Climate change and environmental degradation are jeopardizing the
sustainability of human development worldwide both social and economic at
the same time moves toward a greener economy are creating new opportunities
in technology investments and jobs. Realizing these opportunities will only
be possible if we invest in the right skills to support an environmentally
sustainable economy. This means rethinking how we produce our food,
manufacture goods and manage our economies. This also means that new sets
of skills for green jobs will be needed. Greening also about decent jobs. Green
jobs are decent jobs that are good for the environment they help restore the
environment and fight climate change. A green job means: a voice at work, equality,
fair income safe working conditions and protecting the environment. Skills
development play an important role in green transition by providing a two-fold
role: first skills development is a sort of a
buffer that protects people and provides them with the retraining opportunities
coupled with some social protection measures and with some access to some
basic income. But skill development has another and very important role and that
role is the role of enabler, enabler of the green transition itself because
skills development also increases productivity and it also helps enterprises
to adjust to change and they also help interpreters to stay competitive. The
private sector will be a key actor in the transition to green economies, if you
just look at the size of investments that would be needed much of that will
be investment to be done by the private sector depending on what they do the
social and environmental outcomes will be determined, whether we will have more
greener jobs we'll have better air quality, lower
pollution will essentially depend on the types of investments and technologies in
which the private sector will invest. Today imbalances persist between skills
offered and skills needed for the green transition. The skills mismatch is
identified as one of the key obstacles in building an environmentally
sustainable and low-carbon economy. The greening of the economy does not mainly
involve creating new green occupations but introducing new green skills within
existing one's. Skill strategy to be successful there are some important
building blocks and these are being forward-looking evidence based using
labor market information based on social dialogue between governments employers
workers and education providers and designers be targeted so that no one is
left behind and also including some aspects of hands-on practical training,
ideally a dual type of apprenticeship training where education training is
combined with hands-on experience. The transition to a greener economy has
enormous employment potential in the long run creating millions of jobs both
directly and indirectly through supply chains. The opportunities for business in
green technologies, especially for small and medium sized enterprises it has been estimated
by World Bank studies to be 1.6 trillion dollars over the next decade so that
means that the skills requirements and occupations that these enterprises would
need have to be developed but with governments working closely with
enterprises and workers organizations. We are making investment in our future
by providing the opportunity to these workers for better future.
Boosting skills for green jobs holds a key in achieving a just transition and
building environmentally sustainable societies for all.