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Australia can take strong action to tackle climate change and create millions of new job opportunities, according to a major report released today.

The report, Growing the Green Collar Economy, identifies the employment impact of action to cut greenhouse gas emissions in Australia and examines the skills, training and workforce implications.

The CSIRO analysis is based on the latest economic modelling and is released by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) and the Dusseldorp Skills Forum (DSF).

Photo: ACF, Duncan Macgregor of Going Solar installing solar panels

Using two different economic models, CSIRO found:

• If Australia takes significant action to cut greenhouse gas emissions national employment will still increase by between 2.6 and 3.3 million over the next two decades.
  
• Jobs in sectors that generate a lot of greenhouse pollution – like transport, construction, agriculture, manufacturing and mining – are still forecast to grow strongly in the next decade.
  
• In these high environmental impact industries 3.25 million workers will need to be equipped with new, more sustainable skills.

ACF’s executive director, Mr Don Henry, said: “The CSIRO research shows we can simultaneously grow jobs and our economy while reducing our environmental footprint. The challenges are big but so are the opportunities.”

Photo: ACF, South Australian grain grower Mark Branson is going green

Demand for new skills will be most pressing in renewable energy and in the design and construction of green buildings and in manufacturing and maintaining cleaner vehicles and transport systems.

“Jobs in sectors that are currently high carbon emitters, like transport, manufacturing and construction are also expected to grow and will need to be turned into ‘green collar’ jobs in a clean economy,” he said.

Ms Oona Nielssen, Executive Director of DSF, said: “Climate change is both our greatest economic risk and a great economic opportunity. But only if the Australian workforce is properly skilled and resourced to underpin truly sustainable industries and workplaces.”
 
“Little attention has been paid so far to this issue – yet it’s one of the biggest transformations posed by climate change. Current efforts are clearly insufficient,” she said.
 
Based on the CSIRO findings, DSF and ACF are calling for a national effort to identify and stimulate the green skills, knowledge and work needed for a low carbon economy, to be led by the new statutory body, Skills Australia, and funded by a proportion of revenue from Australia’s proposed emissions trading scheme.