PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has said that equipping the African workforce with green skills is a critical factor towards attaining the success and speed of just transition.
PwC, in a report released on Thursday, titled. “Enabling net zero through a green workforce in Africa,” maintained that there is a need for a sustainable response towards up-skilling the workforce by employers as a global imperative to enable the just transition.
“As the world transitions to net zero, the role of traditional jobs is changing. As jobs become redundant, new jobs, which we refer to as ‘green’ and that align with or support net zero goals, are created. The transition to the green economy requires organisations to take a proactive and intentional approach towards developing a green workforce,” it said.
The international professional services firm noted that for governments to achieve their net zero and just transition plans, such governments must also prioritise equipping their workforce with the green skills needed to actualise their plans.
“Sustainability response has become a global imperative that needs to be understood on a worldwide scale. Sustainability initiatives have wide-scale reach and identifying new trends and innovations requires broad awareness.
“These initiatives need to complement each other. However, there is no ‘one-solution’ in embedding an appropriate response to addressing material sustainability matters. When focusing on energy as part of our system/operating context, we need to cater for the fact that drivers and trends are constantly evolving and a collaborative effort is needed in order to enable the just energy transition.
“Although sustainability initiatives can be driven from a reporting, data and metrics perspective, the workforce is a key and pivotal enabler to bringing any sustainability strategy to life. In South Africa, 70 per cent of companies believe the broader application of environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards will drive job growth, followed by investments in green transition (41 per cent).
“A green workforce is needed to meet government’s commitments to accelerate the energy sector’s decarbonisation. However, with the creation of greener job opportunities, the up-skilling and training of personnel and graduates along the sector’s value chain need to be accelerated to keep up with the demand for green jobs,” it said.
While highlighting what up-skilling of Africa’s workforce is, the report stated, “Up-skilling is about more than just providing access to training, it is about identifying the knowledge, skills and experience that will be most valuable in the future for new and transformed roles. It is about developing an effective way to support and inspire people to take action today and continue to adapt in the future.
“This means understanding evolving skill gaps and mismatches, creating the right employee experience and buy-in to unleash energy for change, developing engaging skills-development programmes and driving return on investment with an appropriate learning organisation and technology.
“Up-skilling will require cost and investment; however, up-skilling brings economic benefits to communities as well. It allows people to move to new jobs that are better and more future-proof and helps preserve a nation’s taxation revenues and reduces social safety net expenses.
The report noted that sustainability skills can be embedded throughout the workforce through trust-based leadership which can be achieved by “targeted investment into workforce training as well as through learning courses and local programmes; recognise the importance of green hiring and up-skilling; ensure new policies create opportunities for the equal development of green skills across all groups, supported by significant investment to ensure green skilling opportunities are accessible to diverse groups; reimagine some open and future roles – the vast majority of green skills are being used in jobs that are not traditionally thought of as green.”
It added that the workforce is changing and being filled by an increasing number of workers that look out for companies that share their values rather than just pay cheques. It noted that employers cannot retain such workers if sustainability skills are not in the mix.
“These generations are more environmentally and socially conscious and more likely to consider a company’s sustainability policies when making job decisions. The workforce is no longer just interested in earning a pay cheque – they want to know that their work is making a difference. To get ahead of the shift, employers must begin adjusting their practices to fit these changing expectations.
“The transition to the green economy requires organisations to take a proactive and intentional approach towards developing a green workforce. A holistic, data-driven approach is required to sustainably manage workforce risk, embrace diversity and inclusion and develop the green skills that will be needed to prepare for the future, today,” the report stated.
This report was produced as part of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development’s (CJID) Climate Change in News Media Reporting Fellowship.
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