Environmental training is emerging as a game-changing tactic for sectors that embrace it. Previously reserved for unsung technicians such as wastewater treatment plant operators, it’s entering mainstream environmental management, business, and education. Why? Because there is a big and growing body of evidence that it boosts business performance, creates jobs, and enhances people and places, even—especially—when times are tough.
Yet the counter-factual myths persist: In recessions, governments say, “Let’s boost the economy first and reduce public debt next, then this will give us the money to invest in sustainability later,” and businesses say, “I can’t afford to save the planet—I have to save my business first!” At the same time, people are urged both to buy more “stuff” to keep the economy going, while increasingly disillusioned with empty consumerism, and they and simultaneously are urged to save more in order to reduce private debt. Of course, they also want some of the increasingly scarce jobs.
Macroeconomist Josh Bivens investigated the employment effects of the December 2011 U.S. law approving environmental regulations to reduce emissions of mercury, arsenic, and other toxic metals. It could prevent up to 11,000 premature deaths each year and deliver many other health benefits, but many people were concerned it would “kill jobs.” When Bivens investigated (1), he found that far from killing jobs, the so-called “toxics rule” could create more than 100,000 jobs in the U.S. by 2015—within a mere four years.
Bivens’ message is that going green won’t kill jobs during hard times: When the economy is doing well, environmental regulation has no effect on job growth, but when it isn’t, such regulation is very likely to create jobs.
And these days, we need more jobs—and green jobs most of all.
Green Jobs
Globally, green jobs could yield 15 to 60 million jobs by 2032 (2), lifting tens of millions of workers out of poverty and unemployment while improving both social and environmental outcomes, according to a report by the International Labour Organisation.
Green jobs are decent jobs that (3):
- Reduce consumption of energy and raw materials
- Limit greenhouse gas emissions
- Minimize waste and pollution
- Protect and restore ecosystems
The skills needed by workers in these green jobs relate to (4) “all facets of the society, not only including renewable energy, reuse and recycle of waste, utilization level of resources, green housing, and sustainable planning, but also including wider areas, such as commerce, tourism, hospitality, information technology, and finance” and more.
Just some of the many findings in the International Labour Organisation’s report about how green jobs can make a difference are:
- There are 14.6 million direct and indirect jobs in the European Union alone in protecting biodiversity and rehabilitating natural resources and forests.
- Targeted international investments of U.S.$ 30 billion per year into reduced deforestation and degradation of forests could sustain up to 8 million additional full-time workers in developing countries
- Experiences from Colombia, Brazil ,and other countries show that the formalization and organization of some 15 to 20 million informal waste pickers could have significant economic, social, and environmental benefits
- Germany’s building renovation program for energy efficiency is an example of the possible win-win-win outcomes: It has mobilized €100 billion in investments and is reducing energy bills, avoiding emissions, and creating approximately 300,000 direct jobs per year.
But there is a skills gap here—and environmental training can bridge it. There is a growing focus on professional development for people, old and young, to provide the green skills that every sector of the economy needs.
No Sector Left Out
Interestingly, on the very day I published the first edition of my book, I came across an article (5) saying that such is the drive for more sustainable retail in the UK that retail companies are recruiting entire sustainability teams—building a workforce of sustainability professionals in the retail sector. This was exactly in line with my experience of environmental training for the civil construction sector: We ended up creating a whole new profession: environmental managers on large construction sites.
Every sector in a global sustainable economy needs its own environmental professionals, and they will add tremendous value to businesses and communities.
As the ILO says, a “new development model—one which puts people, fairness, and the planet at the core of policy-making—is urgently needed, and is eminently achievable.” And not only is it achievable—it’s happening already.
Storm Cunningham calls it the “restoration economy.” He says (6) that restoration of built and natural environments already constitutes a major but overlooked part of global economic activity and soon will account for the vast majority of development.
And the economic need is great. Ecosystem services are good things the natural world does for us for free, and a 2008 study (7) estimated the annual economic cost of loss of ecosystem services by biodiversity and ecosystem degradation at 3.3 to 7.5 percent of global GDP, or US$2 trillion to $4.5 trillion. Green jobs can transform these huge and avoidable economic losses into health, social, environmental, and economic gains.
Calling All Professional Trainers
What does all this mean for the training industry?
First, training increasingly is being seen as a way of building workforce and organizational capacity. Total spending for in-house and external training services was predicted (8) to increase by 8 to 10 percent in 2011, while European research (9) found that training is delivering good outcomes, and is increasingly demand driven, with people identifying their own workplace training needs and pathways.
Second, environmental skills are increasingly among those in demand, and given increasing concern about matters environmental and economic, this trend also is likely to continue: “Green learning” will consume a larger proportion of corporate social responsibility budgets, and trainers who are knowledgeable about environmental matters and sustainability are likely to be in greater demand (10).
But in most countries, the people delivering environmental training are subject matter experts; they are great at their job and many of them are naturally good trainers, but they are not professional trainers. If (and as far as I can see, the United Kingdom seems to be the exception here), you said “pedagogy” or “learning and development” to these environmental trainers, all you’d get in return would be a blank look.
I believe the ability of environmental training to deliver the promised benefits rests on the development of a vibrant partnership between the learning and development, environmental, and business sectors.
The emerging focus on adult vocational training as a positive force for employment gains and environmental change brings together the knowledge-based and the restoration economies—and with productivity gains of up to 36 percent from environmental initiatives (11) and the associated increases in turnover, profits, and reputational value, businesses that don’t embrace environmental training will fall rapidly behind their competitors who do.
It’s time for environmental subject matter experts and learning and development professionals to join forces—together, we can change the world!
References
(1) Bivens, J. (2012) The ‘Toxics Rule’ and jobs – the job-creation potential of the EPA’s new rule on toxic power-plant emissions. Issue Brief #325 of the Economic Policy Institute, Washington DC. See http://bit.ly/126jvXv.
(2) ILO/UNEP. (2012) Working towards sustainable development: Opportunities for decent work and social inclusion in a green economy. A joint ILO/UNEP study published on 12 June 2012 by the Green Jobs Initiative. See http://bit.ly/ZbTIcy.
(3) See http://bit.ly/1f33Oa9.
(4) October 2012 China-Australia Green Skills Conference, themed “Green Skills – Powering a Better Future.” file://localhost/See http/::bit.ly:1aB6Z6a.
(5) Kenrick, V. (2011) New Sustainability Professionals within the Retail Industry. September 19, 2011. See http://bit.ly/YpO0Z9.
(6) Cunningham, Storm. 2002. The restoration economy: the greatest new growth frontier. Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc., San Francisco. See http://www.stormcunningham.com/.
(7) Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: see their report for business and industry at http://www.maweb.org/en/index.aspx.
(8) Harwood, D. 2010. 10 Predictions for 2011 that will reshape the training industry. See http://bit.ly/14zfBdQ.
(9) Blain, J. (2011/2012). Training Today, Training Tomorrow: An analysis of learning trends across Europe and global comparisons. Cegos Group, http://www.cegos.com.
(10) Moloney, Dr B. (2012) Training techniques and skills needed in ‘new-age’ organisations. An article in the April 2012 issue of Training and Development, the magazine of the Australian Institute of Training and Development (AITD) and the New Zealand Association of Training and Development (NZATD).
(11) Bob Willard, 2002. The Sustainability Advantage: Seven Business Case Benefits of a Triple Bottom Line. New Society Publishers.
Adapted from Chapter 1 of “How to Change the World: Seven Steps to Successful Environmental Training Programs” by Clare Feeney. Reproduced with permission from Global Professional Publishing. For more information, visit http://www.gppbooks.com/book.php?id=873579
Clare Feeney is a professional speaker, author, and trainer on business and the environment and has been a member of the New Zealand Association of Training and Development for nearly 20 years. Her first book is “How to Change the World: Seven Steps to Successful Environmental Training Programs.” For more information, visit http://www.clarefeeney.com and http://7stepstosuccessfultraining.blogspot.com.
