Green Jobs

General Background on ESF 37 Project – Study on job creation and job training in the environmental sector

The state of the environment is closely linked to the quality of life of the Maltese, as well as to the Maltese economy. A healthy and sustainable environment is considered to be a crucial prerequisite to Malta's future development and competitiveness.

During the last few years the Maltese Government has made the environment one of its priorities for government action and measures. This has been reflected in all major government policy papers, such as the National Reform Programme, the yearly pre-budget and budget document and the Structural Funds operational programmes dedicating a whole chapter to the environment.

Investment in the environment sector has been a recognised major strategic priority in Malta's 2004-2006 Cohesion spending. Indeed, over 40 per cent of the global amount of Structural and Cohesion Funds for this period have been allocated to the Environmental sector.

It is also clear that the major challenges that the Maltese economy will have to face in its future years if it wants to maintain and even upgrade the quality of life of its citizens on the islands and remain an attractive tourist destination are all environment related. As a result, Malta will continue to emphasise on the need for sustainable development and consequently, the promotion of environmental protection will become increasingly important. Malta will also have to implement the EU acquis in this sector. It is believed that the expansion of the environmental sector will create employment opportunities.

The ETC, as one of the major training providers and employment agency, constantly strives to respond to the labour market needs through the provision of specialised training courses. capable to adapt to the changing economic environment. Considering that most employment growth is provided by the expansion of new sectors of the economy, the increased emphasis on the environment sector will not only lead to improved standards of living but will also contribute to job creation. It is in this context that the ETC, in its endeavors to be proactive regarding future skills demand, wanted to explore the availability and sustainability of jobs in the environmental sector – or what are more commonly known as "green jobs" – within the context of the Maltese labour market. The ETC also wanted to learn about the skills needed for these jobs in order to devise training programmes accordingly. This study was thus launched to identify, quantify and classify the jobs that will be created in this sector as well as the training needs required to prepare the Maltese workforce for such jobs.