Unlocking the green talent

Transitioning to a green economy requires educational institutions and businesses to embrace and implement sustainability at scale, writes Salil Sahadevan

If you recently Googled for an electric vehicle or read that investment companies recruit climate scientists, then you have just scratched the surface of the green skills revolution.

The zero-carbon and clean economy targets need to be supported by green skills, green jobs and funding in green technologies. While transforming to a green economy is a herculean effort, a focus on the green job is not trying to be trendy, but a matter of survival.

Data suggests a green skills revolution is afoot. International Labour Organization estimates 24 million green jobs worldwide by 2030. Solar and wind jobs are growing at a rate 10 times faster than the rest of the US economy. With COP26, more debate on green skills is underway in developing nations.

What drives green jobs and skills?

While the standard GDP measures only the total economic output, Green GDP factors in resource depletion and environmental degradation too. Similarly, the triple bottom line accounts for the environmental, social and economic costs of organisations.

As businesses are likely to adopt sustainable practices, green skills will be valuable in all industries that are moving towards the green economy. This correlates with the doubling resale clothing market or increasing sales of electric car conversion kits or growing interest in eco-living.

Shape of opportunities

Conserving natural resources at scale requires green talent. Green jobs enable efficient consumption of energy and raw materials, and restore the environment. Green roles cut waste, prevent contamination and environmental degradation, protect ecosystems and develop sustainable ways of conducting life. Altogether, green occupations present three spectra of opportunities: traditional, technical and transition roles.

The first spectrum has traditional roles. From renewable energy engineer to solar panel installer, recycling process manager to a recycling plant technician, from environmental scientists to electric vehicle engineer, conservation scientist to environmental impact assessor and similar existing roles come under this.

The second spectrum demands expertise in emerging areas such as photovoltaic technologies, retrofitting, biofuels, decarbonisation, eco-design, sustainable fashion, refurbishing and remanufacturing, urban farming, wind technologies, carbon accounting, chemical recycling and carbon capture and storage.

The third spectrum has generic and wider skills that are needed for the transition to a green economy. Such transition skills include IT skills, design skills for the circular economy, leadership skills and advocacy skills to persuade the cultural changes to achieve net-zero.

Green jobs will span industry sectors. Regional deployment of green jobs will not only include large companies, but also several social enterprises, micro-projects and networked organisations.

Educating for a green future

A cursory glance at the internet gives you lists of institutions offering courses related to environmental management and clean technologies. Yet, formal degrees in some emerging areas remain limited.

However, short courses, MOOCs, other online learning platforms, boot camps, in-company training, green apprenticeships and bite-sized, modular training in each micro area are immediately doable, instead of waiting for formal graduate courses to take off. Professionals currently working in other areas can contextualise their knowledge by using the same means.

To support our net-zero targets, institutions need educational strategies.

A sprawling green campus or few solar panels or academically integrating renewables in the curriculum are no longer sufficient.

Universities and colleges that mediate the transition between skills providers, businesses and government will have a premium. Pulling together the skills from across disciplines, institutions can seek strategic funding, overcome the short-termism on jobs, and collaborate for courses with green forerunners. Institutions can practice the livelihoods of responsible consumption as an essential skill to all.

Gigaton challenge

Living the culture and learning the livelihood is the key. Institutions, as hubs of experimentation, can train students outside the fossil fuels industry. Diving into deeper conversations and actions with real impact is the singular and urgent way ahead.

Gigaton Challenge is one educational response to the climate urgency through real practice. Designed by Social Laboratories in the UK and Shikshantar from India, the course is offered through an online platform called ‘complexity university’.

The Challenge? Within two weeks, each participant has to reduce the CO2 emissions by one tonne.

The team meets online, practices prototyping, tests and adjusts interventions with the support of the faculty team. In less than a year, just over 700 participants from different cities together have abated 144 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Imagine scaling up similar models to the entire country. In such bottom-up responses, the participants mobilise awareness and get trained in green skills. There is a direct, tangible impact on emissions, building skills, and making change.

Should we wait for somebody to take action?

We have one chance to save the planet. More than being an educational or career choice, it is a question of life.

(The author is Education Officer, University Grants Commission. Views are personal.)

Watch the latest DH Videos here: