and threaten to afect 600million people by 2080

q Pollution: 2 million premature deaths globally each year due to indoor and outdoor air pollution

q Loss o biodiversity: the great majority o wellstudied species are declining in distribution,abundance or both. Biological products and processes make up 40 per cent o the globaleconomy. Poor people, especially those living in areas o low agricultural productivity, depend

heavily on the genetic diversity o the environment

Decent work challenge

q Working poor: 1.3 billion in the world with earnings too low to lit them and their dependantsabove the poverty threshold o $2 per day (more than 43 per cent o the global workorce)

q Unemployed: 190 million globally

q Young job seekers: over 500 million additional jobseekers over the next 10 years

q Insecurity: 5.3 billion people without access to any social security coverage

q Access to energy: 1.6 billion people without access to modern energy (almost 1 in 4 humansliving today)

q Adequate housing: 1 billion slum dwellers in poor housing lacking essential acilities such asclean water and sanitation


11/36Global Challenges And Pressing Questions

Green Jobs report: answers to pressing questions

The Green Jobs report was unded and commissioned by UNEP under the joint UNEP, ILO, IOE and ITUCGreen Jobs Initiative, in order to shed light on the impact that transormation to a green economy willhave on work, on enterprise and on the way people earn a living.

The report has been produced by the Worldwatch Institute with technical assistance rom the CornellUniversity Global Labor Institute. It is the rst study which provides a global overview drawing on available

inormation rom around the world. It provides an initial answer to the ollowing pressing questions:q How many green jobs have already been created in the early stages o the transormation to a green

economy?

q How many can be expected in the uture?

q Where are these jobs being created and who is likely to have access to them? Will developing countriesbeneit as much as industrialized ones?

q What kind o jobs are they? Are they decent and i not what can be done to remedy this?

q Which jobs are at risk because o the transormation? Will there be more winners than losers? Whatactions are required to help the losers achieve a just transition?

q What are the obstacles to be overcome on the road to a more sustainable uture?

q What are the pathways and policies leading to a sustainable economy and society?

This overview presents the key ndings o the report.


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Mark Edwards / Still PicturesInitiatives or energy eciency and renewable energy have

had priority in Denmark or over 25 years. The Danish

plans and initiatives have resulted in development o new

technologies and o successul use o energy eciency andrenewable energy. Aarhus, Denmark.


13/36The Key Findings of the Report

II.KeyFindingsoftheReport

What are green jobs?

Green jobs reduce the environmental impact o enterprises and economic sectors, ultimately to

levels that are sustainable. The report denes green jobs as work in agriculture, industry, servicesand administration that contributes to preserving or restoring the quality o the environment.

Green jobs are ound in many sectors o the economy rom energy supply to recycling and rom agriculture andconstruction to transportation. They help to cut the consumption o energy, raw materials and water throughhigheciency strategies, to decarbonize the economy and reduce greenhousegas emissions, to minimizeor avoid altogether all orms o waste and pollution, to protect and restore ecosystems and biodiversity.

Green jobs play a crucial role in reducing the environmental ootprint o economic activity. This reductionis gradual and the diferent jobs contribute to diferent degrees. Workers manuacturing uelecientor hybrid cars, or example, contribute less to reducing emissions rom transport than those working inpublic transport systems. Moreover, what is considered uelecient today will no longer qualiy in ten

years time. The notion o a green job is thus not absolute, but there are shades o green and the notionwill evolve over time (see table 1).

Green jobs and decent work

The report nds that many jobs which are green in principle are not green in practice because o theenvironmental damage caused by inappropriate practices. Moreover, the evidence shows that greenjobs do not automatically constitute decent work. Many current recycling jobs, or instance, recover rawmaterial and thus help to alleviate pressure on natural resources, but apply a process which is otendirty, dangerous and dicult, causing signicant damage to the environment and to human health.Employment in this industry tends to be precarious and incomes are low. I green jobs are to be a bridgeto a truly sustainable uture, this needs to change.

A sustainable economy can no longer externalize environmental and social costs. The price that societypays or the consequences o pollution, such as that o illhealth, must be reected in the prices paid in themarketplace. Green jobs thereore need to comprise decent work (see box 1 or denition). Decent, greenjobs efectively link Millennium Development Goal 1 (poverty reduction) and Millennium DevelopmentGoal7 (protecting the environment) and make them mutually supportive rather than conicting.

Millions o green jobs already in existence

The analysis ocused on the ollowing six economic sectors that are particularly important in terms ogreenhousegas emission and use o natural resources or raw material, as well as their contribution tothe economy and as sources o employment and income: energy supply, in particular renewable energy,building and construction, transportation, basic industry, agriculture and orestry.

Notwithstanding major gaps in data availability, particularly in developing countries, the report nds that millionso green jobs already exist in industrialized countries, emerging economies and developing countries alike:

q Energy supply renewable sources o energy: more than 2.3 million green jobs have been createdin recent years in this sector; however, these only supply 2 per cent o the worlds energy. The windpower industry employs some 300,000 people, the solar PV sector an estimated 170,000, and thesolar thermal industry more than 600,000, a large proportion o these in China. Countries with activepolicies to promote renewable energy have seen employment surge in this sector. In Germany, or

example, the number o jobs almost quadrupled to 260,000 in less than 10 years (see table 3). Dataare only available or seven countries and the estimate is almost certainly conservative. Hal o thereported jobs are in emerging and developing economies (see igure 1 and table 2).



Table 1. Shades o green: pro-environmental measures in major segments o the economy

Energy supply

Integrated gasication/ carbon sequestration

Co-generation (combined heat and power)

Renewables (wind, solar, biouels, geothermal, small-scale hydro); uel cells

Transport

More uel-ecient vehicles

Hybrid-electric, electric, and uel-cell vehicles

Car-sharing

Public transport

Non-motorized transport (biking, walking), and changes in land-use policies and settlement patterns

(reducing distance and dependence on motorized transport)

Manufacturing

Pollution control (scrubbers and other tailpipe technologies)

Energy and materials eciency

Clean production techniques (toxics avoidance)

Cradle-to-cradle (closed-loop systems)

Buildings

Lighting, energy-ecient appliances and oce equipment

Solar heating and cooling, solar panels

Retrotting

Green buildings (energy-ecient windows, insulation, building materials, heating, ventilation and air-

conditioning)

Passive-solar houses, zero-emissions buildings

Materials Management

RecyclingExtended producer responsibility, product take-back and remanuacturing

De-materialization

Durability and reparability o products

Retail

Promotion o ecient products and use o eco-labels

Store locations closer to residential areas

Minimization o shipping distances (rom origin o products to store location)

New service economy (selling services, not products)

Agriculture

Soil conservation

Water eciency

Organic growing methods

Reducing arm-to-market distance

Forestry

Reorestation and aforestation projects

Agroorestry

Sustainable orestry management and certication schemes

Halting deorestation

Source: Green Jobs - Towards Decent Work in a Sustainable, Low-Carbon World, UNEP/ILO/IOE/ITUC, September 2008



Figure 1. Global estimated employment in the renewable energy sector, selected countries and world, 2006

Wind

9%

Solar PV

6%

Solar Thermal

28%

Biomass

54%

Hydropower

2%

Geothermal

1%

Table 2. Estimated employment in the renewable energy sector, selected countries and world, 2006

Renewable energy source World* Selected Countries

Wind 300,000

Germany

United States

Spain

China

Denmark

India

82,100

36,800

35,000

22,200

21,000

10,000

Solar PV 170,000**

China

Germany

Spain

United States

55,000

35,000

26,449

15,700

Solar thermal 624,000-plus

China

Germany

Spain

United States

600,000

13,300

9,142

1,900

Biomass 1,174,000

Brazil

United States

China

Germany

Spain

500,000

312,200

266,000

95,400

10,349

Hydropower 39,000-plus Europe

United States

20,000

19,000

Geothermal 25,000United States

Germany

21,000

4,200

Renewables, combined 2,332,000-plus

*Countries or which inormation is available.

**Under the assumption that Japans PV industry employs roughly as many people as Germanys.


Bioenergy has a particularly high potential to create employment and accounts or hal the reportedjobs. The environmental and social merits o bioenergy as an alternative uel or transportation varygreatly. Under avourable conditions, they can contribute substantially to reducing greenhousegas

emissions rom transportation. The quality o jobs in the biouels industry also varies signiicantly withthe availability o high income and generally decent jobs on the one hand, and on the other thosewith conditions that actually violate undamental human and labour rights.

Source: Green Jobs - Towards Decent Work in a

Sustainable, Low-Carbon World, UNEP/ILO/IOE/ITUC,

September 2008



Box 3: Solar women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh

Some 70 per cent o the population o Bangladesh,mostly in rural areas, do not have access toelectricity. Improving their livelihoods and incomeopportunities requires an economically viablealternative to the current grid system. GrameenShakti (GS), a notorprot company, has helped

more than 100,000 rural households to install solarhome systems. This has been one o the astestgrowing photovoltaic programmes in the world,expected to install 1 million systems by 2015.

GS operates a small loans scheme which enables even very poor rural households to buy a systemwithout subsidies. The scheme also creates local jobs and income opportunities. Some 660 localyoungsters and women have already been trained as certied technicians in the repair and maintenanceo PV systems. Another 5,000 are planned.

Many more jobs are created indirectly as solar systems enable local entrepreneurs to start up newbusinesses such as community TV shops, solarcharged mobile phone centres and electronic repair

shops. GS is aiming to create 100,000 jobs in renewable energy and related businesses.

Source: Grameen Shakti http://www.gshakti.org/ andDipal C. Barua (2008) http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/events/greenjobs/papers/index.htm

Table 3. Employment in Germanys renewables sector, 1998, 2004 and 2006*

1998 2004 2006Expected growth,20062010 (per cent)

Wind power 16,600 63,900 82,100 6.8

Solar energy 5,400 25,100 40,200 49

Hydropower 8,600 9,500 9,400 n/a

Geothermal energy 1,600 1,800 4,200 74

Biomass 25,400 56,800 95,400 37

Services 10,000 n/a n/a n/a

Subtotal 66,600 157,100 231,300 n/a

Research, public information, export and other

marketing promotion, administrationn/a 3,400 4,300 n/a

Expansion of production capacities for

renewable energy equipmentn/a 5,800 23,500 n/a

Total 66,600 166,300 259,100 n/a

*Data include direct and indirect jobs, based on an input-output analysis. The data or the three years presented are not strictly comparable, as

the underlying data collection or these estimates varies.According to a poll o businesses.26,900 jobs in solar PV and 13,300 in solar thermal.O this total, 139,300 jobs were in manuacturing and installations (including export sales), 41,800 in operations and maintenance, andanother 50,200 in supplies o biouels.

Source: Marlene Kratzat et al., Erneuerbare Energien: Bruttobeschtigung 2006 (Stuttgart, Berlin, and Osnabrck: Zentrum r Sonnenenergie

und Wasserstof-Forschung Baden-Wrttemberg, Deutsches Institut r Wirtschatsorschung, Deutsches Zentrum r Lut- und Raumahrt, and

Gesellschat r wir tschatliche Strukturorschung, September 2007).

q Energy eiciency, particularly in buildings and construction: this is one o the areas with the highestpotential to reduce greenhousegas emissions and to create jobs in the process. Some 4 million directgreen jobs based on improving energy eiciency already exist across the economy in the UnitedStates and in certain European countries. Buildings currently account or less than one million o thistotal but could represent a uture source o many more green jobs.

Grameen Shakti



Buildings are responsible or 3040 per cent o all energy use, greenhousegas emissions and wastegeneration. The construction and renovation o buildings also represents the sector with the highesttechnical and economic potential or reducing emissions. This conclusion is supported by theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and also by the McKinsey Global Research Institute. Usingcurrent technology, highperormance buildings have the potential to cut energy costs by at least 80 percent compared with traditional building construction. Jobs in this sector are likely to be perormed bypeople who already work in the building sector, but will be redeined in terms o new skills, training andcertiication requirements.

The great majority o eiciency measures, especially in the building sector, show positive employmentand economic eects. A study undertaken in 2000 by the British Government concluded that, or every$1.4 million (1 million) invested in residential energy eiciency, 11.313.5 ulltime equivalent (FTE)jobs were created. Hal the economic potential or eiciency gains in buildings is located in developingcountries, but no data on existing or potential jobs are available or that part o the world.

q Transportation is the lieblood o the globalized economy. While eorts are being made to reducethe ootprint o cars, public transport systems oer lower emissions and more green jobs. Onlysome 250,000 jobs in the manuacture o ueleicient, lowpollution and lowemissions cars canbe considered green, in comparison to over 5 million jobs in the railways in China, India and theEuropean Union alone, and millions more in public transport worldwide.

Railways can generally be regarded as sources o green employment. Unortunately, in many countries,the trend over the last ew decades has been away rom this mode o transport, and towards cars,trucks, and planes. Employmentboth in the operation o railway lines and in the manuacture olocomotives and rolling stockhas allen accordingly.

Employment statistics or urban public transport are incomplete and trends vary considerably by cityand country. Statistics do show, however, that some 1.3 million people work in public transport inthe European Union and the United States alone. Public transport is a growth sector in a lowcarbonworld, particularly in the megacities o the developing world. Bus rapid transit systems are being putin place in more and more cities around the world, providing aordable and reliable public transportoptions. There are also substantial green employment opportunities in retroitting diesel buses to

reduce air pollutants, and in substituting cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) or hybridelectricbuses. In New Delhi, the introduction o 6,100 CNG buses by 2009 is expected to lead to the creationo 18,000 new jobs.

Martin Bond / Still Pictures

A hydrogen uel cell-powered electric bus in service crossing Tower

Bridge in London. Part o the Clean Urban Transport Europe (CUTE)demonstration project testing 27 such pollution-ree buses in nine

European cities.

Bubsaba Kajejit UNEP / Still Pictures

Trac congestion on Paholyotin Road, Chatuchak, Bangkok.


18/36Green Jobs: Towards decent work in a sustainable, low-carbon world0

Box 4: Green upgrading o low income urban housing in South Arica

Approximately 1 billion people worldwide live in urban slums, mostly in precarious dwellings lackingessential acilities. Improving living standards while reducing energy costs and the need or extrapower generation can be achieved by upgrading these buildings. The work involved can create jobsor unemployed or underemployed people in these communities.

An example o such a scheme is the Kuyasa LowIncome Housing

Upgrade in Cape Town, South Arica. Local artisans and unemployedyoungsters rom the township are trained to carry out the ollowingthree standard operations that improve the quality o housingand o lie, yet reduce energy demand and emissions: insulate theroo to avoid the need or heating in winter, install solar thermalwaterheating equipment and replace incandescent light bulbswith energyecient ones. The scheme contributes additionalelectricity in a country experiencing severe power shortages andblackouts. A household will save over 600 rand per year on energy.Thanks to support by SouthSouthNorth, a nongovernmental organization, the scheme qualies orsupport through the Clean Development Mechanism created under the Kyoto Protocol.

The scheme is being scaled up in 2008 to benet 2,300 households with unding rom the centralGovernment and in close consultation with the Urban Renewal Programme o the city o Cape Town. A Community Trust model will see the creation o a sustainable communityowned energyservices business, creating ongoing permanent employment and providing or the maintenance andmonitoring o emissions reductions.

Income rom the sale o carbon emission reduction certicates, together with contributions rombeneciaries, will nance the operations o the Trust, providing longterm opportunities or locallybased small and micro enterprises. The Trust will be directly accountable to Kuyasa residents and willuse its surplus income to support uture community development initiatives. In spite o their benets,such schemes are still exceedingly rare.

Source: SouthSouthNorth - South Arica - http://www.southsouthnorth.org/

q Basic industries and recycling: industrial sectors such as those o iron and steel, aluminium, cement,pulp and paper account or a large proportion o the use o energy and raw materials, along withgreenhousegas emissions, but a relatively small proportion o global employment. Greening basicindustries is diicult and ewer than 300,000 jobs in iron, steel and aluminium can be considered tohave any shade o green.

The best option or reducing the impact o these industries is through recycling. Secondary steelproduction, based on recycled scrap, requires 4075 per cent less energy than primary productionand can thereore be seen as a proxy or greener production. Worldwide, 42 per cent o output wasbased on scrap in 2006. It is estimated that more than 200,000 jobs across the world are involved in

secondary steel production.

The Bureau o International Recycling in Belgium estimates that its members in 60 countries employmore than 1.5 million people. This is, however, a serious undercount. Recent reports put the numbero recycling and remanuacturing jobs in the United States alone at more than 1 million. Jobs in thissector in Western Europe and Japan can be assumed to be even more numerous, as these regionshave achieved higher rates o recycling than the United States. In China, an estimated 10 million peopleare employed in all orms o recycling, with 700,000 in electronics recycling alone. Brazil is thought tohave some 500,000 recycling jobs. In addition, communal recycling and composting eorts are likely toaccount or many more jobs.

Recycling in all its orms provides 12 million jobs in the three countries or which data could be ound

(Brazil, China, United States). The report cautions, however, that many existing recycling jobs cannotbe considered green because they cause both pollution and health hazards and are not examples odecent work.

SouthSouthNorth



Figure 2: CO2 emissions per ton o cement produced, selected countries, 2000

Joerg Boethling / Still Pictures

Shipbreaking yard in Mumbai. India.

q Agriculture is still the single largest employer in the world, with 1.3 billion armers and agriculturalworkers in total. Decades o neglect and deteriorating armgate prices have led to unsustainablelanduse practices and to bad jobs and low incomes, turning armers and agricultural workers intothe largest contingent o poor people in the world. Agriculture is both extremely vulnerable toclimate change and a major contributor to it. It is also a major user and polluter o water, a drivero deorestation and o loss o biodiversity. While it is not possible with current statistics to quantiygreen jobs in the sector, the report inds that there is considerable potential in this area as evidencedby sustainable practices on productive amily arms, organic production and successul adaptation toclimate change.

Small arms are more labourintensive. With adequate technical and inrastructural support, yieldsrom small arms using crop rotation, manuring, natural pesticides, and other sustainable methodscan match larger but oten more environmentally damaging acilities. A policydriven conversionto this type o arming will perhaps take decades, but the potential or green and decent work isconsiderable and the environmental beneits could be enormous.

C

o2

EmissionsPerTonProduced

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

Unite

dState

sInd

ia

Cana

da

Republi

cofK

orea

China

Weste

rnEurope

Form

erSovie

tUnio

n

Austr

aliaa

ndNew

Zeala

ndJa

pan

Source: Mason H. Soule, Jefrey S. Logan, and Todd A. Stewart, Towards a Sustainable

Cement Industry: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities in Chinas Cement Industry, Report

Commissioned by the WBCSD (Columbus, OH: Battelle Memorial Institute, March 2002).



With sales reaching $100 billion in 2006, organic arming is beginning to register an impact. Morelabourintensive than industrialized agriculture, the conversion o armland or organic productioncould provide a good source o green employment in the uture. A study o 1,144 organic arms inthe United Kingdom and Ireland showed that they employed one third more ulltime equivalentworkers per arm than conventional arms. Organic agricultural land amounts to 4.3 per cent and 1per cent o the total arm area in these two countries, respectively. I 20 per cent o armland becameorganic in both countries, there would be an additional 73,200 jobs in the United Kingdom and 9,200in Ireland.

Employing rural dwellers to repair and protect the natural environment could generate a largenumber o jobs. In South Arica, a public Working or Water programme has provided work or 25,000previously unemployed people. Terracing or contouring land, building irrigation structures, conservingwater and other related activities are labourintensive and will thereore provide employment, as willthe rehabilitation o dams, barrages, and embankments.

q Forests play a major role in maintaining the worlds natural liesupport systems. As is the case withagriculture, data are scarce and it is impossible to establish which proportion o the some 40 million jobs and 60 million livelihoods o indigenous peoples can be considered sustainable and green.Given the current hope pinned on orests as carbon sinks and considering their role as providerso renewable raw material, pools o biodiversity, regulators o water lows and other environmental

services, it is clear that green jobs in orests will play an increasingly important role in the uture.

What kinds o green jobs are being created?

How can they contribute to decent work or all?

Green jobs span a wide array o occupational proles, o skills and o educational backgrounds. Someconstitute entirely new types o jobs, but most build on traditional proessions and occupations, albeitwith more or less modied job contents and competencies. This is true or direct green jobs as well as orindirect ones in upstream supplier industries. Even in the case o new industries and technologies, suchas wind and solar power generation, the supply chains consist largely o traditional industries like ironand steel and the manuacture o machine parts.

There is evidence o the viability and potential or green jobs across the entire workorce, rom manuallabourers through skilled workers, cratsmen and entrepreneurs to highly qualied technicians, engineersand managers. Green jobs currently exist and can develop urther in many economic sectors both inurban and rural economies.

ILO

Forests are major carbon

sinks and providers oenvironmental services which

are currently not paid or.

Payment o such services can

make many orms o orestconservation and sustainable

orest management

viable and provide stable

employment and income orlocal populations.

Source: ILO



Will green jobs benet developing countries as much as industrialized ones?

Existing and reported green jobs tend to be concentrated in certain countries and regions. This, however,is a reection o proactive policy initiatives and current investment patterns, rather than inherent to theconcept. There are numerous case examples and pilot projects that demonstrate the scope and thepotential or green jobs in developing countries albeit so ar only on a limited scale. Where more dataexist, such as on renewable energy, hal the reported jobs are ound in developing countries. Green jobsin emerging economies and developing countries include opportunities or managers, scientists and

technicians, but primarily benet a broad crosssection o the population that needs them most: youngpeople, women, armers, rural populations and slum dwellers.

The contribution that green jobs will make to clean economic growth, development and povertyreduction will ultimately depend on the quality o these jobs. The report nds that many existing greenjobs are o poor quality and those in recycling, construction or biouels or example, are oten inormalin nature. Employment in recycling is oten precariousit involves serious occupational and also publicsaety and health hazards and generates wages and incomes below the cost o living. Serious labour andhuman rights violations have been recorded in relation to eedstock production or biouels. While thereare clearly constraints and obstacles, however, the potential or green jobs is still enormous.

Tremendous potential or uture green jobs

Encouragingly, the business case or greening both the economy and the job market has been growingincreasingly powerul. Energy and commodity prices are surging and customers and policy makers areexerting growing pressure on businesses to adopt greener practices and production methods in orderto avert dangerous climate change. The greening o the economy presents a major opportunity to startnew businesses, develop new markets and lower energy costs. Last but not least it can strengthen abusiness licence to operate, generating positive attitudes o both the activities and investments o rmsamong customers and local communities alike.

Observed trends in markets and investments conrm this assessment. The global market or environmental

products and services is projected to double rom $1,370 billion per year at present to $2,740 billion by 2020,according to RolandBerger Strategy Consultants. Hal o this market is based in energy eciency and thebalance in sustainable transport, water supply, sanitation and waste management. In Germany, or example,environmental technology is to grow ourold to 16 per cent o industrial output by 2030, with employmentin this sector surpassing that o the countrys major industries in the machine tools and automotive sectors.Investments in improved energy eciency in buildings could generate an additional 23.5 million greenjobs in Europe and the United States alone. The potential is much higher in developing countries.

A reliable early indicator o this shit is the surge in the ow o venture capital into clean technologies. Inthe United States this currently constitutes the third largest sector ater inormation and biotechnology. TheUnited States cleantech startups alone might generate 400,000500,000 jobs in the coming years. Similarly,green venture capital in China has more than doubled and now represents 19 per cent o total investment.

Biofuels

12,000,000 (59%)Solar PV

6,300,000 (31%)

Wind

2,100,000 (10%)

Geothermal

25,000 (1%)Hydropower

39,000 (2%)

Modern Biomass

1,174,000 (50%)

Solar Thermal

624,000 (27%)

Solar PV

170,000 (7%)

Wind

300,000 (13%)

Green Jobs in Renewable energy, 2030Green Jobs in Renewable energy, 2006

Figure 3: Green jobs in renewable energy 2006 and 2030

Source: Green Jobs - Towards Decent Work in a Sustainable,

Low-Carbon World, UNEP/ILO/IOE/ITUC, September 2008



Another sector where orecasts o green jobs are possible is renewable energy. Investment in renewableenergy is booming, surging rom $10 billion in 1998 to at least $66 billion in 2007, equivalent to 18 percent o all energy investment. It is expected to reach $343 billion in 2020 and to almost double againby 2030 to $630 billion. It may be noted that in the past even optimistic predictions concerning thedevelopment o renewables have consistently been exceeded. Projected investments would translateinto at least 20 million additional jobs in the sector, making it a much larger source o employment thantodays ossil energy industry (mining, petroleum extraction, rening and ossil power generation), which,in spite o rising production, has been shedding jobs through technological advances.

While quantitative estimates o the number o green jobs that could be generated in diferent sectors arenot possible with current data, table 4 ofers a broad overview o the potential. Clearly, a uture with manymore green jobs is possible in all parts o the world.

Table 4. Green jobs progress to-date and uture potential

Greening potentialGreen job

progress to-date

Long-term green

job potential

EnergyRenewable energy Excellent Good Excellent

Carbon capture and sequestration Fair None Unknown

Industry

Steel Good Fair Fair

Aluminium Good Fair Fair

Cement Fair Fair Fair

Pulp and paper Good Fair Good

Recycling Excellent Good Excellent

Transportation

Fuel-ecient cars Fair to Good Limited Good

Public transport Excellent Limited Excellent

Rail Excellent Negative Excellent

Aviation Limited Limited Limited

Buildings

Green buildings Excellent Limited Excellent

Retrotting Excellent Limited Excellent

Lighting Excellent Good Excellent

Ecient equipment and appliances Excellent Fair Excellent

Agriculture

Small-scale sustainable arming Excellent Negative Excellent

Organic arming Excellent Limited Good to Excellent

Environmental services Good Limited Unknown

Forestry

Reorestation and aforestation Good Limited Good

Agroorestry Good to Excellent Limited Good to Excellent

Sustainable orestry management Excellent Good Excellent


Green jobs and development

Numerous examples in the report demonstrate the major contribution that green jobs can make to cleaneconomic growth in developing countries, to poverty reduction and to a broadbased improvemento the standards o living o large parts o the population. They create both hightech and highskilled jobs but can also create opportunities or many millions o young people, women, slum dwellers and

members o poor rural communities (see boxes in this brochure).



Box 5: Renewable energy against poverty decentralized power generation

The provision o power in areas that are not reached by the grid is a very efective way to generategreen growth and jobs, oten in areas with widespread and persistent poverty. Productive and gainulemployment is a key priority in these communities.

Renewable energy and greening o valueadded chains provideopportunities to create the much needed jobs. Local materials suchas unused agricultural residues and other biomass can be used toprovide clean electricity or homes, schools, health centres, street lights,telephones, internet connections and small enterprises. The systemsand power generation units can be scaled rom small villages to ruraltowns as demonstrated in India, Sri Lanka and other countries.

Successul applications exist in many developing countries butinvestment is woeully low. Along with more appropriate regulatorysystems, innovative nance mechanisms are needed to step up

decentralized power generation. TERI

TERI biomass based power plant in Sri Lanka (2 X 150 kWe)Source: Ibrahim Haeez Rehman ( TERI, 2008) - http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/

bangkok/events/greenjobs/download/paper21.pd

More than meets the eye

Millions o green jobs are already in existence and in areas like renewable energy their numbers aregrowing ast. While identiable green jobs look set to be a growing source o employment and cleandevelopment into the uture, an exclusive ocus on the number o direct green jobs is misplaced. The

number o green jobs already reported and expected to be created is substantial, but modest in relationto the total size o the global labour orce o over 3 billion. In addition, not all o these jobs are additionaljobs, as major gains and losses can take place in other parts o the economy. The signicance o green jobsthereore can only be appreciated by taking a broader look at the transormation to a green economy.

The greening o enterprise and redenition o many jobs: the most sweeping and pervasive changerom the greening o an economy will be the redenition o many jobs across the board. From cleanersand maintenance staf to acilities and logistics managers, rom electricians to IT experts, rom bricklayersto architects, rom credit clerks to investment managers people in jobs at all levels will see the contento those jobs change, with new perormance and skills requirements. This incremental but broad shitto the greening o most workplaces can make a substantial contribution to reducing the environmentalimpact and to preventing dangerous climate change. These gains are oten quick, are lowcost or even

protable and do not require any major investment in new technology. This potential has barely beentapped. Green jobs and green enterprises are sustainable and thereore provide more stable and secureemployment and incomes.

This is evidenced by the success o many projects and local initiatives reected in the report:

q Renewable energy provided or the poor in Bangladesh (see box 3), India, Sri Lanka (see box 5), Kenya(see box 6) and Mali

q Energy eiciency boosted and air pollution reduced by twostroke engines in the Philippines

q Energy savings achieved by improved cooking stoves, with a reduction in indoor air pollution thataects women and children in India

q Clean public transport creating jobs in India

q Better jobs created and a cleaner environment attained through revamped recycling methods inBrazil (see box 7)

q Improved living conditions and youth employment provided through energy eiciency and use orenewable energy in townships in South Arica (see box 4)


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Box 6: Solar jobs or urban youth: the PV Assembly in Kibera, Nairobi

The Kibera Community Youth Programme (KCYB) operates in one o thelargest slums in subSaharan Arica. It provides employment to local youthin an assembly line or small and afordable solar panels. The panels powerradios and charge mobile phones in Kibera, but their use has spread toall parts o Kenya. Numerous groups rom neighbouring countries haverequested similar projects.

Kenya has one o the largest and most dynamic solar markets in thedeveloping world. Some ten major companies import solar PV and there arean estimated 1,0002,000 solar technicians. In spite o the uneven quality othe imported components, more than 200,000 systems have been sold inKenya since the mid1980s, three quarters o them to private households.

Source: http://www.kcyp.kabissa.org/ KCYB


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27/36Pathways to a Sustainable Future

III.PathwaystoaSustainableFuture

Policy recommendations: pathways to a sustainable uture

Turning the vision o a sustainable economy and the green jobs that it would provide into a reality

will require a strong, coherent and stable policy ramework and government leadership. The reportnds many encouraging trends and examples but green economies and jobs are by no means a

oregone conclusion. There is a need to speed up the attainment o gains in energy eciency and in the

share o sustainable sources o energy. Progress in key sectors like transport, basic industries, recycling

and agriculture has been slow and patchy. Investment is rising ast in some sectors, but rom a low base.

A transormation on the scale and at the speed that is required will need to take the ollowing deliberatesteps. The rst three steps could be termed the lowhanging ruit. They identiy very efective butlowcost measures that should be taken immediately. Although necessary, these steps will not besucient without the creation o a conducive policy ramework and sustained increases in investmentas highlighted below.

Assessing the potential or green jobs and monitoring progress

The evidence gathered in the report shows that the potential o green jobs is universally signicant.Furthermore, it shows that opportunities vary rom country to country, between sectors, regions andcommunities, and also between urban and rural areas. Detailed assessments and monitoring o progressrepresent an important stepping stone and provide a roadmap or policy and investment, directing themtowards the lowhanging ruit. There are many efective and economically viable measures benecialor both employment and social development, a act demonstrated by several o the countries at theoreront o the promotion o a green economy and green jobs.

The assessment and monitoring o the evolution o green jobs and o the transormation and shits in

the labour market should include indirect and induced employment, alongside displacement efects.Particular attention should be paid to gender dimensions and to the social inclusion o disadvantagedgroups and regions.

Closing the skills gap

Skills gaps and shortages have emerged as a binding constraint on the greening o economies inindustrial and developing countries alike. They are reported in the biouels industry in Brazil, in therenewable energy and environmental industry in Bangladesh, Germany and the United States and in theconstruction sector in Australia, China, Europe and South Arica.

The majority o architects and engineers worldwide are unaware o the materials, designs and construction

techniques available or energy ecient buildings and are thereore unable to put them to use in theirprojects. Ambitious standards or zero or negative energy houses adopted in the United Kingdomcannot be met because construction enterprises and workers do not have the capacity to build to thesestandards. In China, the best technology available or new buildings cannot be used because o theexisting low qualication levels o construction workers.

While much o the attention ocuses on technology, experience demonstrates that the weakest link inthe production chain will determine the level o perormance that can be attained. Without qualiedentrepreneurs and skilled workers, the available technology and resources or investments cannot beused or cannot deliver the expected environmental benets and economic returns. Endeavours to closethe current skills gap and anticipate uture needs are essential or a transition to a green and low carboneconomy. An emphasis on the high end o skills and education would be misplaced. Training what might

be termed greencollar workers is just as important.



Peter Duddek / VISUM / Still Pictures

Young woman trainee.

Examples cited in the report demonstrate that skills upgrading is both undamental and possible. This isevident both in industrialized continents and countries, including Australia, the United States and Europe,and also in developing countries and emerging economies, such as Bangladesh, Brazil, China and Kenya.Entrepreneurial skills can be as important as technical knowhow. The training o young people, womenand members o poor urban and rural communities can pay particularly high dividends.

Creating a map o skill requirements is a vital rst step as it can inorm ad hoc programs or potential skillsupgrading. Assessments o the potential o green jobs and the monitoring o such jobs, as describedabove, would constitute an ideal basis or ad hoc measures and or the adaptation o national vocationaltraining and education systems over the medium term. This would allow skills development to tie indirectly with policies and investments.

Greening o work places mobilizing a dormant resource

Greener enterprises and green jobs orm an indispensable part o the solution to environmental problems,including that o climate change. Citing initiatives taken by the British Trades Union Congress andcooperation between unions and the government in Caliornia as examples, the report points out thateconomic sectors and individual enterprises can make a major contribution to reducing both emissionso greenhouse gases and the environmental ootprint in general through labourmanagement initiativesresulting in greener workplaces. These contributions can be signicant when compared to reductiontargets under the Kyoto Protocol or national targets to improve energy eciency. Gains are oten quicklyachieved, at a very low cost and without the need or major capital investment.

Political resolve: stable policy rameworks, prices and incentivesIt is clearly essential to correct market ailures and to ensure that prices are right, in particular thato carbon, but also that o other externalized environmental and social costs. Market signals and theparameters or investments need to be clear and stable. This imperative notwithstanding, purely marketdriven processes will not deliver at the scale and the speed required.

The report nds that markets have thrived and transormation has advanced most where there has beenstrong and consistent political support. Policies designed to ensure efective support or and to drive theprivate sector include targets, penalties and incentives such as eedin laws and eciency standards orbuildings and appliances, as well as proactive research and development.

Stable political resolve will depend on a transormation that is equitable between and within countries,

where benets are shared broadly and airly and where those losing out in the transormation aresupported in nding alternative, more sustainable livelihoods.



Box 7: Recycling in Brazil lessons rom a world leader on an industry o the uture

Recycling can make a major contribution to reducing the environmental ootprint o energy andmaterial intensive economic sectors. Figures or Brazilthe global leader in aluminium can recyclingindicate that some 10.3 billion cans were collected in Brazil in 2006. Recycling saves the country 1,976GWh per year o electricity that would normally have been required to produce new aluminiumanamount o surplus electricity sucient to supply a city o over 1 million inhabitants or one year.

Aluminium can recycling provides employment or close to 170,000 people in Brazil. According toa 2005 survey, Brazil has close to 2,400 companies and cooperatives involved in recycling and scraptrading, most o them small or microsized. The country achieved a recycling rate o 94 per cent,climbing sharply rom 46 per cent in 1990. By comparison, Japan reached a rate o 91 per cent, theScandinavian countries 88 per cent, and Western Europe as a whole about 58 per cent.

Brazil also has high recycling rates or other products. According to the nonprot associations BrazilianMicro and Small Business Support Service (SEBRAE) and Entrepreneurial Commitment or Recycling(CEMPRE), in 2004 the country recycled 96 per cent o its aluminium cans, 49 per cent o its steel cans,48 per cent o its PET plastics, 46 per cent o its glass packaging, 39 per cent o its tyres, and 33 percent o its waste paper. SEBRAE and CEMPRE estimate that the recycling sector employs some 500,000people in Brazil.

The country has also pioneered ways to improverecycling jobs. While recycling is o great value interms o resource conservation, it can entail dirty,undesirable and even dangerous and unhealthywork, and it is oten poorly paid. In many developingcountries, recycling work is perormed by aninormal network o scrap collectors, sometimesknown as waste pickers or scavengers, who collectthe recycled materials or revenue. Eforts to ormcooperatives have raised the pay levels and standardsin many countries. In Brazil, 90 per cent o recyclable

material is collected by scrap collectors catadores delixo, who have organized themselves into a nationalcooperative movement with 500 cooperatives and60,000 collectors in total. In 2005, Belo Horizonte, oneo Brazils largest cities, inaugurated the rst recycling plant to be run by associations o independentcatadores de lixo. The plant is intended to avoid unscrupulous middlemen and provide an increase oabout 30 per cent to the incomes o the collectors.

Source: http://www.cidades.gov.br/conselho-das-cidades/conerencias-das-cidades/2a-conerencia-das-cidades/

Scaling up investment

Investment in clean development and in green jobs has been growing ast in recent years; such investmentcreates employment. Global investment in clean technology expanded by 60 per cent rom $92.6 billionin 2006 to $148.4 billion in 2007 and currently, many major companies worldwide are talking aboutinvesting in climate solutions.

Increasingly, green employment creation is the consequence o conscious decisions o companiesto adopt more sustainable business practices, and the recognition by venture capital rms that cleantechnology development ofers signicant business opportunities. Many o the companies drivingrenewable energy solutions prize employees who are skilled, take individual initiative, and are orientedtoward problemsolving. The majority o the pioneers consist o small and mediumsized companies, butlarger, more established companies are currently joining the efort.

For example, in February 2008, nearly 50 leading investors rom the United States and Europe, representingassets worth more than $8 trillion, met at the United Nations to lay out a timetable or their commitmentsto global climate change. They pledged $10 billion or green investments over the period 20082010.More, however, is still needed.

Sean Sprague / Still PicturesRegistered scavengers picking out recyclable garbage rom a

conveyor belt at the Rio de Janeiro city dump. Brazil.


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The Clean Development Mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol was meant to acilitate resource transersrom industrialized to developing countries. In its current orm it is alling ar short o its potential. Thehigh transaction costs and a piecemeal approach through projects that avour large scale investmentshave resulted in a distorted portolio o large projects concentrated in only a ew countries. For the CleanDevelopment Mechanism to play its role, it needs to become accessible to more countries, communitiesand small enterprises by adopting a programme approach that bundles smallscale initiative and reducestransaction costs.

Box 8: Retrotting buildings or energy efciency in Germany

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), retrotting and replacingobsolete equipment in buildings has the largest potential or reducing emissions o greenhouse gasesby 2030. Many retrotting measures can pay or themselves through energy savings and governmentsupport or such measures is largely ofset by higher tax revenue and lower government contributionsto social security.

The most ambitious such programme to date is the initiative by the German Alliance or Work andthe Environment, a partnership between the Government, building employers, trade unions andnongovernmental organizations launched during a recession in the building sector in 2001. Theprogramme helped to retrot 342,000 apartments with improved insulation o roos, windows and

walls, along with advanced heating and ventilation systems and installation o renewable energyequipment.

Over the period 20012006, $5.2 billion o public subsidies stimulated a total investment o $20.9billion, creating or maintaining about 140,000 jobs. The scheme reduced the annual emissions

rom buildings by 2 per cent. About $4 billion o thegovernment input was recovered through tax and theneed or unemployment benets was averted. In 2005,the Government increased unding or the programmeto almost $2 billion annually. This led to an estimated145,000 additional ulltimeequivalent jobs in 2006.Retrotting o buildings has become one o the keyelements o the strategy by the German Government toreduce emissions by 40 per cent by 2020.

BSM Werner Klein

Source: http://www.bsm-wernerklein.de/thermographie/index.html



Just transitions

The greening o economies and provision o decent work or just a ew will not suce to meet theenvironmental and social challenges currently aced worldwide. Such a piecemeal approach will generateneither the consensus nor the momentum needed to avert climate change and will be hardly conduciveto the creation o stable societies.

Just transitions are needed both or those afected by the transormation to a green economy and also or

those having to adapt to climate change. Industries concentrated in particular regions are oten hard hit bytransitions, particularly those as swit and pervasive ones as the ones needed to avert dangerous climatechange. The industries hardest hit by climate change and those most in need o adaptation are those indeveloping countries that have historically contributed least to the emissions causing global warming.

The business sector accepts and recognizes the need and shares the responsibility or a air transition.Government assistance to both workers and enterprises will be a necessary complement in many cases.Meaningul social dialogue will be essential to ease tensions and to arrive at efective costsharing andresource allocations.

Workers and trade unions emphasize that ar too little is known about both the risks and opportunitiesin a transition to a greener economy. Future research in this regard is a priority. The afected workers andcommunities need adequate social protection, along with access to new opportunities.

The International Labour Organization provides a ramework or just transitions. This includes, amongother things, guidance on sustainable enterprise, on multinational enterprise and on air globalization.This ramework and extensive experience can be applied to such areas as: active labour market policies,income protection, retraining, awarenessraising and capacitybuilding or employers and workersorganizations, entrepreneurship development, assistance or reintegration into the labour market andinvestments to diversiy the local economy and to create alternative income opportunities.

Towards coherent policies

A transormation involving the creation o large numbers o green jobs and major development benets

is possible. The approaches that work are known but success is not automatic. It is contingent on theadoption and implementation o coherent policies which integrate the three pillars o sustainabledevelopment: economy, environment and society.

Coherent environmental, economic and social policies are critical and will require commitment at thehighest political level. This needs to be articulated more clearly and the social dimension needs to eaturemore prominently in environmental policy debates, in particular the climate talks, where relative pricesand industrial policies are being set and key decisions adopted about technology transer, nancial owsand investments. The task is complex but can be tackled by involving the main stakeholders: employers,workers and Governments.

Involving the social partners: the benefts o social dialogue

Social dialogue among those most afected by these transitionsworkers, employers and Governmentswith a view to working towards air policies that are ecient and balanced in their costs and benets isessential because that is the way to make such transitions sustainable.

Examples o efective dialogue designed to guide the transormation and to acilitate the transition inboth enterprises and labour markets include national sectoral round tables established in Spain or theimplementation o the Kyoto commitments, the consultations o social partners on projects to be undedthrough the Clean Development Mechanism in Brazil and in Belgium and the Framework Agreement onthe Environment concluded between unions and the Government o Argentina.

The report highlights the large untapped potential or social dialogue and alliances at national, sectoral,company and workplace levels, to mobilize economic actors and to acilitate the ormation o betterinormed and more integrated policy responses.



Green Jobs Initiative

The Green Jobs Initiative is a partnership established in 2007 between the United Nations EnvironmentProgramme (UNEP), the International Labour Organization (ILO), and the International Trade UnionConederation (ITUC). The International Organization o Employers (IOE) joined the Initiative in 2008.

The Initiative was launched in order to promote opportunity, equity and just transitions and to mobilizeGovernments, employers and workers to engage in dialogue on coherent policies and efective

programmes leading to a green economy with green jobs and decent work or all.

The partners:

UNEP is the voice or the environment in the United Nations system. It is an advocate, educator,catalyst and acilitator, promoting the wise use o the planets natural assets or sustainabledevelopment.

ILO is a tripartite agency o the United Nations that brings together the Governments, employersand workers o its member States in common action to promote decent work throughout theworld.

ITUC is the International Trade Union Conederation. Its primary mission is the promotion and

deence o workers rights and interests, through international cooperation between tradeunions, global campaigning and advocacy within the major global institutions. ITUC represents168 million workers in 155 countries and territories and has 311 national aliates.

IOE is recognized as the only organization at the international level that represents the interestso business in the labour and social policy elds. Today, it consists o 146 national employerorganizations rom 138 countries rom all over the world.


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United Nations Environment ProgrammeP.O. Box 30552 Nairobi, Kenya

Tel: (254 20) 7621234Fax: (254 20) 7623927

www.unep.org

overview of green jobs report wcms_098487

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