Fighting climate change: Why we need more policy experts, green jobs in India

Climate change has come a long way since it faced scepticism and resistance: 2021, with all its trappings of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic aside, has made a clear case that the crisis is real. The task at hand is huge — at the individual, national and international levels. 

Transitioning to a decarbonised economy is a crucial step to halt the impending crisis. It also drives economic growth by creating green jobs.

Green jobs not only provide much-required employment opportunities for the youth, but they also give youngsters an outlet to contribute directly and actively to planetary health.  The non-use of natural resources such as fossil fuels can considerably change people’s lifestyles.

The other resources — power from hydroelectric, solar and (made-safe) nuclear energy — should be made available in a quantity that we can do without the natural resources (coal, fuels, gas, wood, etc.).

Discarding the use of plastic and other synthetic materials, replacing them with biodegradable materials, discarding potentially toxic fertilisers and insecticide sprays, are among the well-documented can help restore the skewed balance in nature.

We need to take responsibility of change on ourselves:

• Transitioning to cleaner fuel, using electric cars, walking and cycling more
• Avoiding wastage of resources, including water and food items
• Sparingly using consumables and energy (like electricity, gas, fuels)

The need to pre-stage public resistance by educating people appropriately is filled by climate policy professionals and specialists. Various think tanks and climate organisations have a good vantage point to directly combat a worsening climatic environment and extinguish the citizen ire regarding fuel price hikes or similar government measures.

Floods, landslides, droughts, forest fires, melting glaciers and rising temperatures have wreaked havoc all over the world. Even climate change deniers are not delusional anymore. And this is a good development.

Several studies anticipated that low-lying coastal lands and delta-lands (like in Bangladesh) would go under seawater in the near future. This would result in the forced climate-induced migration of large populations.

We cannot leave the creation of green jobs to the future; they need to be created now. Incentives should be provided for people to actively fight climate change and lead a lifestyle that is gentle to the environment. At the international level, all stakeholders need to cooperate promptly and effectively to bring about these changes. 

There is a common misnomer about green jobs: That the work is only related to sustaining a healthy environment. The ambit has, however, expanded to cover a larger portion of the economy, with principles of environmentalism, conservation, regulation and equity and investment at core. 

New information comes to light every day, including data, research and recommendations by the scientific fraternity. The transition to adopting green jobs and practices would advance social change too.

Climate policy action is for the common man and green jobs are meant to promote inclusive growth strategy for poverty reduction, environmentally sustainable paths and local development initiatives.

The Green Jobs Initiative by the International Labour Organisation and its partners seeks to address such issues by promoting economies and small enterprises with reduced carbon footprint, environmental ramifications and conservation of natural resources.