A green job is a job that can contribute to environmental sustainability. Green jobs are prevalent in traditional sectors like construction and manufacturing and newer sectors like renewable energy. Green jobs help to improve the energy efficiency of raw materials. These jobs are determined to curb greenhouse gas emissions, limit waste and pollution, restore ecosystem and biodiversity, and prevent the effects of global warming and climate change. The energy-efficient systems of green jobs help in nature conservation. These environmentally friendly jobs help in reducing water consumption and improving recycling systems.
Green Talents and Green Jobs
A person can be defined as ‘green talent’ if they have some ‘green skills’ or work in a job that can be considered as a ‘green job.’ Green skills are knowledge or abilities that a worker can utilize to save the environment, clean up pollution, and help conserve the natural ecosystem while producing goods and services. Some of the emerging green jobs are in the management of the ecosystem, environmental policy, sustainable procurement, etc. Highly specialized green professionals include environmental scientists, green agricultural researchers, wildlife biologists, sustainability managers, and the like.
For example, sustainable understanding of fashion or slow fashion and pollution prevention are becoming popular among garment stylists and designers in the garment industry. Sustainable investment is popular now in environmental finance, and investment analysts and portfolio managers are increasingly reporting sustainable investment. Now green jobs have become a part of many industries, including agriculture, healthcare, fashion technology, renewable energy, finance, construction, and the transportation industry. Many business leaders worldwide are setting goals to become carbon negative in the coming days. Green jobs are now really necessary to achieve a zero-carbon, clean and green economy.
Green Jobs in India
India is famous for its agricultural productions. Being an agrarian economy, ‘green jobs’ are not a new thing for India. However, in the country, the idea of ‘green jobs’ attracted people’s attention after the initiatives of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the publication of a report entitled ‘‘Green Jobs: Toward Decent Work in a Sustainable, Low Carbon World.’’
While endeavoring to meet all the challenges regarding the country’s development, India is attempting to work toward a low carbon emission pathway. The Government of India is determined to promote climate justice and a sustainable lifestyle to keep the vulnerable safe from the adverse effects of the climate crisis. The policies of India’s INDC centers are based on the promotion of renewable energy, heightening of energy efficiency, formation of resilient and less carbon-intensive urban centers, development of sustainable transportation network, reduction of pollution level, and restoration of forest cover. At COP21 (the Paris Climate Conference), India announced an aim to reduce the emissions intensity of the country’s GDP by 33-35% by 2030.
Indian INDC centers open a huge scope for green business that needs highly efficient workforce requirements to form a green economy.
Estimates by the CEEW (Council on Energy, Environment, and Water) and NRDC (National Resources Defense Council) show that from 2011 to 2014, nearly 24000 full-time equivalent jobs (FTE) were created for the solar photovoltaic projects. Other reports claim that the solar and wind energy sectors have created approximately 70000 full-time equivalent jobs. If by 2022, India can achieve its goal of 100 GW of solar energy, nearly one million jobs could be created.
To Conclude
The country has started taking steps towards environmental sustainability. Shortly, hopefully, as a part of India’s climate activism, green jobs will be able to play the role of a potential savior of the environment for the country.
