Green Economy & Green Jobs Perspectives

Green jobs are places of employment that contribute to preserve or restore the environment, applied in traditional sectors such as manufacturing and construction, or in new, emerging sectors such as renewable energy and energy efficiency. Green jobs are a solution for young, unemployed people, who not only can find employment but can become entrepreneurs in this sector of economy. Green jobs can also influence the European integration by programmes of international cooperation and knowledge exchange which aim to reduce youth unemployment and protect the environment. One of the examples of such programs is the Danube-Oder-Elbe (DOE) water corridor project. The article analyses the current situation of young people in the green jobs sector of labour markets in Poland, Austria, Czech Republic and Germany. The aim of article is to discuss the potential future of youth unemployment in the European integration context in these four chosen countries after having concluded the DOE water corridor project.

In the first decade of the 21st century there was great expectation that Brazil would become a leader on environmental issues. However, the Brazilian economy in the mid-2010s did not follow the expected trend of transformation as it suffered slowed economic growth, including two years of recession with higher rates of unemployment (in 2014 and 2015) with a rising fiscal deficit that have slowed efforts toward fostering a green economy and skills development linked to green jobs. The crisis undermined the expected positive changes, and the severe fiscal problems and record unemployment crisis reduced opportunities for green jobs. In a broader perspective there was little room for improving demand for enhanced sustainability in the labour market in a context of a reduction, rather than an increase, in the need for employees with skills for green jobs. Empirical data show that there was no upward trend in green jobs in relation to the wider economy between 2010 and 2017. In this context efforts to train or re-train workers with greener skills have remained relatively marginal. But there is room for improvement on this issue in the future. According to the specialists interviewed for this study, the most important strategy for training in “green job skills” in Brazil is to generate an overall capacity for understanding and mainstreaming knowledge of the basic concepts of sustainability and how such activities might affect the environment and the quality of life. This general understanding of sustainability principles has been considered as important as providing “technically-oriented” skills capacity whereby workers are trained to perform correctly in some specific contexts together with a deeper understanding of why this is necessary. This study presents a survey of existing courses associated with Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Brazil, at various levels and in various areas, in such a way as to generate a better understanding of the main subjects covered in courses aiming at green jobs in Brazil.

Citation: Pérez-Hernández, C.C.; Salazar-Hernández, B.C.; Mendoza-Moheno, J.; Cruz-Coria, E.; Hernández-Calzada, M.A. Mapping the Green Product-Space in Mexico: From Capabilities to Green Opportunities. Sustainability 2021, 13, 945. https://doi.

The Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) consistently rank among the top 10% of per capita waste producers in the world. Collectively around 120 million tons of waste is produced annually in GCC; 55% construction and demolition (C&D) waste, 20% municipal solid waste (MSW), 18% industrial waste, and 7% hazardous waste. Like other GCC nations, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) generates massive amounts of MSW, C&D waste, and industrial waste. This study aims to examine 81 construction companies in the Eastern Province of KSA to determine which factors critically affect the sustainable management of C&D waste in the country. Only 39.5% of the companies studied had a pollution control plan for their projects. It was also found that only 13.6% of C&D waste is recycled and reused every year, whereas the remaining 86.4% C&D waste eventually goes to the landfills. Most of the C&D waste in the country is a promising source of potential recyclable construction materials such as gravel from debris, metals, and sand. This would not only fulfill the requirements of gravel and metal production of the KSA but also solve the waste disposal issues along with generating huge economic benefits. However, to accomplish the goal of sustainable construction waste management, it is critical to underline the various factors that might impact the construction waste management practices in the country. Keywords Construction and demolition (C&D) waste · Municipal solid waste (MSW) · Waste recycling · Landfill sites · Sustainable construction material

Over the past two decades, the incorporation of market logics into environment and conservation policy has led to a reconceptualization of “nature.” Resulting constructs like ecosystem services and biodiversity derivatives, as well as finance mechanisms like Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation, species banking, and carbon trading, offer new avenues for accumulation and set the context for new enclosures. As these practices have become more apparent, geographers have been at the forefront of interdisciplinary research that has highlighted the effects of “green grabs”—in which ‘‘green credentials’‘ are used to justify expropriation of land and resources—in specific locales. While case studies have begun to reveal the social and ecological marginalization associated with green grabs and the implementation of market mechanisms in particular sites, less attention has been paid to the systemic dimensions and “logics” mobilizing these projects. Yet, the emergence of these constructs reflects a larger transformation in international environmental governance— one in which the discourse of global ecology has accommodated an ontology of natural capital, culminating in the production of what is taking shape as “The Green Economy.” The Green Economy is not a natural or coincidental development, but is contingent upon, and coordinated by, actors drawn together around familiar and emergent institutions of environmental governance. Indeed, the terrain for green grabbing is increasingly cultivated through relationships among international environmental policy institutions, organizations, activists, academics, and transnational capitalist and managerial classes.

his article proposes that the
‘
Green Economy
’
is not an
adequate response to the unsustainability and inequity created by
‘
development
’
(a western cultural construct), and puts forward
alternative socio-environmental futures to (and not of) development.
‘
Sustainable development
’
is an oxymoron. Therefore, instead of the
‘
post-2015 development agenda
’
, we argue in favour of the
‘
2015
post-development agenda
’
. We discuss Buen Vivir from Latin America,
Degrowth from Europe and Ecological Swaraj (or Radical Ecological
Democracy) from India. The intention is to outline that there is politics
beyond a unilinear future, unsustainable and unjust, consisting
primarily of economic growth.

KEYWORDS: well-being; environmental justice; sustainability;
economic growth; equity; sustainable development

FULL ARTICLE (Open Access)
http://www.palgrave-journals.com/development/journal/v57/n3-4/pdf/dev201524a.pdf

SUMMARY published in The Guardian:
"Sustainable development is failing but there are alternatives to capitalism"
http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/jul/21/capitalism-alternatives-sustainable-development-failing

Journal of Sustainability Science

SPECIAL FEATURE:  Editorial
    Socially sustainable degrowth as a social–ecological transformation: repoliticizing sustainability
    Viviana Asara, Iago Otero, Federico Demaria, Esteve Corbera

    Degrowth, postdevelopment, and transitions: a preliminary conversation
    Arturo Escobar

    In search of lost time: the rise and fall of limits to growth in international sustainability policy
    Erik Gómez-Baggethun, José Manuel Naredo

    An overview of local credit systems and their implications for post-growth
    Julien-François Gerber

    Degrowth and health: local action should be linked to global policies and governance for health
    Eduardo Missoni

    More growth? An unfeasible option to overcome critical energy constraints and climate change
    Iñigo Capellán-Pérez, Margarita Mediavilla, Carlos de Castro…

    Collective ownership in renewable energy and opportunities for sustainable degrowth
    Conrad Kunze, Sören Becker

http://link.springer.com/journal/11625/topicalCollection/AC_a1328cab4383ac9fedf4bd2cf5df943e/page/1

Can ecological distribution conflicts turn into forces for sustainability? This overview paper addresses in a systematic conceptual manner the question of why, through whom, how, and when conflicts over the use of the environment may take an active role in shaping transitions toward sustainability. It presents a conceptual framework that schematically maps out the linkages between (a) patterns of (unsustainable) social metabolism, (b) the emergence of ecological distribution conflicts, (c) the rise of environmental justice movements, and (d) their potential contributions for sustainability transitions. The ways how these four processes can influence each other are multi-faceted and often not a foretold story. Yet, ecological distribution conflicts can have an important role for sustainability, because they relentlessly bring to light conflicting values over the environment as well as unsustainable resource uses affecting people and the planet. Environmental justice movements, born out of such conflicts, become key actors in politicizing such unsustainable resource uses, but moreover, they take sometimes also radical actions to stop them. By drawing on creative forms of mobilizations and diverse repertoires of action to effectively reduce unsustainabilities, they can turn from 'victims' of environmental injustices into 'warriors' for sustainability. But when will improvements in sustainability be lasting? By looking at the overall dynamics between the four processes, we aim to foster a more systematic understanding of the dynamics and roles of ecological distribution conflicts within sustainability processes.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11625-017-0519-0

Special Feature: The EJAtlas: Ecological Distribution Conflicts as Forces for Sustainability
https://link.springer.com/journal/11625/topicalCollection/AC_b4bf79ebe46fa50dcd80539725659023

HRM is a specialized functional area of business that attempts to develop programmes, policies and activities to promote the job satisfaction of both individual and organizational needs, goals and objectives. Job satisfaction is the end feeling of a person after performing a task in each and every organization in the world. Objectives of the study are identifying the employee's job satisfaction level of Rehoboth Motors and impact factors. This study is used the census method using questionnaire in Tirunelveli Branch of Rehoboth Motors Company. Weighted Average Method found that, employees were satisfied and identified various factors impacting on job satisfaction level as well as suggested to improve the welfare facilities. Hopefully believe that the Management can further bring out their labour with full satisfaction and obtain good result in the future.

This gender analysis of the green transition in South Africa explores opportunities to promote gender equality perspectives in the green and circular economy. It analyses the switches taking place in the labour market and in entrepreneurial opportunities due to the process of green transition, focusing on the sectors of agriculture, fisheries, forestry and environment, and energy. Many opportunities for green jobs and entrepreneurship for women were identified in these sectors, including jobs and smallholders in organic vegan food supply, in aquaculture, horticulture, honeybush, natural resource management, restoration of damaged waterbodies and ecosystems, protection of wildlife, vendors of goods and services to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) of renewable energy, local renewable energy production and maintenance of decentralised energy systems.
The recent floods in KwaZulu Natal (April 2022) show how geospatial racial structures created under the apartheid system increase risks for underserved communities. Particularly women and children who live in marginalised conditions and in environmentally degraded areas, are disproportionally affected by disasters. Therefore the study advocates for a gender transformative approach in the agenda for climate change, and in the management of early warning systems and disaster risk reduction.
Regarding the sector of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), the study reviews the different dimensions of water scarcity and the water infrastructure delivery with a gender lens. Backlogs in WASH services are concentrated in rural areas along the Eastern seaboard in Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, and to a lesser extent in Limpopo, and among an estimated 10 million residents of urban informal settlements in and around the major cities of South Africa. In these urban settlements, the poorly designed community facilities and the lack of maintenance, cleaning and repairs of broken toilets and boreholes affects women’s health and safety and that of their children, increases their unpaid work burdens, and reduces their opportunities to study, to find a job, or to produce food. The gender analyses gives some examples of civil society organisations in South Africa that have initiated strategies to empower grassroots women, to make their voices heard, and to restore trust between government and citizens by strengthening bottom-up participative democracy and to increase transparency and accountability in the WASH-sector.
South Africa is urbanising rapidly with two third of its population living now in cities. The legacy of apartheid spatial design is engrained in South African urban society and has created the most polarised cities in the world. Cities have been planned and designed for men and by men, reflecting traditional gender roles and divisions of labour. As a result, the built urban environment, its dynamics and structures in all aspects, including transport, health, education, energy, water and sanitation, waste management, safety and freedom from violence impose disproportionate burdens on women, thereby further exacerbating and reinforcing existing gender inequities. The efforts of the government of South Africa to address and correct these deeply rooted inequalities include a  new District Development Model (DDM) that aims to address service delivery, challenges, localised procurement and job creation and support local businesses and communities’ involvement.
This gender analysis of the green transition in South Africa has been commissioned by the European Delegation to South Africa with the aim to enhance gender mainstreaming in European Union's cooperation with South Africa. The content of the gender analysis is however the full responsibility of the teamleader/author Thera Van Osch and the consulting companies that implemented the study..

After the financial crisis in 2008 and amid growing concerns about climate change, interest in systemic alternatives to neoliberal capitalism is growing. This cultural shift helps explain the enthusiasm from political elites, media, and academics that greeted the launch of Evergreen Cooperative Corporation in 2009. Based in Cleveland Ohio, Evergreen is a network of worker-owned cooperatives with scalability and replicability woven into its design. But how warranted is the broad-based enthusiasm around Evergreen? Is this a model that can be replicated across North America as its founders suggest? Based on site visits and stakeholder interviews, we argue that there are important limits on desires to reproduce the " Cleveland Model. " However, its ambitions for scalability and replicability position it to contribute to the important project of movement building that can facilitate the policy change needed to scale up the cooperative alternative.