Nepal can create more jobs investing in green economy

Nepal is among the countries that the highest ratio of decent jobs per million dollar of investment from green investments.
"Nepal, Indonesia and Ghana have the highest ratio of decent jobs per million dollars of investment with labour intensive economies benefiting from green investments," said the International Trade Union Confederation urging governments to drive investment of at least two per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the green economy in the wake of independent economic analysis forecasting the potential for green jobs growth.
The Millennium Institute green investment model shows how new investments of two per cent of GDP in each of the next five years in 12 countries could create up to 48 million new jobs. "Middle income economies including Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa, Bulgaria could create up to 19 million jobs over five years," it said, adding that some 28 million jobs could be created in developed economies in Australia, Germany, Spain and the USA over five years.
For the first time economists have used the number of jobs that can be directly created from investments as the key indicator to analyse the impact of the green economy in 12 countries including Nepal and seven industries; energy, construction, transport, manufacturing, agriculture, forestry and water.
The job creation forecasts refer to direct employment in each country and industry, these new jobs would also generate further employment growth with indirect jobs when taking the multiplier effect into account.
The economists have demonstrated how public and private investment in the green economy can create hundreds of millions of decent green jobs, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation Sharan Burrow said, adding that the governments must set targets for green jobs and provide the legislative and regulatory conditions so workers can have secure jobs, living wages and creating a healthy society and environment.
The International Trade Union Confederation and the Millennium Institute have established the first ‘green job creation benchmark’ providing a guide to the jobs creation potential of selected industries, with the number of jobs per million dollars invested.
“The outlook for transitioning to a greener economy with decent work will benefit workers, business, national economies and future generations,” added Burrow, who is meeting governments, business and workers in Brazil, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Nepal and Germany ahead of the G20 Summit and Rio + 20 Summit in June, where world leaders must make commitments on green growth and decent job creation.
Burrow will be holding meetings with government, business and workers in Nepal on May 12.
The Millennium Institute has analysed Nepal, Germany, Spain, Bulgaria, Brazil, Dominican Republic, USA, South Africa, Ghana, Tunisia, Indonesia, Australia in its report.