GREEN JOBS:As Ireland looks to the green sector for new jobs, a report from California has shown that the area does have plenty of promise.

‘GREEN JOBS”, “green economy” – the phrases are constantly on the Government agenda and may have a nice ring in a soundbite, but is there any real meaning behind the notion of a jobs payoff for emerald-coloured innovation?

According to a new report by an independent think-tank in California, and one of the first to comprehensively survey this complex area, yes. The report identified significant expansion across the whole green sector.

In overall growth, green jobs have far outstripped others over a 13-year period – with a 36 per cent expansion compared to a statewide average of 13 per cent in jobs growth between 1995 and 2008. Green businesses in the same period increased by 45 per cent.

And even as the economy wound down between 2007 and 2008 and the total number of jobs in California dropped by 1 per cent, green jobs still expanded by 5 per cent according to the report, Many Shades of Green: Diversity and Distribution of California’s Green Jobs. The study was produced by Next10, a think-tank funded by Californian philanthropist and venture capitalist Noel Perry.

The details in the report offer an interesting signposting of how jobs might be distributed if a significant green economy could be triggered in Ireland. The report divides up green jobs into 15 sectors, with four having most of the significant growth: Air and Environment; Energy Generation; Recycling and Waste; and Energy Efficiency.

In California, nearly half of the green jobs are in high-end services, 45 per cent, with most of those in environmental consulting. The next significant area of employment is in high-end manufacturing, with 21 per cent of jobs based there and half of those split evenly between the categories of “energy efficiency” and “energy generation”. The energy generation sector alone expanded by 61 per cent – 10,000 jobs – primarily in solar energy. Such figures suggest that the Irish government would not want to disregard the potential and value of high-level manufacturing jobs.

Linking into the importance that the Irish government is putting on a “smart economy” and information and technology jobs, the green software sector in California also grew significantly, with jobs increasing by 5.2 per cent annually over the 13-year period. The report notes too that all regions of the state saw expansion in green jobs, including rural areas.

“Jobs in the green economy offer opportunities across the spectrum of skills levels and earnings potential,” it says in the report. “For the most part, the jobs in the core green economy represent occupations that already exist but are in new demand, such as electricians, or are seeing an expansion of skills and tasks such as operations and building managers. Also, entirely new occupations are emerging such as fuel cell technicians and energy auditors.”

The report notes that there is also much activity, if fewer jobs, in green research and development. However, some of the figures in the California report would raise serious doubts about some of the rosier predictions for an Irish green economy, which are contained in the High Level Action Group report on Green Enterprise, published last month. This Government-backed survey predicted that an Irish green economy could generate 80,000 jobs by 2020, with 20,000 alone in a “green IFSC” focused on carbon trading, green bonds and investment, and other green financial services.

By comparison, growth in the “core green economy” (the 15 key sectors identified in the Next10 report) in California was 42,000 over 13 years – in a state with a population of nearly 37 million in 2008. California also has well developed energy, manufacturing and technology sectors already in place, as well as long-standing green credentials and a highly developed investment community.

However, counting green jobs is an inexact science and may allow for some creative padding. Defining when exactly an electrician, consultant or engineer shifts from a normal job to being tallied amongst those at the “green” end of the spectrum is unclear, and there are no standardised terms of reference.

Ireland may have a few green PR problems, though. Dublin has not fared well so far on international green scorecards, coming in amongst the bottom third in a recent green survey of 30 European cities by Siemens. Dublin was positioned 21st overall and featured last of the 30 in the transportation category. Dublin’s carbon emissions were a third higher per capita than London or Copenhagen.

And, in a new annual EU competition to give a European city a “European Green Capital” Award, Dublin failed to make the shortlist, coming in at 16th out of 40 applicants for the title. The award evaluates applicants by three criteria: how green the city is overall, how innovative and efficient it is, and how fit it is to network, communicate and serve as a role model to other cities.

Still, the Californian green industry report suggests that Ireland has much possibility for growth, even if it also has much room for improvement.