Transitioning to a low-carbon economy will require not only emissions-mitigation and adaptation strategies by business and the community, but a ‘green skills’ revolution in the Australian workforce, according to a recent CSIRO report.
“Achieving the transition to a low carbon economy will require a massive mobilisation of skills and training for our green collar workers, those who work in key sectors influencing our environmental footprint,” to CSIRO’s Heinz Schandl told ECOS Magazine regarding the report’s findings. “This will involve concerted action by government, business, labour, and educational and training institutions to develop and implement new approaches to green education, training and jobs.”
The Growing the Green Collar Economy report projects an increase of 2.5–3.3 million jobs over the next two decades if Australia adopts a sustainable future’ policy framework.
Energy, construction and housing, transport and mobility, crop and livestock production, and nutrition – sectors with high potential environmental impacts – might grow by as much as 10 percent over the next decade. Transport, construction, agriculture, manufacturing and the mining sectors will grow by about 230,000 to 340,000 jobs, with employment in construction and transport expected to grow much faster than the national average, CSIRO predicts.
“Supporting a low-carbon transition will require a fundamental change in the organisation, design and actual activities in these sectors,” Schandl told ECOS. “It depends upon the right incentives being put in place as well as on the human and leadership capacity to head toward sustainability.”
The CSIRO modelling used two different national models in making its projections: CSIRO’s Australian Stocks and Flows Framework, which takes a ‘physical economy’ approach and an alternative ‘monetary economy’ model, the magazine reported.
