More green jobs, more green talent

The transition to a green economy will add about 60 million new jobs to the labor market by 2030, known as green jobs.

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), these “green jobs” are those that contribute to maintaining or restoring the quality of the environment. These include work to protect ecosystems and biodiversity; reduce energy, material and water consumption through highly efficient strategies; decarbonize the economy; and minimize or eliminate the generation of all forms of waste and pollution.

In the vast majority of green jobs, sustainability is not the central axis of work, but is closely linked to it, as is the case, for example, with people in charge of fleet management or healthcare. These are jobs that offer adequate wages, legal benefits, job security, reasonable career prospects, and a sense of job security. In other words, these are jobs linked to the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda.

Currently, the supply of green jobs outnumbers the number of talent that can fill these positions. LinkedIn reported in its 2022 Global Environmental Skills Report that there was an 8% increase in job postings for these types of jobs; however, the number of available green talents increased by only 6%.

These figures shed light on the opportunities that exist in the future, not only in training new talent, but also in training, upskilling and retraining. The changes that the labor market needs will be related to the green skills approach to recruitment; that is, globally, people trained in green talent will be easier to hire in the future than those who do not. Potential new green jobs also need to be identified in the context of the post-pandemic recovery.

In light of this need, and in view of technological progress and the urgent need to address climate change issues, I spoke with Andreas Müller, Deputy Director of the German-Mexican Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CAMEXA), who introduced me to the project that this institution promotes, through its new sustainability department and with the financial support of GIZ’s Business Scouts for Development program, more and more green jobs in Mexico.

This macro project has two main directions: the first is the integration of sustainability into dual education. According to CAMEXA, dual education aims to link theory and practice, integrating the student into the company to develop their professional skills as well as other general and disciplinary skills.

Through this line of action, CAMEXA aims to integrate sustainability into the education plan for young people. It will start by promoting this dual education program with a focus on sustainability, primarily in Nuevo León, where it hopes to reach over a thousand young people.

The second area of ​​activity is education. To do this, companies start with a course conducted by CAMEXA, where the internal sustainability manager maps the company’s green route.

The goal of this course is to develop a clear blueprint for the training program that each company should promote and the technological equipment it needs to achieve its sustainability goals. To date, CAMEXA has already trained 50 companies in the Internal Sustainability Manager course, but more will no doubt be added before June 2023, when the project is proposed for implementation.

It also plans to reach more than 300 people with “green jobs” training programs. Based on an analysis of the main needs for green skills in Mexico, seven main sectors were identified: electromobility; renewable energy, construction (jointly with the Mexican Chamber of the Construction Industry); green finance; spend in vain; water and agriculture.

Of the seven sectors, Andreas emphasized the importance of the first one: electromobility. According to UNEP, jobs in the production of environmentally friendly vehicles currently amount to 235,000 jobs, which are located between the European Union, Japan, South Korea and the United States. However, very important growth is forecast for the next five years, driven by the momentum in the production of environmentally friendly vehicles.

In the future, CAMEXA will also aim at three factors: to certify technical specialists of higher education institutions in sustainable development, to promote technical standards that require such certification, and to increasingly promote green financing.

As Greta Thunberg said: “The climate crisis we are experiencing is both the simplest and the most complex problem we have ever faced. The easiest one, because we know what we have to do. The hardest part because our current economy is still destroying ecosystems to ensure sustainable economic growth.”

This is our opportunity to promote the easy way: the way to more green jobs that starts with more people interested in strengthening their green talent.

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ITCIAR GOMEZ JIMENEZ
DIRECTOR OF THE PLAZMAR COMMUNICATION AGENCY

BUDDY