Employment is one of the biggest victims of Covid-19. Around 400 million jobs were lost worldwide between April and June, and 34 million to 340 million could be lost this year, according to the UN’s International Labour Organization.
That means economic recovery plans must create sustainable, stable and well-paying jobs. The best way to do that, according to growing research, is to set ourselves on the path to zero emissions by mid-century. This work and investment will require more jobs than those needed to keep polluting industries and infrastructure alive and outstrip the number of jobs lost to fossil fuel phaseouts. So these workers won’t lose out, as long as governments and businesses can help them re-train and transition into new professions.
In Latin America, structural changes towards low-carbon production and consumption could result in 15 million more jobs by 2030, compared with business as usual, according to the ILO and Inter-American Development Bank. Some 7.5 million jobs would be lost in fossil fuel power and extraction and animal-based food production, but 22.5 million would be created in agriculture and plant-based food (19 million), renewable power (100,000), forestry (60,000), construction related to energy efficiency (540,000) and manufacturing (120,000). Around three-quarters of those created jobs would be for low and medium skills, benefiting a large part of the region’s underutilized labour and unemployed youth, it said.
In India, the shift to resilient infrastructure and the promotion of green entrepreneurship will create millions of new jobs, according to India’s Council on Energy, Environment and Water. The country’s aim to install 175 gigawatts of renewables by 2022 will require a workforce of 330,000 - up from 99,000 working on utility-scale renewables now. If, in addition, the government were to aim for 20 GW of microgrid capacity by 2025, it would employ more than 1 million workers.
Cities are leading the way, by investing in green jobs as a way to stimulate the economy, writes Mark Watts, executive director of C40 Cities. Melbourne’s plan to fast-track 40 kilometres of bike lanes and add 150,000 trees and shrubs, for example, will address climate change and unemployment simultaneously.
This is what young people want. In the UK, half of 18-to-34-year-olds said they want a job that helps protect the planet, and 57 percent would prefer to work for an environmentally sustainable company, according to a survey commissioned by Good Energy.
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Telecom hits a tipping point |
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More than 20 percent of the world’s mobile industry is now committed to limiting global warming to 1.5°C, and 46 percent is committed to 2°C or lower. The ICT industry took an important step in this direction in February, when the International Telecommunications Union, the Global eSustainability Initiative and industry body GSMA released a science-based pathway to net zero emissions by 2050. At the time, 29 operators representing nearly a third of global mobile connections were committed to science-based targets. Six more have committed to set science-based goals since then. Work continues in the sector to deliver on these targets as operators switch to renewable energy and work with suppliers to decarbonize.
The mobile sector can help drive wider emissions cuts, too. Connectivity could reduce carbon emissions by up to 269 megatonnes by 2035, according to a recent report by telecoms company O2 UK. That’s nearly as much as England emitted in 2018.
TechUK launched its report this month showing the vital role that digital cleantech plays in the systems transformations needed to achieve a resilient, net zero world. For an economy like the UK’s, digital technology could help drive 15 percent of the necessary greenhouse gas emissions reductions, while also unlocking growth opportunities for a green resilient recovery.
Web Summit joins the race: The annual technology conference in Lisbon has joined the Race to Zero with a goal to reduce its own carbon footprint and to ensure that its events facilitate conversations, collaboration and work towards a zero-carbon economy.
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South Asia Regional Resilience Dialogue: A webinar on how to foster adaptation and resilience in a 1.5-degree future after Covid-19. Thursday, September 17, 10:00 - 12:00 Central Europe time / 14:00 - 16:00 Bangladesh time.
Climate Week NYC: Some 300 registered events from September 21 to 27, with themes including the clean energy transition, nature and science, and youth, public mobilization and justice. Tune in for the launch event, in partnership with the Race to Zero, on Monday, September 21 at 12:00 - 13:00 Eastern US time/ 18:00 - 19:00 Central Europe time.
Net Zero Festival: Hosted by BusinessGreen, the event will look at leadership, innovation and culture in the race to net zero emissions. From Wednesday, September 30 to Friday, October 2.
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Plastics won’t save oil: Plastics demand is likely to peak as the world transitions to a circular system and climate action ramps up, driving peak oil demand leaving hundreds of billions of dollars of stranded petrochemical capital expenditure, Carbon Tracker warns.
The sectors ripe for big-scale cuts: ClimateWorks looks at seven sectors across 10 countries where the world could aim for big emissions reductions, including power, fuel supply, transport, agriculture and forest/land.
Uber aims for zero by 2040: The ride-sharing app intends to become a zero-emissions platform by 2040, and to make all rides in American, Canadian and European cities electric by 2030. It’s also putting $800 million into helping drivers transition to electric vehicles by 2025.
Cities, regions drive national net zero goals: The ambition shown by city and local governments will be a driving force in achieving national goals for zero emissions, participants agreed in a ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability Race to Zero dialogue, hosted by members in Europe, Japan, South Korea and Australia. Watch it here.
South Korea to shut down coal: The country will close 10 existing coal power plants by the end of 2022 and another 20 by 2034. It will also more than triple its number of solar and wind power plants by 2025 (from 2019) and boost electric and hydrogen vehicles on the road, the Korea Herald reports.
It’s time for blue-sky thinking: “Our responses to the Covid-19 crisis are already showing how the new normal can be more resilient, inclusive and sustainable,” Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala writes in Thomson Reuters Foundation.
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UN Climate Change | Global Climate Action | Race to Zero | GlobalClimateAction@unfccc.int | unfccc.int |
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