Skills for Green Jobs in Bangladesh

A coherent national policy for the formation and development of skills for green jobs in all the potential sectors should be put in place and implemented. The study argues that for greening the economy, the policy should target implementation of the skills needs for green jobs in various sectors with priority to renewable energy, RMG, waste management and brick manufacture as identified by the present study; incorporate them into the occupational profiles, curriculum design and education and training provision for greening existing occupations and for developing emerging and new green occupations; and promote strategic interventions for overcoming the skills gaps.

The main greening shifts in the economy and the labour market of Bangladesh have taken place predominantly in renewable energy – most prominently in solar photovoltaic energy followed by biogas, but only rather weakly in materials management, telecommunication, transport, and manufacture of bricks and ready-made garments (RMG). The shifts in the sectors other than renewable energy remain weak, owing primarily to inadequate policy and institutional support. Available evidence shows that green jobs in solar energy steadily increased by 18.5% annually from 60,000 in 2011 to 140,000 in 2016, compared to 1.9% nationally. Bangladesh has embarked on a large number of legal acts, policies and programmes for adaptation to climate change and mitigation of its adverse impact, but it has no national policy for the formation and development of skills for greening the economy. In all the sectors including renewable energy, skills response remains informal, essentially provided by NGOs. National skills development objectives and targets do not match national environmental objectives and targets; and existing national skills development policies, programmes and strategies have no correspondence with national climate change policies, programmes or strategies. They are mutually exclusive. This works to the detrint of a smooth transition of the economy to a greener growth path.