India can create up to 35 million green jobs by 2047: Report

The findings are based on interactions with over 85 industry leaders, experts and representatives from the skills ecosystem and over 2,000 youth.

India has the potential to create up to 35 million green jobs by 2047 across traditional and emerging sectors, including renewable energy, waste management, electric vehicles, green construction and sustainable textiles, according to a report.

The ‘Gearing Up the Workforce for a Green Economy’ report by Skill Council for Green Jobs (SCGJ) and Sattva Consulting, supported by JP Morgan, found that in terms of job growth, solar energy is projected to host 3.26 million jobs by 2050, followed by wind energy, which is expected to support 0.18 million jobs by 2030.

Moreover, the bioenergy and green hydrogen sectors are predicted to create 0.27 million and 0.6 million green jobs by 2030, respectively.

According to the SCGJ, ‘green jobs’ refer to a class of jobs that have a direct positive impact on the planet and contribute to overall environmental welfare. These are jobs that seek to use or develop renewable forms of energy, conserve resources, ensure energy-efficient means, regulate waste management, and promote sustainable development.

Also read: Budget 2023: 'Green Growth' among 7 priority sectors for govt

These jobs seek to enforce regulations, support education and training, and increase public influence for the benefit of the environment.

The report further states that the promised green growth is an opportunity for the country to create meaningful livelihoods through two interconnected strategies -- leverage the global need for skilled human resources to help itself and other countries achieve net zero targets and ensure just and well-managed transitions for labour in traditional industries that are impacted as a result of these shifts.

The findings are based on interactions with over 85 industry leaders, experts and representatives from the skills ecosystem and over 2,000 youth.

Challenges 

Although the demand for emerging green jobs is expected to grow, the report highlighted that the ecosystem that supports the development of the required skill sets is currently nascent and gaining momentum slowly.

Despite the efforts being made by over 500 government and private training institutes, it said there is still a significant need to increase the number of candidates trained to achieve green growth at a faster pace.

“Several systemic challenges must be addressed to accelerate the skill-building efforts. These barriers include lack of policies for green skill development, funding gaps, inadequate skill infrastructure, exclusion of vulnerable groups, and lack of collaboration among key actors,” the report said.

A survey conducted among 2,328 candidates across five metro cities as part of this study revealed that 85 percent of them had heard about ‘green’ or climate-positive jobs. However, this percentage significantly dropped to 35 percent across all sectors when they were asked about specific job roles in the sector or their awareness of skill-building programs for the same.

The research outlines five ‘Big Bets’ initiatives that have the potential to create jobs at scale for people from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. These include reskilling and upskilling the existing workforce, training the entry-level workforce, supporting entrepreneurship-led models, fostering diversity & inclusion, and ensuring formalisation, and protections and working conditions of green jobs.

In EV for instance, the study recommends establishing a network of women entrepreneur-led after-sales services and charging centres. Similarly, it underscores the need to upskill the existing workforce across the solar value chain to meet the demand for a 12-fold increase in jobs.