In a rapidly changing world where environmental challenges loom large, the need for green skills has never been more pressing. From the halls of academia to the bustling offices of innovative companies, green skills are not just a trend but a necessity for shaping a more sustainable future. Are you curious about how green skills can pave the way for a cleaner, greener, and economically prosperous world? Explore the fascinating world of these skills as we delve deep into their technical and soft aspects, showcasing their pivotal role in addressing environmental issues, promoting resource management, and achieving compliance with stringent regulations.
Green skills, also known as sustainable skills or environmental skills, refer to the knowledge, abilities, and competencies required for individuals to contribute to a more sustainable and environmentally friendly society and economy. These skills encompass a range of technical and soft skills that enable individuals to understand, promote, and implement environmentally responsible practices across various industries and professions. Green skills are essential for addressing environmental challenges, such as climate change, resource conservation, pollution reduction, and sustainable resource management. They play a crucial role in promoting a more eco-conscious and sustainable future.
Green skills include a wide range of competences that can be divided into two categories: technical skills and soft skills. Both are required for individuals to contribute to environmental sustainability and responsibility. Technical green skills are industry-specific competencies that enable people to engage directly with technology, processes, and practices that reduce environmental effects. These abilities are especially beneficial in industries that have a direct impact on the environment, such as energy, construction, waste management, and agriculture, Green development and Design.
Non-technical competencies (soft skills) that enable individuals to traverse the complicated landscape of sustainability, communicate effectively, and collaborate to execute environmental solutions are referred to as soft green skills. These abilities are useful in any industry and are critical for promoting environmental initiatives. Soft skills include: Communication; Teamwork and Collaboration; Problem Solving; Adaptability. Leadership guiding and encouraging others to embrace sustainable practices, as well as advocating for environmental responsibility within organizations and communities. Technical and soft green skills are both required to build a sustainable and environmentally responsible future. Individuals with a combination of these talents can address environmental concerns, decrease their environmental imprint, and contribute to a more sustainable and environmentally conscious society.
Half of the world's population is 30 or younger, and that ratio is anticipated to rise to 57% by the end of 2030. This is the largest generation of young people in history. Prioritizing green skills developments can help young people to ensure the success of a just transition to a greener and more sustainable world where all people - including young people - benefit equally. According to the ILO report, the transition to sustainable energy sources in a circular economy scenario can create about 100 million jobs. On the other hand, some existing jobs are predicted to disappear through the transition. Young people, meanwhile, are required to have proper training and support systems to keep up with the future of work. Moreover, governments all across the world are enacting stronger environmental rules. Organizations and people must have green skills to comply with these rules and avoid penalties. Understanding and abiding by these standards is crucial for the long-term success of both enterprises and individuals.
"One of the main challenges we face as young people in accessing green jobs is the lack of clarity on career paths and training resources, as well as the lack of mentoring or support systems to develop a green career," said Kristy Dustman, co-founder of Green Jobs Board, a platform that provides a one-stop source for environmental job seekers to discover and learn about green job opportunities. “The reality of young people, as diverse as it is on a global scale, has many commonalities: greater vulnerability in living conditions, lower salaries and greater difficulties to emancipate, uncertainty about the near future, unequal access to higher education, among others”, stressed Marc Collator, member of the Green Jobs Working Group of the official children and youth constituency to UN Climate Change (YOUNGO). Collado highlighted that these common experiences shape the way young people deal with the transition to a green economy in a very different way than other generations.
A successful just transition requires addressing the challenges young people face in accessing opportunities to develop green skills and incorporating these needs into countries' development strategies through greater policy coordination, social dialogue, and collaboration. “It is also very important to have more young people in climate decision-making spaces. We must see young people as key stakeholders in our transition to low-carbon economies”, added Fatou Jeng, Youth Climate Advisor to the United Nations Secretary General and founder of Clean Earth Gambia.
In this regard, the UN Climate Change Executive Secretary, Simon Stiell, highlighted that "a clearly positive - and very welcome - trend in recent years is that youth attendance at UN climate change conferences continues to grow", and reaffirmed his commitment to push for more meaningful participation of young people in the UN climate change process, inviting Parties to do the same.
To support the development of green skills and youth engagement in climate change processes, the UN Climate Change Secretariat established youth as a key pillar of the Action for Climate Empowerment Hub and programme. In addition, the ACE Action Plan has capacity-building for youth as its core and the Glasgow Work Programme for ACE outlines specific measures for the Secretariat and Parties to enhance the capacity of youth as leaders of change.
Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) is a term adopted by UN Climate Change to denote work under Article 6 of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992) and Article 12 of the Paris Agreement. It provides tools to change the systems, attitudes and behaviours needed to transition to a just, low-emission and climate-resilient world. Therefore, the ACE elements of education, public awareness and training are particularly important in the context of green skills to promote these transitions.
(The views expressed are personal)
