In the beginning of 21st century, green technology was considered to be inefficient, expensive, and unable to meet our needs. However, the landscape has been fast changing ever since, through fast growth in solar and wind energy.
Some 98% of Costa Rica’s energy is derived from non-fossil fuel sources; California has committed to making their electricity generation 100% carbon free by 2045, and Scotland has closed all their coal-fired power plants.
Several countries, like Germany, France, India, Norway, and China are determined to stop petrol-fuelled vehicles, a major contributor to carbon emission (15% of man-made carbon emissions) in the next decade or so. All these hold promises for a brighter and cleaner future.
However, the IPCC’s global warming report, produced by 91 authors from 40 countries, paints a very grim picture, reminding us that “limiting global warming to 1.5C would require rapid, far-reaching, and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.”
This would require more urgent and rapid growth and transformation in areas like green technology. Green technology, which has implications for green jobs, is a new arena, one which holds immense potential for economic growth.
ILO and ADB studies are showing that cleaner energy can create billions of new jobs, which can be availed by both men and women.
What is green technology?
Green technology encompasses a continuously evolving group of methods and materials, from techniques for generating energy to non-toxic cleaner products, ie solar and wind energy, green building materials, green production methods which minimize carbon emissions, and nanotechnology.
And what are green jobs? Green jobs are those that contribute in the preservation and restoration of the environment. It helps i) improve efficiency of energy and raw materials, ii) limit greenhouse gas emission, iii) minimize waste, iv) protect and restore the eco-system, and v) support climate change adaptation.
In recent years, some two million people have gotten jobs in the renewable energy sector; by 2030, almost two million more jobs might be created globally in the wind energy sector, and six million in solar power.
In fact, it is perceived that renewable energy generates more jobs compared to fossil fuels. By 2030, against the projected worldwide investment of $630 billion, 20 million new jobs will be created in the renewable energy sector, while in agriculture, another 12 million people could be employed in biomass and related industries.
However, technology is perceived largely as a man’s domain, off-limit to women. We see very few female engineers, mechanics, technicians. Green technology holds the potential to change that.
Because it’s still at its infancy, and men and women both could be trained at the workplace to adapt this technology, we would like to see more women to take advantage of this emerging and potential arena.
Example of some green jobs would be: Solar energy system technician; tree plantation; organic farming; improved cooking system; local guide in eco-tourism; worker in organic tea plantation; worker in green infrastructure development; waste recycler; geo-thermal exploration specialist; building retrofit services professional; energy auditor in shrimp processing industry; IT-based service provider under e-commerce.
For solar technology, Barefoot College in North India has trained more than 3,000 illiterate rural women aged between 35 to 50 to become solar technicians, assembling solar lanterns, selling those as well as training other village women to do the same.
In Bangladesh, ILO and the Grameen Shakti green jobs project (to promote gender sensitive green job opportunities) trained 250 women entrepreneurs on Solar Home Systems (SHS). By the end of 2017, 5.2 million Solar Home Systems (SHS) had been distributed, reaching 17 million people, and generating up to 2.5% of total electricity produced in the country, ie 218 MW, the second highest solar energy in the region after India.
We remember the Chipko movement of the mid-70s, originating in a small village of Dehradun in north India, where a group of village women stopped government-backed big companies from felling trees by hugging the trees for days together. In Bangladesh, one of the main reasons for the success of social forestry is the involvement of women.
For improved cooking systems, by February 2018, 1.48 million improved cooking stoves (ICS) were distributed among rural households in Bangladesh; 10% of households in Bangladesh have access to natural gas, the rest depend on traditional biomass fuels like wood, dung, and agricultural residues for cooking in low-efficiency stoves (5% to 15% fuel efficiency) producing smoke composed of a large number of particulate matters and carbon monoxides through incomplete combustion and creating indoor air pollution.
The energy efficiency of burning biomass fuel in ICS is between 20% to 35%. Women could easily be trained in producing, promoting, and repairing ICS.
With regards to green buildings, the Green Brick project of UNDP Bangladesh provided jobs to many women in the clean brick kilns.
Bangladesh is targeting to earn $15 billion through export of IT-based services by 2021; there are already some 50,000 entrepreneurs conducting business online, and by 2021, the target is to double this figure. Women could be a major workforce there. All we need is to train women regarding these green jobs.
Under the Low Carbon Development, the government’s plan is to ensure: Women’s access to green technology (SHS, low cost improved cooking tech, solar bottle bulbs, financing through soft loans); an increase in women’s knowledge of climate mitigation; women’s entrepreneurship in waste management; and an increase in women’s engagement in coastal and social forestry.
So, with the emerging engagement of women in green technology and green jobs, and the government’s plan to increase women’s involvement in this sector, time is definitely ripe for all-out efforts from all quarters to make women the proponents of green jobs and green technology.
Dilruba Haider is Program Specialist, DRR/CCA/HA, UN Women.