Kenya’s stride towards bridging green economy job gaps.

Sustainability is now the world’s new ‘’buzzword’’ with its embrace varying considerably among different countries and businesses across the globe. But what is the urgency in making such fundamental shifts??

What’s the catch? Climate Change!! With human activities being the underlying key contributor to climate variations and extreme weather conditions, a quick turnaround is needed for businesses to counteract its disproportionate effect which has inevitably stemmed other over-lapping issues i.e food shortage due to low crop acreage and productivity, health and heat-stress mortalities, unemployment, high living costs due to food inflations and other commodities and severe decline in animal stock due to acute drought. These impacts are not only  experienced in isolation but equally among many countries in Africa. 

With heightened pressure for the country to transition its economy to a circular one, potent adoptive,groundbreaking and innovative sustainable solutions has been noted to reduce the impacts of its  operations on the environment to a managable increase. This has further curved green job opportunities in NGOs, NPOs, Financial institutions, parastatals, and private entities, green economy jobs ranging from climate-sensitive advisory services, ESG experts in financial institutions and Enterprises, renewable energy engineers, sustainability advisor/experts, Climate change analyst, sustainable agriculture advisor/expert, geologists, environmental stewards and conservationists and the list is long. These adoptive sistainable solutions havnt only be a preamble to adressing economic crisis like food insecurity but also great trajectory approach is creating a economy-wide impact.

So how far has sustainability gained traction within the Kenyan sectorial landscape??

Many businesses are reaping big from intergrating sustainability principles(ESG) in their business pararadigms  i.e sustainability increases a business’s  financial value, attracts capital and investors, attracts and retains  peak perfoming employees, reduced regularity and legal interventions and cost reduction.   

The relentless effort of scientists, researchers, climate advocates and activists in fostering sustainability and mitigating climate change seem to be a colassal task and a long-standing heavy weight  thus begging for a joint participation from key parties like private sector to help catatyse progress. These intergrative approach hasnt  only helped  manage climate impact but has also  been instrumental in green economy job creation. Kenya’s job market is facing a huge downturn placing many graduates on a sideline with only less or fewer having an extra edge and a high employability potential due to their professional finesse and market-relevant skills in sustainability or green energy. A salvation that has prompted many to make career shifts in sustainability in the  green economy sector.

Far ahead or far behind??

Kenya is leading the way in transforming its energy sector and rapidly shifting to renewable energy. Renewable energy already accounts 73% of Kenya’s installed electricity generation capacity and 90% of electricity is generated by green energy sources (I.e geothermal, wind, solar, and hydroelectric). 

The country aims to increase that to 100% by 2030. Kenya is also a world leader in the number of solar systems installed per capita, with more Kenyans preferably shifting towards solar energy consumption. These energy transitions have in return created projects i.e the flagship installation of Lake Turkana Wind Power Project (LTWP), the country’s largest public-private investment and the biggest wind power plant in sub-Saharan Africa which comprises 365 wind turbines with a capacity of 850 KW and Garissa solar power plant(GSPP) has significantly reduced energy costs becoming the largest solar power plant in East and Central Africa. 

These strides in energy decarbonisation and just transition have bore fruits not only in achieving the renewable energy goals set out in kenya Vision 2030 but has immensely curved green job opportunities as well. 

An Input-Output analysis conducted by RTI researchers estimated that an average of 344,000 direct and indirect jobs will be created through 2040 as Kenya Power increases its new renewable energy capacity. Operating Kenya’s power grid alone will support 110,000 direct and indirect green jobs annually by the late 2030s. But the sector is facing a challenge in technical labour shortage with less technical skills that match the labor market. This has emphasized technical institutions offering rigorous and extensive training in this field.

Also, the ILO project Youth Employment for Sustainable Development (YESD) was implemented in the course of 2012. Funded by the Government of Japan, the project’s objective was to create youth employment opportunities and strengthen their employability in the road construction and maintenance sector, through the provision of technical skills for the use of labour-intensive technologies and business skills training; and to strengthen the capacity of partners to adopt green jobs approaches. Novel approaches the government or private sectors can adopt to expand the green job market;

Solutions

1. Climate Change awareness to expand and scale up the job market and green business ventures.
2. Extensive technical training to bridge sustainability and green job gaps
3. Strengthening environmental policies to incentivize green innovation, sustainable production methods, and nature-positive technologies this will further open new avenues on employment opportunities.
4. More Green job initiatives and projects  creations by the government to onboard the youth in growing the country’s green eceonomy.
5. Integration of Environmental related subjects in school curriculum to help increase green projects that aid limit the impact of climate change and foster sustainability.

Green jobs are strong drivers of a country’s green economy and its growth requires a robust joint partnership between the government and private sector a delicate balance that might not only be a preamble to reducing the impact of climate change and managing waste but might as well be a potent approach in bridging unemployment gaps.