This is not the time to slow the pace of an economic revolution with people and the environment at its centre, in which green jobs in sustainable mobility play a fundamental role. What they are and why they are needed.
The world is now focused on how to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Although it is difficult to have a clear vision of the future in this moment of immediate crisis, the health emergency and the resulting economic collapse could become an opportunity to rethink development models in favour of sustainability. This is not the time to slow climate action, not least because the causes of the pandemic – and therefore the solutions too – are to be found in our very relationship with nature. And this is not the time to turn our backs on a green economic revolution whose goals are growth, reducing socio-environmental impact and job creation.
And it was precisely a dramatic slowdown in movement to contain the spread of the epidemic that caused a significant reduction in pollution levels in places such as China and northern Italy and India. This confirms the important role that mobility plays in the fate of the planet, not only because it has a concrete impact on air quality and emissions, but because it is capable of attracting substantial public and private investment in favour of sustainability: a driving sector in research and innovation, and in the creation of green jobs.
The term green jobs refers to those positions "whose objective is to preserve or restore the quality of the environment", in the definition of the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep). The adoption of more sustainable models, such as promoting the market for electric cars, could result in the creation of 18 million additional jobs, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO). Sustainable mobility professionals not only "are part of the solution to climate change because they help reduce emissions and make the energy system more efficient" but "promote the adoption of safer, cleaner and more active modes of transport that can also reduce health risks", as a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) highlights.
Even those who repair bicycles or drive public transport contribute to making transport healthier for the environment and for people. That said, much of the attention on green jobs in sustainable mobility focuses on those working in technology and innovation: from the design and production of efficient vehicles to the development of new digitalisation-based transport systems, such as car and bike sharing. These "professional figures will increasingly be called upon to reinvent themselves, adapting their skills to ongoing innovations: mechanics who will become mechatronics engineers", according to Marco Accornero of the Milan Chamber of Commerce.
Italy offers a good example of how the sustainable economy has grown in recent years. By now, "one in four can be considered a green company, in terms of energy efficiency, but also in terms of use of raw materials, reuse and recycling of resources", notes journalist Marco Gisotti, author of a book on green jobs, in an interview with LifeGate. "In 2018, 78.8 per cent of all jobs requested – that is, four jobs in five – required very high or high green competence across all profiles."
A change of direction in mobility too, with the proliferation of companies specialising in the "manufacture of batteries, electrical equipment for motor vehicles, electrical systems for powering cars, and in the rental of light vehicles and bicycles". According to the Camera di Commercio di Milano Monza Brianza Lodi, there are 15,000 companies in this sector in Italy, employing 87,000 people, with a turnover of 20 billion euros in the second quarter of 2019. The leading city is Rome, with 1,000 companies and growth of 3 per cent in one year, followed by Milan with 775 companies and 1 per cent growth, then Naples with 726 companies and an increase of 4 per cent.
Green jobs already account for a significant share of the mobility sector – as much as 60 per cent in countries such as Spain, according to data from the Fundación Biodiversidad – but they remain above all an untapped pool. For instance, according to the WHO, even the mere adoption of Copenhagen's bike-sharing model could create over 75,000 jobs in European cities. This potential is recognised by the European green deal, the programme to transform the European Union's economy into a sustainable one, which also envisages the active participation of the world of work and vocational training in supporting this transition.
"Green jobs are growing rapidly in Europe, and are among the most resilient employment categories", in the words of Connie Hedegaard, former European Commissioner for Climate Action, according to whom growth alone is not enough to address unemployment: "we need to expand the areas that can create jobs, and the green sector has enormous potential. We must make sure that Europe reaps all the benefits." One of the main objectives of the European green deal is to reduce net CO2 emissions to zero by 2050. And since a quarter of the greenhouse gases emitted within EU territory are linked to transport, the mobility sector therefore plays a fundamental role. Thus, the Horizon 2020 programme has made available 50 million euros within the "Building a low-carbon, climate resilient future: green vehicles" call for research institutions, public bodies and companies – and therefore professionals – engaged in the development of equipment, materials, infrastructure and services to reduce the environmental impact of transport vehicles.
The entire automotive world must now contend with the collapse in sales and manufacturing caused by the coronavirus. It cannot be denied, therefore, that the mobility sector, like the rest of the economy, faces enormous challenges ahead. And at precisely this moment, the progress made so far cannot be built upon and improved without the will to rewrite a better future, in which sustainable development is not the exception but the rule.