A new report from the World Resources Institute offers some background reading for your green job search: The Green Jobs Advantage: How Climate-friendly Investments Are Better Job Creators. Here’s the summary:
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused millions of jobs to be lost globally and has exacerbated inequality. At the same time, addressing climate change is an urgent challenge. Too many governments have funneled money to unsustainable sectors as part of their COVID-19 recovery efforts even though this is not the best job creator and will exacerbate climate change.
This analysis of studies from around the world finds that green investments generally create more jobs per US$1 million than unsustainable investments. It compares near-term job creation effects from clean energy vs. fossil fuels, public transportation vs. roads, electric vehicles vs. internal combustion engine vehicles, and nature-based solutions vs. oil and gas production.
For example, on average:
- Investing in solar PV creates 1.5 times as many jobs as fossil fuels per $1 million.
- Building efficiency creates 2.8 times as many jobs as fossil fuels per $1 million.
- Mass transit creates 1.4 times as many jobs as road construction per $1 million.
- Ecosystem restoration creates 3.7 times as many jobs as oil & gas production per $1 million.
The paper also explores job quality in green sectors. In developing countries, green jobs can offer good wages when they are formal, but too many are informal and temporary, limiting access to work security, safety and social protections. In developed countries, new green jobs can provide avenues to the middle class, but may have wages and benefits that aren’t as high as those in traditional sectors where, in many cases, workers have been able to fight for job quality through decades of collective action.
Government investment should come with conditions that ensure fair wages and benefits, work security, safe working conditions, opportunities for training and advancement, the right to organize, and accessibility to all.