The International Labour Organization's World Employment and Social Outlook 2018: Greening with jobs presents an assessment the employment impacts of the green economy transition, estmating a net increase of approximately 18 million jobs worldwide as a result of the adoption of sustainable practices. However, the job-creating potential of environmental sustainability is not a given: the right policies are needed to promote green industries and ensure decent work within them. They are also needed to allow workers to transition to new sectors and to protect those who may lose out due to lower activity in industries that contribute to environmental degradation.
The report highlights the need for social dialogue in environmental governance; skills development programmes for enterprises and workers; legal framework that provide incentives for greening economies; support for low-income and some middle-income countries for data collection, the identification and adoption of best practices, and the strengthening of implementation and finance for mitigation and adaptation strategies, and the need to leverage synergies between social protection and environmental policy and to create complementary policies to promote employment and mitigate the effects of climate change. It spotlights four policy areas that offer synergies between social protection and environmental sustainability: unemployment protection, cash transfer programmes, public employment programmes (PEPs) and payments for ecosystem services (PES).
For an interactive feature on the report's key findings, please visit the ILO's Greening with Jobs Website.