Will Green Jobs Become the New Greenwash?

Green jobs are coming, and they’re going to be a big part of rebounding from the global economic downturn – but without a clear definition of what a green job is, will companies use the term to intentionally or even unintentionally mislead people? Joel Makower, Executive Editor of GreenBiz.com and author of Strategies for the Green Economy warns that the fervor over green jobs could lead to misuse of the term, and eventually engender cynicism about all things ‘green’.

Makower explains that, since the term ‘green jobs’ has been thrown around so much lately, people are putting all of their hopes on the idea that millions of green jobs are definitely imminent and will save the economy.  In the coming months, we’ll hear many green jobs claims by companies, industries, states, politicians and others interested in showcasing the job-creation potential of the green economy.  But without a real definition of what makes a job ‘green’, the term could be easily misused.

From Joel Makower:

The squishiness of green job definitions is troubling, reminiscent of so many other poorly defined aspects of the green vocabulary — words and terms like “natural,” “nontoxic,” and “environmentally friendly” — whose use and misuse in the marketplace ultimately led to public skepticism over all green product claims. The use of these words — none of which has a legal definition — is discouraged by green marketing specialists, and by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in its Green Marketing Guidelines.

Will the broad, unsubstantiated phrase “green jobs” similarly be problematic? Will it lead to a public backlash as people come to assume that green jobs are just another meaningless marketing claim bandied about by corporations and politicians seeking to green up their images? Will green jobs be seen as greenwash?

Makower points out that existing definitions offered by economic forecasting firms and the United Nations Environment Programme are too narrow or too broad, either preventing some authentically green jobs from being categorized as such or including jobs that technically shouldn’t fit.

While it’s important to make sure that the term isn’t used incorrectly or to mislead people about the true nature of a company’s actions and intentions, I don’t know that we should dally too much over terminology, at least not right now. We need to act quickly to create as many green jobs as possible – and while that concept may be a bit muddy right now – it seems that the vast majority of green job opportunities out there are the real thing.

Link [Joel Makower]
Photo credit: Green for All

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