GREEN JOBS STRATEGY
Green Jobs for Green Growth
Anushka Wijesinha calls for a national strategy to drive the inevitable transition to green jobs
Cofounder and Director
Centre for a Smart Future
It’s a well-known fact that the pressures on Sri Lanka’s natural ecosystems and impact from global climate change are acute, and increasingly posing a threat to the country’s economic recovery and long-term sustainability. However, there’s also a silver or green lining to this prospect.
Anushka Wijesinha explains: “The confluence of climate risk, biodiversity loss and coastal vulnerability among other pressures will crucially define the next two to three decades of Sri Lanka’s development. New types of jobs will emerge as these challenges throw up new requirements in the labour market. This means that the job market needs to provide new skills to help meet these challenges.”
He believes that the range of new opportunities that will arise is exciting. “Designers of green and climate resilient building materials, naturalists and conservationists for tourism properties, ecologists for measuring natural capital in protected areas and upcycling specialists in creative industries such as fashion are some of the new opportunities that come to mind,” he says.
Unfortunately, scant empirical work has been conducted on the current status and potential for green jobs in Sri Lanka. However, he points out that the Centre for a Smart Future (CSF) has set out to plug the gap with some data.
“An analysis of job listings on five online job portals (TopJobs, JobPal, XpressJobs, IkmanJobs and DreamJobs) revealed a number of roles in core green jobs as well as green enabled or green enabling jobs,” he notes.
The job listings in a randomly selected week were analysed and clustered into sectors such as environmental management (wastewater treatment), environmental sustainability, electric vehicles (EV), solar and other forms of renewable energy.
“During the week under review, there were nearly 75 job listings in these areas, which were complemented by field interviews with firms in the green business space. About 15 companies interviewed applicants in the areas of environmental management, EV and solar energy, and they were primarily seeking graduates in the mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering fields,” he informs.
Wijesinha explains: “Green job opportunities won’t only be in green sectors but in brown ones too because all sections of the economy irrespective of the industries or sectors they contribute to, will be under pressure to adopt green practices.”
He adds that there will also be requirements for green competencies in traditional professions such as finance, manufacturing and auditing.
“The need for green finance experts is already emerging in banking and finance. And in manufacturing – resource efficient circular production is gaining ground in production facilities. The need for green compliance specialists in audit and compliance is growing since more corporates and exporters strive to meet net zero targets, as they are being pushed by buyers to keep adding new green credentials,” he elaborates.
Wijesinha believes it’s critical for the government to articulate a green jobs strategy for the country along with boosting technical and vocational training in green skills.
“The only national document that comes even close to articulating the green jobs potential is Sri Lanka’s Climate Prosperity Plan (CPP), which was launched by then president Ranil Wickremasinghe on the sidelines of COP27 in 2022,” he affirms.
Sri Lanka estimates the creation of a minimum of 242,000 green jobs by 2030 and 333,000 in 2040 through the implementation of the CPP, from a baseline of 38,500 in 2022.
“It’s essential to build on the national recognition in the CPP and articulate a National Green Jobs Strategy with specific interventions by the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system, timelines and key implementing partners. Some good examples to consider are the national frameworks developed by the Philippines, Ghana and Indonesia,” concludes Wijesinha.
