What is a green job?

- [Instructor] What comes to your mind when you think of green jobs? Jobs in renewable energy, environmental compliance, or energy efficiency? Or maybe nature conservation. You might be surprised if I told you there are many other existing and emerging green jobs you didn't even think about. Let's first start with formal definitions for green jobs. The United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics defines green jobs as either jobs in businesses that produce environmental and green goods or provides services, or jobs that reduce an organization's environmental impact and resource consumption. The International Labor Organization, ILO, has a similar definition, which adds a variety of environmental issues to the definition. According to the ILO, green jobs are decent jobs that contribute to preserving or restoring the environment by incorporating one or more of the follow aspects: improving energy and raw materials efficiency, limiting greenhouse gas emissions, minimizing waste and pollution, protecting and restoring ecosystems, and supporting adaptation to the effects of climate change. I think we can simply call any job that supports environmental stewardship and social responsibility and helps achieve a more sustainable future a green job. Green jobs are not necessarily exclusive to the areas of science, engineering, and technology. You can now find many sustainability-related job listings in communications, law, finance and investments, operations, and engineering and science. Today almost any job has the potential to become a green job since the race to transforming to a low-carbon economy is just starting. A report by the Century Foundation on Redefining Green Jobs for a Sustainable Economy argues for broadening the standard definition of green jobs to include jobs in three categories: environmental sustainability, which relates to protecting and restoring the natural environment, taking climate action, and achieving resilience against climate events; social sustainability, covering fair pay, equality, and education; and economic sustainability, which is all about transition to a low-carbon economy, managing climate, and other environmental and social risks. Examples to these risks include climate change risks, social unrest, supply chain, and human capital risks. This is a time when green jobs are being redefined and expanded from simple perception of only environmental and clean energy-related jobs to more inclusive cross-functional positions that all in their own way support a greener economy. Today, many jobs integrate green functions into traditional roles, rather than the most common green jobs that are created in green services and products or sustainability departments of corporations. For example, a construction project manager who has responsibilities such as base reduction, material procurement, and a finance professional who specializes in sustainable investments, or even an accountant who's responsible for sustainability-related financial reporting all work towards environmental, social, and economic sustainability. Some jobs my have a larger share of day-to-day efforts in green tasks while others may have some of these efforts integrated into their traditional daily tasks. I don't think you need a measuring stick to identify the greenest job. Neither do we need to do that. Throughout the next few chapters, you'll get into upskilling and finding green job opportunities that make environmental, social, and economic sustainability possible.