From 'greenovators' to 'green' minds : key occupations for the green transition : the nuances of defining 'green' occupations

Under the European Green Deal, a greener future is the European Union's new growth strategy. The energy crisis caused by the conflict in Ukraine has intensified these efforts. As Cedefop has shown, new occupations are emerging and existing ones changing, which makes up- and reskilling essential across the board. Some occupations are readily linked to the green transition, such as solar panel installers, but identifying 'green' occupations is not always so easy. Once, the green transition was about reducing fossil fuel dependency, which made it easier to define and operationalise occupational change. However, the growing intensity of the climate crisis has broadened efforts to curtail CO2 emissions. Cedefop's 2023 study From linear thinking to green growth mindsets stresses the need for sectors to shift from linear to circular production models to reduce consumption of natural resources. This wider approach is shaping skill demand. There is a lack of consensus on what 'green' occupations are and how to define them. For example, should the criteria be work tasks or the skills needed for the job? Should it be the workplace, with engineers producing electric vehicles being 'green' jobs and those making combustion engines 'brown' jobs? Or should it be something else?