Ground Up: Climate Jobs In Demand
On an unusually sunny winter afternoon, just a few hours after we landed in Auckland last month, we took a stroll around the city’s Central Business District. It had been four years since our family of three had last visited home here and so we were eager to hit the streets and relish the familiarity. We were filled with dismay and somewhat taken aback as not one single eatery was open to serve. Not even a hole-in-the-wall cafe! The pandemic, we learnt, had scathed the local economy, forcing small shop owners and restaurants to shut shop out of fear of the soaring Covid cases, equally fast rising crime rate, in the absence of tourists, and residents who now prefer to stay-in more than ever before.
However, the New Zealand government has a plan. Renewable energy will play a key role in the country’s Covid-19 economic recovery. Roughly 84 per cent of the electricity in New Zealand is already produced from renewable sources. But New Zealand’s goal is to have 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030. Additionally, the country hopes to have net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Now the Labour Party-led government in New Zealand sees the pandemic as an opportunity to invest in more renewable energy in order to create more jobs. The Labour Party plans to develop more high-skill jobs that need expertise in developing renewable energy infrastructure, and believes this will immediately boost the Covid hit economy, reduce electricity bills benefiting New Zealanders living in challenged economic conditions, who have lost the most in the pandemic, and also help the country prepare for the future. It is estimated that renewable energy could create almost NZ$165 trillion in global GDP gains by 2050.
Globally, clean energy spending has risen by 50 per cent over the past five months and now stands at over $710 billion worldwide. However, there are disparities between regions. Advanced economies account for the bulk of this effort, with over $370 billion intended to be spent prior to the end of 2023. Across emerging and developing economies such as India, the total amount of fiscal resources being dedicated to post pandemic sustainable recovery measures is one-tenth of the amount in advanced economies.
In India, as of FY 2021, the wind and solar energy sectors already employed a workforce of 111,400. Moving forward, it is imperative that India too boosts its post pandemic recovery by strengthening skills and jobs in the climate economy. According to a report by CEEW and Natural Resources Defence Council, released in January 2022, India can potentially create about 3.4 million jobs (short and long term) by installing 238 GW solar and 101 GW new wind capacity to achieve the 500 GW non-fossil electricity generation capacity by the 2030 goal. Clean energy technologies such as solar are labour intensive. A workforce of about one million can be employed to take up these jobs. According to the IFC as well, India and Bangladesh together are expected to attract $ 2.5 trillion worth opportunities related to climate-resilient infrastructure, building a strong case for new jobs.
Moreover, since 2021 publicly listed companies are under regulatory pressure by SEBI to measure, disclose and hopefully mitigate their scope 1, scope 2, and scope 3 emissions. These organisations will need to modify their processes or even products. When these companies work their supply chain to mitigate their scope 3 emissions, smaller and unlisted companies will also be pushed to monitor and mitigate emissions. This transformation of corporate India needs people with the appropriate skills to execute.
Finally, in order to meet India’s net zero targets by 2070, as pronounced by Prime Minister Modi at the COP 26 meeting in year 2021 that took place in Glasgow, companies will need to overhaul their business models, to be energy efficient, use clean sources of power, modify production processes to eliminate waste and pollution, and deploy various carbon capture technologies. To even attempt to deliver India’s net zero promise, the ‘new way of business’ that it entails is bound to create significant numbers of skilled and unskilled jobs.
Accordingly, India’s Union Budget 2021 has already focused on green recovery as a central aspect of its policy framework, and emphasised investing in renewable energy, air pollution, providing potable water and biodiversity conservation. Even the 2022 Budget highlights the importance of making the energy transition, increasing renewable energy, allocating significant funds towards local manufacturing of solar modules and introduces new areas like battery swapping and decentralised renewable energy.
But here is the catch ‒ contrary to New Zealand’s renewable energy jobs driven recovery, in India Covid-19 adversely impacted the renewable energy sector. The clean energy sector created 48 per cent fewer jobs in FY 2021 compared to FY 2019. Furthermore, the total workforce addition to this sector in FY2020 and FY2021 combined is six per cent lower than FY 2019 alone. Clearly, India does not seem to be able to pursue a green recovery that countries such as New Zealand are set off on.
One reason for this is India’s continued dependence on coal and resistance to transition to clean energy. A second reason is the lack of skills. Where are the people who can strengthen climate resilience and develop corporate sustainability? A third reason is the increase in energy demand coupled with inadequate climate finance, or even skills in structuring financial products to fund climate resilience. Policy is key. However, India’s private sector too can and will need to take a leadership role in removing each of these road blocks ‒ phase out their thermal power stations, establish and support institutions that offer skills catering to the climate industry, including climate finance.
Finally, countries such as New Zealand do not face the socio-economic disparities that India suffers. I was recently invited by a US multinational company to deliver a master class to a leadership team in India about setting ambitions for building climate resilience, during which I was questioned as to why social goals need to be incorporated when setting climate targets. This question is, exactly, the problem. India will need to keep the interests of its poorest and vulnerable populations at the centre of its climate action because empty stomachs will not be able to save the planet. This is also possible with the proactive support of India Inc. in ensuring that social entrepreneurship and environment protection go hand in hand in their business models.
Dr. Miniya Chatterji is CEO, Sustain Labs Paris, author, and a Global Leadership Fellow alumna of the World Economic Forum.
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