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Net zero was never going to be an easy win for workers
The green transition will be hard and involve trade-offs policymakers would rather not talk about.
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On paper, shifting workers to green jobs is not too daunting. But in the real world, this reallocation is not so simple, says the writer.
PHOTO: AFP
Sarah O’Connor
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For several years now, politicians have insisted that the road to net zero is paved with jobs. “When I think climate, I think jobs,” United States President Joe Biden is fond of saying. Not just any jobs, mind you, but good jobs that will revive deprived communities. Mr Keir Starmer, the Labour opposition leader in Britain, joined this chorus recently when he said the green transition could “bring back hope to communities that got ripped apart by deindustrialisation in the 1980s”.
I have been wary of this glossy narrative for some time, not because I think it’s impossible, but because I think it will be hard and involve trade-offs policymakers would rather not talk about. In recent weeks, that reality has become harder to ignore.
