As climate change will unfold, certain places, industries, and their workforces will be affected more than others said Deloitte Center for Sustainable Progress report titled – ‘Work toward net zero- The rise of the Green Collar workforce in a just transition. The report builds on modeling from Deloitte’s Turning Point series to present a more detailed look at the impacts of decarbonization, specifically on jobs.
To identify the jobs most vulnerable to climate change and decarbonization, the Deloitte Economics Institute constructed a new Job Vulnerability Index. This methodology helps pinpoint the regions and industries needing new assistance and policy interventions.
The report found that more than 800 million jobs—about one-quarter of the global workforce—are highly vulnerable to being disrupted by climate change, from weather extremes to the impacts of transitioning to a low-carbon economy. However, policymakers and business leaders can unleash significant economic growth and help create more than 300 million new jobs around the world by 2050 by building a new Green Collar workforce and making decarbonization work, said the report.
The research also finds that India’s workforce and economy are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, which means it has much to gain from an active transition to net zero.
- The country is expected to have 74 million additional jobs by 2050 under an active transition path.
- A significant proportion of these jobs are in the services industries (27 million), which includes government, financial, and business services.
- A well-planned transition will further allow diversification of the agriculture sector, resulting in 5 million more jobs in 2050.
“An active transition to net zero will earn many economic benefits to India as highlighted in reports by Deloitte Economic Institute. However, the success of this transition will be judged based on how we protect those who are most vulnerable to both climate changes and job disruption. Focusing on skills that will help our workforce drive the economic transition should be a critical element of our strategy. A deeper analysis of India’s job market and identifying the areas where upskilling and policy interventions are required for a just transition could be some of the initial steps in this direction,” says Viral Thakker, Partner and Sustainability Leader, Deloitte India.
A Green Collar workforce will be characterized by new types of work, skills, and occupations, and will remake our economy of the future.
According to the analysis, 80 percent of the skills required in the Green Collar workforce (workers with new skills) are used in the current workforce. An active transition could create additional 21 million jobs in Europe, 26 million in America, 75 million in Africa, and 180 million in Asia Pacific region.
The report also suggests protective measures for ensuring a smoother transition which are as follows:
- Setting ambitious interim emissions-reduction targets
- Using ‘system deals’ for new industrial
- Developing skill pathways into high-value jobs
- Ensuring an adaptive skills and education pipeline
- Applying a portfolio approach to skill reallocation targeted to specific cohorts in the economy. This will be core to place-based and cohort-based workforce policy design for decarbonization.
For more information on the report click here