Green jobs: There is Much To Be Learned

Continuing my previous article on green jobs, here is John Whitehead's Q&A with the Energy Collective. John thinks that green jobs are "costs" in the cost-benefit analyses, and that the 4 million "green jobs" figure is somewhere close to 1.67 million. He mentions that there is no definition for what makes a green job, and thinks that the renewable energy part of the stimulus package will have short-term macroeconomic impacts, in contrast to government spending in sectors such as construction.

Read More...

Summary only...

Opinion: Are win-win solutions to our energy and environmental problems possible?

Image credits: Apollo Alliance

Folks at the Environmental Economics blog have a great ongoing discussion on whether "green policies" would create additional jobs in the long run. John Whitehead thinks that "Green government fiscal policy doesn't create jobs in the long run", whereas Mark Thoma thinks that green policies would create jobs in the short run and help stabilize the economy. Mark also argues that the lack of empirical evidence for green policies creating additional jobs does not apply to the current state of the economy.

My 2 ¢: I agree with Mark that green policies would create incentives for job creation in the short-run. However, this should be balanced against the job losses from the traditional sectors of the industry in the long-run. Examples include the potential job-losses in the U.S. (& Indian/Chinese) coal mining industry because of CO2 regulations. Various stakeholders (government, industry, workers and the public) should be involved in environmentally and economically-sound policy making.

Read More...

Summary only...