As the Indian economy adapts to climate change, it needs a large green collar workforce to sustain a low-carbon economy in the long term. Greening of the economy in India is going to be a long process which promises high-growth jobs in manufacturing, management and marketing, as well as several niche positions for enterprising job seekers looking for alternative career options. Energy supply, mainly in the renewable energy sector, buildings and construction, transportation, basic industries, agriculture and forest are likely to be the prime sectors of emphasis in terms of employment impact.
900,000 green jobs by 2025
According to a recent report commissioned by a number of UN organisations, in the area of biogas alone, India can generate 900,000 jobs by 2025. Of these, 300,000 would be in the manufacturing of stoves and 600,000 in areas such as processing into briquettes and pellets and the fuel supply chain. The report estimates that the global market for environmental products and services would double from $1.37 trillion a year now to $2.74 trillion by 2020. This would create millions of new green jobs.
As India is expected to have a fair share of this green economic growth, it will need to create a strong trained and skilled green workforce. The emerging economy will require a green workforce comprising conservation workers, environmental consultants, and engineers across disciplines, green building architects, socially responsible investors, organic farmers, environmental lawyers and ecology educators. Vocational workers such as electricians to install solar panels, plumbers to install solar water heaters and construction workers to build green buildings or wind power farms will be very much in demand.
Training and skill building
This will call for special efforts towards training and skill building through different means such as trade schools, universities, on-the-job training in the workplace etc. India should follow the examples of Arizona State University in the US which opened a School of Sustainability in 2007 and the University of California at Davis which is offering a major course in sustainable agriculture.
India’s initiatives to develop a low-carbon economy and green resources are certainly sincere. But the efforts have at best been fragmented due to insufficiency of financial resources, ineffective industry-academia partnership and lack of collaborative research. What is needed is a more holistic approach from the Indian corporate sector with adequate backing from the Government.
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It is great to see the video on the Green Jobs Fair for students.
The big concern is that corporates and SMEs don’t “pedal” the terms GREEN and SUSTAINABILITY just to target funds or trendy catch phrases fort their company.