Jobs and the environment

Introduction

Jobs and the environment? Isn't that like having your cake and eating it?

In fact, there are many companies involved in businesses which help protect the environment whilst also providing people with jobs.

What's more, there is great potential for lots more green jobs to be created in the future because using resources sustainably and efficiently tends to be more labour intensive - for example through:

• organic farmers markets
• wind farms
• public transport
• recycling schemes.

However, new unsustainable developments continue to get chosen over greener options so why is this?

Frequently, developments like:

• roads
• supermarkets
• airports

are justified on the grounds that they will create numerous new jobs. But these job creation claims - made by companies, local authorities and government - can often be exaggerated to help pave the way for their approval.

So how can you expose false job creation claims, counter the myth that protecting the environment costs jobs, and promote the job creation potential of green developments?

Well, we've tried to help you by putting together some arguments and examples about job creation into a job examples tool. We hope this will be useful either in supporting your campaigns on local developments or by helping you input into consultations eg. a regional economic strategy.

Navigation

It is recommended that you change how you access the information in the job examples tool depending on what you are after.

Resources

A list of the sources used to build these pages is available if you are interested in browsing the complete documents.

Development

If you are able to contribute any examples or arguments from your own campaigns please email them to us. This job examples tool can be improved through your input and is therefore welcomed.