Without basic green literacy skills, workers won’t be able to do their jobs – president of ECO Canada
Many business leaders believed that green transition will be positively impacting the job market, specifically with the creation of jobs, new research from Economist Impact found.
The Green Skills Outlook, a study supported by Iberdrola, an electric company, explored the impact of the green transition on global labour markets. The study found that green transition was received by executives with great optimism as 79 percent of business leaders said that it presented more opportunities than challenges for their organisations.
About 73 percent of the respondents believed that it will be creating more jobs with 81 percent saying that it will be creating jobs that have a higher quality for workers.
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), the transition is estimated to lead to 25 million net new jobs globally, particularly in green sectors and activities, by 2030.
Green skills, which were knowledge, competencies, values, and attributes that are needed to develop and support a sustainable, low-carbon, and resource-efficient society, will be required for workers to have in order for the green transition to come into fruition.
These skills range from non-vocational, non-technical soft skills in green jobs to technical and role-specific skills. Among the respondents, the most important green skills were sustainability and disclosure reporting (39 percent). This was followed by environmental impact assessment (35 percent) and sustainability compliance (32 percent).
“All individuals will need to acquire green skills - if a person doesn’t have basic green literacy skills, they won’t be able to effectively carry out their role,” said Kevin Nilsen, president of ECO Canada.
While the study found that there were 79 percent of business leaders who agreed that skills will be the most important driver of the green transition, only 55 percent have implemented or were planning to implement programs that were geared towards creating them for their employees.
Business leaders also believed that the government plays as important role in ensuring that the supply of green skills in the job market will be able to meet the needs of the green transition.
About 53 percent believed that policies such as grants or tax relief should be made to support investments in up-skilling and re-skilling programmes. Around 49 percent said that the establishment of green skills courses in educational institutions should be support while 46 percent said that existing work and training programmes with emphasis on green skills should be available for those unemployed.
“The opportunities presented by the transition are vast, but it is critical that both businesses and policymakers are sharply focused now on ensuring people are equipped with the right skills and training,” said Igancio Galán, executive chairman of Iberdrola and chairman of Avangrid, a sustainable energy company controlled by Iberdrola.
“Without skilled workers, the transition will not be delivered, and the benefits will not be realised,” he added.
