Green policies and jobs: a double dividend?
Nearly 40 percent of all jobs worldwide are in high carbon intensive
sectors. If we want to arrest climate change, this will inevitably
create an employment challenge as workers will have to move to different
jobs and sectors. And it raises the question to what extent “green”
policies can produce a double dividend, in terms of environmental and
employment goals.
Here are a series of questions and answers on climate change, green
policies and jobs.
Q: What is the link between climate change and the ongoing global
economic crisis?
A: Making our societies more resilient to the impact of climate
change is to a very large extent about ensuring that workplaces and
labour markets are not disrupted.
Experience of environmental as well as financial crises shows us that
if people on the margins of poverty lose their livelihoods it can take
years to climb back out of deprivation.
There is growing international awareness of the need to arrest
climate change to put the world economy on a more sustainable track.
Already, as part of packages to overcome the ongoing global economic
and jobs crisis, countries have launched infrastructure investments
designed to promote transitions to a greener economy.
Such efforts would at the same time serve social objectives to the
extent that spending on green projects promotes recovery and job
creation. They would also help reduce the length of the labour market
recession.
Q: The employment challenge associated with the goal of cutting CO2
emissions is significant?
A: According to the ILO’s latest World of Work report (Note 1),
employment in high carbon intensive sectors accounts for about 38
percent of jobs across the world. If we want to arrest climate change,
this will inevitably create an employment challenge as workers will have
to move to different jobs and sectors. However, the move to a low-carbon
economy also presents huge opportunities for the creation of new jobs
aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change through energy and
industrialization policies.
It would open new markets, stimulate eco-innovation and investment in
more efficient production techniques. Moreover, “green policies” such as
carbon taxes or cap-and-trade schemes would generate government revenue,
which could be used to reduce labour taxes, in turn stimulating labour
demand.
Q: Can you give us a concrete example for the employment impact of
green policies?
A: The World of Work report shows that if a price was imposed on CO2
emissions, as will be discussed at the climate conference in Copenhagen,
and if the resulting revenue were used to cut labour taxes, then
employment would rise by 0.5 percent by 2014.
This is equivalent to over 14.3 million net new jobs for the world
economy as a whole. And even larger gains would arise due to
technological change induced by green policies.
Q: How can the ILO help to make the transition to a green economy
socially and environmentally sustainable?
A: Jobs and enterprises will be lost in some sectors, and new jobs
and business opportunities will emerge in other sectors. Likewise, new
skills need to be developed in conjunction with the transition to a
low-carbon economy. Furthermore, developing countries require support to
address a challenge associated with an environment problem of which they
are the innocent victims.
Green policies are likely to have adverse effects on inequality, as
the rise in the price of energy and of energy-intensive consumption
goods may impact disproportionately on low-income households.
Revenue from a price on carbon can and should be used to compensate
poor households. This is why the Global Jobs Pact, implemented
hand-in-hand with green policies, is so crucial.
Adopted by the 183-member States of the ILO last June, the Pact
supports the shift to a low-carbon, environmentally-friendly economy as
a way to accelerate and sustain a jobs recovery.
Q: What is the role of the ILO in UN-wide efforts to arrest climate
change?
A: Given its mandate, constituency and expertise, the ILO could play
a major role at international and national levels in a system-wide
approach, especially through its Decent Work Country Programs.
In close cooperation with other UN agencies, the ILO can contribute
among others to facilitating economic and social transition for key
sectors such as energy generation, construction, transport and other
relevant sectors; promoting green jobs which contribute to growth while
reducing emissions; and greening the workplace by mobilizing employers
and workers to improve energy efficiency of existing facilities and
equipment, in particular in small enterprises.
The ILO’s Green Jobs initiative aims to provide the vital decent work
dimension to the United Nations’ drive for a comprehensive strategy on
climate change.
The aim is to show how well designed climate and labour market
policies can contribute to realizing a double dividend, in terms of both
environmental and social goals
Note 1 World of Work Report 2009, The Global Jobs Crisis and Beyond,
ch. 4: Green policies and jobs: a double dividend? International Labour
Office, Geneva 2009.
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