Green Recovery – Creating Sustainable Jobs

A green economy is a dynamic, sustainable, and economically robust market system that responsibly utilizes scarce and finite natural resources, and that protects, restores, preserves, and enhances our environment, while improving the social and living conditions of workers and customers now and in the future.

Malta lacks natural resources and our dependence on fossil fuels continues to be the driving force of our economy. Without going into the complexities Malta needs a vision by enacting legislation through Parliament that will firmly put in place a Green job strategy

Green jobs in Malta could be created through the following sectors namely , retrofitting of buildings, waste managment, solar and other renewable energy sources, transportation, tourism and also agriculture.

However in order to set the ball rolling we need to understand the reality of where we stand today and the actual targets or benchmarks we need to set. They need to be achievable targets. Green jobs need to be identified in the above sectors and once identified, we would need to assess the educational basis required to sustain these green jobs long term.

One of the most obvious option for green investment in communities is a large-scale building retrofit program to create energy efficiency in buildings, which would rely entirely on known technolo­gies such as high-performance double glazed windows, efficient cooling , ventilation and air conditioning systems, efficient light­ing and day-lighting, building-integrated photovoltaic-powered energy, and the installation of efficient appliances. The retrofitting will have to be in line with EU Directives as currentlyin place. In itself alone this would create green jobs which to date are mostly being made by foreigners in large projects . Retrofitting of all public buildings should be a must on the Government's Agenda . Retrofitting of buildings would create jobs including but not limited to , Insulation Technicians, Ventilation and Heating technicians, flooring installers, photovoltiac panels installets, Green Engineers,Green Bulding Inspectors , Panel installers and Lighting engineers.

Renewable energy sources in themselves, solar and wind power and herein Malta wave power are also well positioned to create an industry of green jobs which has as yet to be tapped. Government needs to set demanding targets in order to make sure that meeting these targets would require important action implementation to be taken.

The above sector would relate in much needed green jobs, like Environmental Engineers, Sheet steel workers, Electrical Equipment Assemblers, Electrical Engineers, Welders, Metal fabricators

Another sector which Government should continue to foster is the waste managment sector. This sector now has to meet demanding targets as set by the European Community and the Government needs to make sure that it strives hard to achieve these targets. In most waste streams the polluter or extended polluter pays principle continues to be the driving force in this sector.

In waste managment , we need to create an educational structure that will provide the backdrop to the growth of this industry. We need to educate the sector from scratch in order to provide a higher level of job satisfaction . Local Councils need added motivation to set this sector in further motion. The recovery of segregated recyclables from localities can in itself create much more jobs and the following list of jobs could all be created in this sector including, Street Enforcement Officers, Eco Councillors, Assistant Waste Carriers, Waste Operators in so many sectors, mainly in the dismantling and primary treatment of WEEE ( Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Products).

Accordingly the waste mangament sector also would increase green collar jobs in respect to environmental engineers, air and pollution engineers and also ancillary jobs in the managment of so many different waste streams.

However legislation to be enacted in this sector requires a long term plan. In our search for maximising the creation of Green jobs , Government needs to introduce , Residential Energy Tax credit , Residential solar tax credit, Business energy tax credit , Energy efficient commercial buildings tax deduction , and last but not least a sturdy Energy efficient new homes tax

Creating green jobs depends on the will power of Government and its Authorities to wake up to a new challenge, that of delivering a sustainable policy for our tomorrow ‘s generations.