How Green Is Your Job?
April 2009
Green jobs have been a particularly hot topic of late, especially in today’s conversations about job creation through the recently passed stimulus bill. But what is a green job? Truth is, no one really knows, and the jury is still out in the definition debate. From a PR perspective, the lack of a definition creates challenges for those wishing to promote green jobs. Having a clear understanding of what does and does not qualify as green is critical for making strategic outreach decisions. Companies participating in green job conversations risk making fraudulent claims in an environment where definition changes rapidly. Understanding the dynamics of the green jobs story may help companies avoid damaging relationships with key stakeholders and audiences.
Many are attempting to reign in this debate and come up with definitions that are general enough to be all-encompassing, but specific enough to be credible. Critics point out that a lack of what constitutes a green job allows questionable businesses and industries to claim green job creds and potentially greenwash their activities. This has some of us out there asking, will green jobs become the new greenwash?
Some argue that everyone is too caught up in defining green jobs and instead should just be focusing on creating good jobs, while others feel that only the narrowest definition will suffice to avoid greenwashing. Kevin Doyle’s two part post at Grist on his findings and reactions from the Good Jobs, Green Jobs conference recently held in Pittsburgh, reveals that current definitions of green jobs focus primarily on jobs in clean energy and efficient green buildings. Within these areas, specifically jobs in manufacturing and building trades seems to be agreed upon to be the greenest of the green. But surely there are more green jobs out there than this definition offers us.
Here is my favorite definition so far from the UN’s Green Jobs Report:
“We define green jobs as work in agricultural, manufacturing, research and development (R&D), administrative, and service activities that contribute substantially to preserving or restoring environmental quality. Specifically, but not exclusively, this includes jobs that help to protect ecosystems and biodiversity; reduce energy, materials, and water consumption through high-efficiency strategies; de-carbonize the economy; and minimize or altogether avoid generation of all forms of waste and pollution.”
Until a definition that is both broad enough to be inclusive, yet narrow enough to avoid greenwashing is agreed upon, companies will be reluctant to publicize their green job offerings for fear of public backlash. Arguably, if the US is to truly shift to a green economy, then all jobs will be green jobs, but until we get there, it is important to understand the definition debate when reaching out to media around your company’s green job opportunities.
