Report: Transitioning to a green economy must include quality jobs

Making environmental sustainability and equitable economic advancement a priority

June 28, 2023

Moving to a green economy isn’t solely about the causes of climate change but also creating fair access to good green jobs, according to Growing Quality Green Jobs – a new report from Jobs for the Future (JFF) in partnership with the Burning Glass Institute (BGI).

The analysis is part of CREST (Climate-Resilient Employees for a Sustainable Tomorrow) – a five-year initiative with support from the Ares Charitable Foundation that “aims to close the gap between the demand for a skilled workforce for green jobs and the number of people prepared for these opportunities.”

Green Skills Integration

Analysis of 200 million online job listings – demonstrates that the integration of current green skills into various occupations indicates there are more green jobs than previously thought. The analysis separates the levels of green skills integration into three categories – additive, blended, and job-changing.

The report explains:

Jobs at the additive level gain a small subset of new green skills within a broader set of responsibilities but maintain traditional overall roles and functions.
Jobs at the blended level adopt broader sets of new green functions within existing roles and thus start to evolve.
At the job-changing level, roles undergo a significant shift in skill sets; roles and functions are completely changed due to their full integration of green skills.

A framework called the Green Transformation Cycle was designed by applying product lifecycle theory concepts to the green economic transformation. Categories of green skills adoption include seed, scale, established, and at risk.

Seed – Jobs and associated skills that are in early economic adoption.
Scale – Jobs and associated skills that are showing early and significant enough economic growth to indicate signs of scaling.
Established – Jobs that have established green and associated skills that are commonly seen in our workforce.
At Risk – Jobs and associated skills that are showing inverse trends for green job adoption.

The report uses the Green Transformation Cycle to better inform workforce training programs, employer talent pipelines, and emerging legislation to support the just transition to a green economy.

‘A truly just transition will not happen on its own’

All stakeholders including those in workforce development, education, training programs, and policymaking “must prioritize economic activity that is interconnected with long-term environmental and social impacts,” recommends the report.

“This will require removing the limitations around how we define and categorize green jobs and the transferable skills needed to build a climate-resilient future and workforce.”

It states, “A truly just transition will not happen on its own.”

The report continues, “Prioritizing job access and equity across communities will, in parallel, move us toward closing the racial and gender equity gaps that plague much of the current green movement.”

“More workers will need skills to navigate the growing green economy, including individuals from low-income households, people of color, women of all backgrounds, and members of other populations that are underrepresented in fields that offer opportunities for economic advancement.”

Read more about Growing Quality Green Jobs: Driving Economic Advancement in the Green Economy here.

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Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.