Between 15m and 60m additional jobs can be created around the world in the next two decades if green policies are put in place to switch the high-carbon economy to low-carbon, according to a new report from the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep). These are net gains in employment for the world economy, taking into account any job losses in high-carbon industries that fail to transform.
The study, Working towards sustainable development: opportunities for decent work and social inclusion in a green economy, noted that in the US, there are now about three million "green jobs", in sectors such as wind power and energy efficiency. In the UK, the number is close to one million and has been one of the few areas of the economy that has been creating jobs. There are about 500,000 people working in green jobs in Spain. In the developing world, too, the number is growing rapidly – about 7% of people employed in Brazil, amounting to three million people, are now in the green economy. However, realising the full potential of green jobs depends on countries taking action to develop the green economy and bringing in policies that will foster investment.
Jobs easily identified as "green" – workers in renewable energy, for instance, maintaining forests or installing insulation – are not the only ones to be touched by the shift to a more environmentally sustainable economy. At least half of the global workforce will be affected in some way by 2030, the study found. This will stretch from people whose industrial processes are overhauled to cut greenhouse gases, to farmers who change their methods to be more environmentally friendly, and workers in the construction industry who begin to install new greener materials.
Some of the sectors identified in the report as being most affected by the changes include: agriculture, forestry, fishing, energy, resource-intensive manufacturing, recycling, building and transport.
The study, Working towards sustainable development: opportunities for decent work and social inclusion in a green economy, noted that in the US, there are now about three million "green jobs", in sectors such as wind power and energy efficiency. In the UK, the number is close to one million and has been one of the few areas of the economy that has been creating jobs. There are about 500,000 people working in green jobs in Spain. In the developing world, too, the number is growing rapidly – about 7% of people employed in Brazil, amounting to three million people, are now in the green economy. However, realising the full potential of green jobs depends on countries taking action to develop the green economy and bringing in policies that will foster investment.
Jobs easily identified as "green" – workers in renewable energy, for instance, maintaining forests or installing insulation – are not the only ones to be touched by the shift to a more environmentally sustainable economy. At least half of the global workforce will be affected in some way by 2030, the study found. This will stretch from people whose industrial processes are overhauled to cut greenhouse gases, to farmers who change their methods to be more environmentally friendly, and workers in the construction industry who begin to install new greener materials.
Some of the sectors identified in the report as being most affected by the changes include: agriculture, forestry, fishing, energy, resource-intensive manufacturing, recycling, building and transport.
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