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Green
Economies Lead to Green Jobs R eduction in carbon emissions across the globe has been a subject of man y
debates between the North and the South, some of which have been
extremely acrimonious and bitter. We need to examine a new win-win
paradigm where green jobs across sectors are engineered without
impacting growth. The focus needs to shift to creating green economies,
thus moving towards making processes and services green all over the
world.
In effect, this means that we need to ensure that both mature and emerging economies move towards becoming green. A committed polity with strong political will is the first step towards this. Policies, legislations, financial incentives and support need to be provided. The judiciary has a crucial role to play as well. Conversion of all commercial vehicles in Delhi to using ‘clean fuel’ is an example of how the legal system can cause the move towards a greener economy. However such interventions cannot remain exceptions. They need to become the norm. This means that there is a need to de-construct some existing ways of working and promote new innovations and practices. The politicians, the judiciary and the administrators have to work cohesively and think out of the box to bring the right legislations and ensure that these are implemented both in letter and in spirit. If each entity, be it a service provider, a production unit or any other, is socially, environmentally and financially sustainable; the sum total of the impact of the jobs that the entity creates is green. Towards this objective, Technology and Action for Rural Advancement (TARA), which is a part of the Development Alternatives Group has been actively promoting SPEED (Smart Power for Environmentally Sound Economic Development), an initiative supported by the Rockefeller Foundation which is looking at engineering a sustainable solution for providing green power to remote underserved communities. SPEED looks at creating an eco-system that mitigates the risks for entrepreneurs, thus encouraging them to set up multiple decentralised renewable energy (DRE) plants servicing local consumers through a dedicated micro grid. The initiative promotes demand creation for power thus driving local economic growth. Currently five pilots are under implementation in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Planning is under way to grow to a thousand locations within the next three years. The objective is to enable the initiative to generate enough momentum to attract more players. A green economy with many green jobs! Time has come for thoughtful people to group together to change the world. Tomorrow may be too late. q Rakesh Khanna
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