Stephie Goodman, London/ UK, gerente de conteúdo da Wikijob e Practicereasoningtests.com. – artigo encaminhado no dia 16 de novembro de 2021, especialmente, para o portal do PAE GA.
Climate change, technological innovations, and the COVID-19 pandemic–these are just a few of the factors that are causing massive shifts in the global job landscape.
Environmental jobs (or green jobs) form one of the most rapidly emerging sectors. At a time when many industries have taken a hit, the environmental sector continues to thrive–and it’s projected to grow even faster than average in the future.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at what’s behind this trend.
To start with, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) defines environmental or green jobs as “aimed at substantially preserving or restoring economic quality.”
Beyond that, it’s hard to give specific descriptions for environmental jobs because they’re incredibly diverse. Some examples would be:
Even companies that aren’t directly involved with the environment have openings for so-called green jobs, with many hiring sustainability specialists and carbon analysts.
For the past few years, the job outlook for the environmental sector has been very positive.
According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), more than 20 million jobs will be created worldwide by 2030 as climate change policies increase and renewable energy sources become more common.
In Canada, it’s estimated that the environmental sector will grow by 8% from 2020 to 2030. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics came to a similar conclusion, predicting that several environmental jobs will see above average growth over the next ten years.
The fastest growing industry in the environmental sector would be energy and renewables. LinkedIn even noted that renewables and environment jobs are starting to replace oil and gas jobs. While oil and gas jobs outnumbered environment jobs by 5:1 in 2015, the ratio changed to 2:1 in 2020. By 2023, it’s likely that jobs in renewables will outnumber oil and gas jobs already.
There are several factors driving the growth of the environmental sector:
If we’re talking about job markets, we can’t leave out the COVID-19 pandemic, which is an unprecedented event with huge consequences on the world of work.
For one, it has caused one of the worst job crises in our lifetime globally. In developed countries alone, 22 million jobs were gone by the end of 2020, while the number goes up to 114 million if we consider worldwide. Even now, as some countries are already moving towards a post-pandemic phase, the economy still hasn’t fully recovered, and the future remains uncertain, with lockdowns and outbreaks still not ruled out.
Surprisingly, the forecast for the environmental sector remains positive. After all, the pandemic didn’t eliminate any of the factors that were driving job growth there.
Some companies hiring for environmental positions have even said that there’s actually a lack of applicants, possibly because job candidates weren’t aware of open positions. Even with the emphasis on remote work, many environmental roles continue to thrive, such as management and social media roles for green companies.
As the pandemic eases, the environmental sector is likely to grow even more, especially with the rising demand for skills in STEM. Despite all the disruptions, it remains one of the fastest-growing and most future-ready sectors.
Sustainability is becoming a greater priority all over the globe, and this will create more new jobs in the environmental sector over the next decade.
This article is written by Stephie Goodman, content manager at Wikijob and Practicereasoningtests.com.
Este artigo foi escrito por Stephie Goodman, gerente de conteúdo da Wikijob e Practicereasoningtests.com, encaminhado no dia 16 de novembro de 2021, especialmente, para o portal do PAE GA.
