I know someone who works in a sustainable/green job
The method introduces participants to the idea of sustainable/green professions and focuses on finding specific examples and people from their social circles/community who work in such jobs. It also creates space for reflection on how individual participants could work in sustainable/green jobs.
Inspiration for the tool
The method is adapted from the original method of career guidance for primary and secondary school pupils of the Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family in Slovakia (“Networking – I know someone who…”) and is adapted for the needs of green guidance or green jobs.
Rationale: Why is this needed?
Many people are unfamiliar with the concept of sustainable/green careers and don’t know that the sustainable economy creates opportunities for them to find employment. This is the fundamental starting point for participants to become more deeply interested in the topic and to find ways they can contribute to a sustainable, inclusive, and fair economy.
Objectives
After completing the activity, participants will be:
- Familiar with the definition of sustainable/green professions.
- Familiar with various possible sustainable/green professions.
- Able to identify individuals from their wider surroundings who hold a sustainable/green profession.
- Able to identify sustainable/green professions within their city/municipality.
- Able to discuss potential sustainable/green professions that they could pursue.
Resources needed
Theoretical background of defining sustainable/green jobs:
In recent decades, we have been losing nature at a frightening rate, not only by damaging nature, but by damaging ourselves. We rely on nature to provide us with essential services such as food (e.g. pollinators), fuel (e.g. timber), materials (e.g. medicines and clothing), as well as to support our physical and mental well-being.
Sustainability means that it is possible to satisfy not only the needs of the present but also the needs of future generations. Sustainable professions encompass areas of activity whose goal is to achieve or create something that will endure into the future. Sustainable occupations tend to refer to those that have a positive impact on the environment not only directly but also indirectly.
Sustainable development focuses on eradicating poverty, reducing inequalities, and promoting the sustainable management of natural resources and ecosystems, as well as sustainable, inclusive, and fair economic growth. The United Nations defined 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which were adopted by all UN member states in 2015.
Green jobs are all jobs that aim to protect the Earth and its well-being, to protect human development, but without negatively impacting the health of the environment.
These jobs are gaining momentum in the labour market as, in the face of increasingly frequent extreme weather events and damage to living ecosystems, attention and sensitivity to the health of the planet grows . For this reason, green jobs are increasingly supported by business investment.
International Labour Organisation (ILO) definition of green jobs: jobs are green when they help to reduce negative environmental impacts and ultimately lead to environmentally, economically and socially sustainable businesses and economies. More specifically, green jobs are decent jobs that:
- reduce energy and raw material consumption,
- limit greenhouse gas emissions,
- minimise waste and pollution,
- protect and restore ecosystems.
Green professions also include those that contribute to social change and education through their work.
In short, the green jobs is work that contributes directly to the management, protection and restoration of our natural world. One day we will not be talking about “green jobs” because almost all jobs, whether in construction, transport, manufacturing, retail or other areas of the economy, will be done in environmentally sustainable ways, using green technologies and with minimal negative impact (and hopefully positive impact) on the environment.
For more resources on green transition, see “Introduction to green jobs” and our Padlet.
Activities
Step 1
Participants brainstorm what sustainable/green jobs are and try to define the concept together. After the group discussion, the facilitator presents several formal definitions. Together they compare how close the group’s ideas were to existing definitions.
Step 2
The facilitator asks participants to suggest examples of sustainable/green jobs within four categories:
- jobs that protect the climate and the environment,
- jobs that help maintain an intact environment,
- jobs that support social change and education,
- jobs that contribute to the energy transition and climate protection.
The facilitator then shares a reference list of sustainable/green jobs (Annex 1).
Step 3a
Participants identify people in their own environment who work in a sustainable/green job. For each example, they describe more specifically:
- in what way the job is sustainable/green,
- what knowledge, hard and soft skills, and other prerequisites the person needs.
Step 3b
The facilitator asks clients to identify people in their town or village who work in a green job. For each example, the client describes in what way it is green, and what skills and qualities are required.
Step 4
The group discusses which green professions might suit them personally, which ones they are most interested in, and why.
Reflections/Consolidation of learning
The facilitator discusses selected questions from this list with the participants:
- What touched you most today? What are you taking away personally from this meeting?
- What new ideas or information about green/sustainable jobs did you discover?
- What would you like to explore or learn more about?
- What skills do you think are most important for working in a sustainable/green profession?
- Which of these skills would you like to develop yourself?
- Did today’s discussion change how you see the world of work? In what way?
- Which part inspired you to think differently about your own future?
- Who could you contact to learn more about sustainable/green careers, and what would you ask them?