Green Jobs - A Pillar for Green Growth

Answer: The International Labor Organization (ILO) defines green jobs as sustainable jobs in all economic sectors such as agriculture, industry, services, administration, etc., contributing to the conservation, restoration and improvement of environmental quality. Green jobs help minimize the impact of businesses and economic sectors on the environment by: improving the efficiency of energy, raw materials and water use, reducing carbon emissions and greenhouse gas emissions, minimizing or avoiding all forms of waste and pollution, protecting or restoring ecosystems and biodiversity, and supporting adaptation to the impacts of climate change.

In a simpler way, green jobs include all existing occupations on the market but add elements of environmental protection and sustainable development, even new occupations that directly solve problems related to the environment and climate.

According to Dr. Do Thanh Bai, Chairman of the Voluntary Social Responsibility Council of Vietnamese Chemical Enterprises (RC) under the Vietnam Chemical Association, in the context of green growth, green jobs play a role in: Promoting economic restructuring towards sustainability, reducing negative impacts on the environment from production and consumption activities, creating new job opportunities in green fields, while improving skills for workers, contributing to social security because green jobs are associated with a safer and more stable working environment.

Question: What is the current trend of green jobs in the world and the reality of green jobs in Vietnam?

Answer: The trend of recruiting “green human resources” - the core of green jobs, contributing to green growth is increasing in the world... The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that by 2030, the sustainable energy transition globally could create 25 million jobs, with the Asia-Pacific region alone being able to create 14.2 million green jobs if these countries invest heavily in environmental issues.

In Vietnam, although still in the early stages of green transformation and green economy, experts say that the green job trend is attracting the attention of many businesses in recruitment. The report "Finding Meaning in Work" by the world's leading human resources solutions provider Manpower Group in 2024 said that up to 85% of Vietnamese workers are interested in a company's reputation for social responsibility when deciding to accept a job. Data from the World Bank shows that Vietnam currently has 39 green occupations, accounting for 3.6% of total employment. In the near future, up to 88 occupations are predicted to have the potential to become green jobs, accounting for 41% of total employment in the market.

The general orientation of the Government's National Strategy on Green Growth for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050, is to focus efforts on restructuring the economy in association with growth model innovation, reducing greenhouse gas emissions through the exploitation and economical and efficient use of energy and resources based on science and technology, applying digital technology and digital transformation, developing green and sustainable infrastructure, building a green lifestyle, ensuring a principled, equitable, inclusive green transformation process, and enhancing resilience within the entire economy.

The National Action Plan on Green Growth for the 2021-2030 period also sets out 18 themes, 57 groups of tasks and activities and 134 specific tasks and activities, emphasizing the development of human resources and green jobs with 2 groups of tasks and activities and 6 specific tasks and activities. This shows that green jobs are an inseparable element in the ecosystem of synchronous activities contributing to the restructuring of the economy towards sustainability.

The difficulties and challenges that still exist to develop green jobs in Vietnam today are: Awareness of green growth in general and green jobs in particular in the community, in businesses, in education and training and in human resource development is still limited. The criteria for evaluating green jobs are not clear, so the problem of measuring green jobs in practice is still difficult. Another reality is that "green" industries in Vietnam only attract unskilled workers, skilled workers account for a modest proportion in economic sectors oriented towards environmental protection.

In order to promote green jobs as a pillar for green growth, according to experts, the first thing to do is to unify and understand the concepts of green economy and green jobs according to international standards as well as in accordance with the situation of the country. These concepts need to be legalized and widely disseminated to the community. It is necessary to have activities to introduce and disseminate knowledge about green jobs and green industries to all subjects from policy-making agencies, training research, to businesses, schools, employers and workers. Only then can we achieve the goals of the National Strategy on Green Growth for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/viec-lam-xanh-tru-cot-cho-tang-truong-xanh-post873813.html