Green job generation: How cities are leading the way

There are many reasons for delays in climate action. One of them, especially in our cities, is the growing global shortage of green skills and lack of investment in training and other policies that can support access to decent green jobs and a just transition for existing workers.

Delaying climate action could see 20% gross domestic product losses by 2100 impacting businesses and local economies, making it no small matter for businesses and communities.

Fortunately, the reverse is also true: investing in our people can also increase the pace, scale, effectiveness, and success of climate action for local economies. Climate action in cities can offer a third more jobs compared to a business-as-usual approach. If done well, it can also create better, stronger, safer, and healthier opportunities for workers.

But the challenge is intensified by rising job informality, increasing urban inequalities and rising youth unemployment particularly in Global South cities. These megatrends are widening the gap between the workforce and the training, opportunity and other support they need to access good, green jobs.

We, therefore, have a generational opportunity to get the right investment in our people. This will take strong partnerships among city governments, employers, their workforces, unions and communities to be fully realized.

What is clear is that while a green and just transition requires global action, it is a local opportunity for businesses and the people they employ, requiring local public-private collaborations.

Fortunately, investment does pay off. C40’s recent green job analysis carried out with the Circle Economy Foundation shows green jobs across a range of sectors currently constitute approximately 10% of total employment throughout five global regions and 74 megacities.

Thanks to efforts over recent decades to shift our ways of producing and consuming, more than a quarter of the jobs in our cities in key sectors such as water supply, sewage, waste management, transportation and storage, and construction can be considered green or contribute to green sectors.

Many of these sectors are critical for the green transition but also offer significant potential for further growth and are well-placed to diversify their workforces, enabling new entrants with the proper policy support.

For example, Latin America’s high urbanization drives a strong demand in the transportation sector. The sector employs over 1.5 million workers within C40 Latin American cities, currently featuring over 30% green jobs and offering significant opportunities for future growth.

In Bogotà, La Rolita is the city’s first public transportation operator with a 100% electric fleet, deploying 195 electric buses.

To reliably roll out e-buses across the city, La Rolita must ensure drivers, particularly women drivers traditionally underrepresented in the transport sector, have the support they need to access and retain their jobs.

The project empowers women facing social and economic disadvantages by providing professional psychosocial support and training on topics such as personal finances and self-care to support retention in the workforce.

In North America, the Inflation Reduction Act and related national and local government initiatives with business to deliver good, local green jobs directly tackle labour shortages, foster economic inclusion strategies and drive job creation.

Building decarbonization and deep energy retrofits in particular offers significant potential, with around 37% of North American construction jobs within C40 cities being green.

Aligning skills with this growing demand and ensuring good-quality jobs requires a coordinated effort with workers such as the NYC Accelerator.

The accelerator has provided resources, training, and one-on-one expert guidance to help building owners and industry professionals improve energy efficiency while training hundreds of New Yorkers in energy efficiency, building operation and maintenance.

Meanwhile, the European Union’s goal of becoming the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050 spurs market transformation. Cities are working with employers to invest in training and development, revising public procurement policies that generate market opportunity for local enterprises, and prioritizing sustainable practices and inclusive workforces.

While green jobs now comprise over 26% of the workforce in C40 European cities, persistent labour shortages hamper growing demand in many sectors, including energy efficiency.

No country currently needs the entire domestic workforce to be ready to sustain the green transition. However,consultation by C40 and partners with cities worldwide has revealed that migrant communities already contribute to their green transition sectors, particularly in occupations with labour and skills shortages. This contribution needs better capturing and support at a local level.

In African cities, the disproportionate youth unemployment rate and enormous opportunity to deliver on climate goals have spurred prominent mayors to urgently call for investment in urban climate projects that provide for young people and their futures.

To bridge the skills and opportunity gap, city leaders from Accra to Freetown are looking at the challenges young people face gaining skills, working in particular with the informal sector that represents up to nearly 80% of the working population in many African cities.

In Accra, the single sector that generates the biggest greenhouse gas emissions is methane emissions from waste. The city government is working with local informal workers associations operating in the waste sector on recycling skills and practices, social protection and funding, ultimately getting more plastic and other materials out of landfill and delivering better jobs that support a growing green industry in the city.

We must also recognize that while every business has an opportunity to contribute to climate action, every business is different.

Cities recognize that businesses need a trusted partner to connect the dots. They can use their purchasing power to support local market development, offer targeted incentives such as tax deductions or wage subsidies to small and medium-sized enterprises for creating well-paid, inclusive green jobs and support businesses where they need support to address skills gaps.

We know that businesses can go further when cities can connect them with educational institutions, community organizations and unions, and other businesses, facilitating training, supportive labour policies, apprenticeships, and more to address skills gaps.

In other words, a generational opportunity to achieve climate goals and offer opportunities for all takes everyone.