“Green jobs” won’t save environment or economy

A report published today by The School of Public Policy finds the notion of “green jobs” saving the environment while yielding economic benefit to be nothing but fantasy.

“By emphasizing “green jobs,” policy-makers risk measuring environmental progress based on a concept that can often be entirely irrelevant, or worse, can actually be detrimental to both the environment and the economy,” argue Michal Moore and Jennifer Winter, the report’s authors.

The first problem with green jobs is that they are almost impossible to define.

“Vague definitions often give energy-intensive, carbon-heavy industries a “green” stamp of approval,” the authors write. “Examples include companies making solar panels, but using large volumes of energy to do so or where an accountant preparing financial returns is counted as a “green” worker at one office, but turns instantly “dirty” should he cross the street to do the same accounting work at another office.”

“Too often, “green job” policies reward inefficiency, while also failing to distinguish between permanent, full-time jobs and temporary or part-time jobs. In some cases they can also discourage trade, limit or thwart competition, result in greater job losses elsewhere in the economy, and demand massive government subsidies, with some government “green job” programs requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars, or even millions, to create a single job.”

The authors argue that politicians and policy planners are better served focusing on job creation separately from environmental protection. Since the amount of green jobs is not an accurate metric for depicting environmental progress, Moore and Winter endorse policies around improving greenhouse gas emissions and energy use.

The report can be found here.

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Morten Paulsen
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