Adoption of green jobs in Mauritius: drivers and challenges

Abstract

This study investigates the drivers and challenges faced by Mauritian organisations in implementing green jobs. Data was collected through online questionnaires to companies in six major sectors of the economy to identify their level of awareness, to investigate their readiness to embark into green jobs while at the same time, assess the drivers and the challenges. The results showed that the implementation of green jobs in Mauritius is at an early stage and that much needs to be done. Furthermore, Spearman rho correlation found no relation between sector activity and the level of awareness. Moreover, regardless of the sector that the companies are; they face the same difficulties to implement green jobs. The study however showed that firms that do not have green jobs, do engage in green practices like the use of renewable energy, minimising pollution and maximising the use of day light. The major drivers identified were customer preferences and government regulations while the major challenges which emerged were costs and the lack of trained employees. Based on the findings, recommendations were made with respect to the enhancement of existing regulations and policies, subsidisation of costs and dispensing of training programmes to stakeholders concerned Corresponding author: S D Lukea Bhiwajee Email address for corresponding author: sbhiwajee@umail.utm.ac.mu First submission received: 4th July 2019 Revised submission received: 27th September 2019 Accepted: 10th October 2019 Introduction Growing concern about environmental problems during the past years has made “go green concepts” important for businesses (Yi Yong & Mohd-Yusoff, 2016). In fact, the term ‘green jobs’ was first introduced as an amendment to the Workforce Investment Act on a pilot basis in USA, it was then defined in the Green Jobs Initiative in 2008 by the UNEP (Renner, M; Sean, S; Jill., K, 2008) to assess, analyse and promote further green jobs through environmental policies in both developing and developed countries (Jarvis, et al., 2011). The expansion of renewable energy, making buildings and industry more energy efficient, and the need to produce fuel efficient vehicles are core components of a new policy conversation taking place in various countries thus giving "green job" an iconic status (Sweeney, 2009). At the same time, unemployment is now a major challenge worldwide with about 172 million people being unemployed in 2018 globally, with the youth being among those most affected. (ILO, 2019). Thus, the challenge for economies at the dawn of this 21st century is not only to provide jobs to the current and future generations, but to also ensure that jobs provided are “green” so that those concerned are provided with a sustainable living, in line with the Sustainable Development Goal 8 which is about International Journal of Business and Economic Development, Vol. 7 Number 2 November 2019 www.ijbed.org A Journal of the Centre for Business & Economic Research (CBER) 61 promoting an inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all (ILO, 2017). However, research pertaining to the extent to which organisations are prepared to offer green jobs, including the challenges and constraints they face while doing so still warrants further probing. While the research conducted so far pertains to developed countries like the USA, a lot remains to be done for different regions of the world (Kouri & Clarke 2014) and for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), one of the most vulnerable categories of nations as far as climate change and sustainable development is concerned. This paper therefore investigates into the drivers and challenges faced by companies in Mauritius in the quest of adopting green jobs. Literature Review According to the Workforce Information Council, (2009), green jobs exist mostly in the energy, recycling, and smart agriculture sector. Scully-Russ (2013: 261) advocates that “there is no common nomenclature that can be used across the variety of industries and professional fields that are involved in the emerging industry.” Worldwatch Institute, (2009:2) in Kouri & Clarke (2014) defined that green jobs are work in agricultural, manufacturing, Research and Development (R&D), administrative, and service activities that contribute(s) substantially to preserving or restoring environmental quality. Specifically, but not exclusively, this includes jobs that help to protect ecosystems and biodiversity; reduce energy, materials, and water consumption through high-efficiency strategies; de-carbonize the economy; and minimize or altogether avoid generation of all forms of waste and pollution. Moreover, green jobs need to be decent by providing good working condition as well as a fair pay, however in practice this rarely exist (ILO, 2013). The transition to green is expected to lead to the loss of some existing jobs and the creation of new jobs and new sectors (Pociovălișteanu, et al., 2015). Table 1 shows three different definitions of green jobs found in the literature the normative, the industry, and the occupational definition (Scully-Russ, 2013), pp 261). Table 1: Perspectives and conceptual frameworks on green jobs (Scully-Russ, 2013) Ultimately, the tentative though popular consensus agrees that positive employment effects from policies designed to achieve environmental goals constitute Green Jobs. (Kouri & Clarke , 2014). Peters, et al., (2011) stated that green jobs can be characterised in four groups; firstly, by means of the product made, the process used, the industry in and, or the characteristics of the occupation of the jobholder. International Journal of Business and Economic Development, Vol. 7 Number 2 November 2019 www.ijbed.org A Journal of the Centre for Business & Economic Research (CBER) 62 Green Product Approach It includes green products or services that achieve the environmental objectives. Examples of the green products are Hybrid or electric automobiles, insulation products. However, this approach fails to consider the green activities that are not precisely linked with the manufacturing of a particular product or service, such as energy conservation within an organisation (Peters, et al., 2011). Green Process Approach This approach takes into account activities that exist within firms like waste management, energy use monitoring, recycling and reusing activities. Various environmental and occupational protection rules have been applied over the years, and businesses incrementally implemented standard and processes that decrease air and water emissions and solid wastes. These activities tend to be more specific to the firm (Peters et al., 2011). Green Occupation Approach This approach starts with the identification of the jobs linked to energy conservation and production and environmental protection. The way green businesses are run is very essential for policy planning information. Those occupations include environmental engineers, architects, biologists, agronomists, hydrologists (Peters et al., 2011) Integrated Approaches This approach combines elements of two or more of the above approaches, they allow for the establishment of state-level baselines for policy planning purposes (Peters et al., 2011). For a business to be considered as green, it has to consider at least one of “4Rs” – reduction, reuse, recycling, and recovery and each of those “Rs” can be attained through green business practices (Kassey, 2001) cited by (Čekanavičius et al., 2014). On their part, Renner et al., (2008) identified four types of effects that may happen to traditional jobs during the transition to green job. Table 2: Types of employment effects for green economies On the other hand, Fankhauser et al., (2008) found that the effect of climate policy on employment exists in the following three stages: International Journal of Business and Economic Development, Vol. 7 Number 2 November 2019 www.ijbed.org A Journal of the Centre for Business & Economic Research (CBER) 63 In the short term, jobs will disappear in some affected sectors like the carbon-intensive sectors while other jobs will be emerging in low-carbon sectors which are more labour intensive than conventional sectors. This is commonly known as the direct employment effect. In the medium term, the effect of climate change policy expands to the economy where jobs are created while others are eliminated to adjust the value chain. New jobs like carbon traders, wind power engineers and climate change consultants will be created. For the longer-term opportunities for investment and growth will be created through innovation and development of new technologies. More jobs are expected to be generated in the research and development of low-carbon technologies which will yield investment and further job-creation. The labour force is projected to possess green skills Being a Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Mauritius is vulnerable to climate change whereby it was placed 18th by the World Risk Report (UNU, 2014).It is forecasted that it will face further instability of rainfall patterns, increase in the intensity of tropical cyclones and sea-level rise in the future (IOM, 2015). Another challenge faced by Mauritius is the high rate of unemployment of 7.3% in 2016 of which 21 200 were aged between 16-24 (Republic of Mauritius, 2017) showing a slight decrease in 2017 to reach the rate of 7.1 % (Republic of Mauritius, 2018). Various green practices have been initiated at a national level as well at corporate level since the past few years to raise awareness of the population on its importance in the Republic of Mauritius. As an initiative from the ILO to assess green jobs in Mauritius it was found that some opportunities do exist but much needs to be done (ILO, 2013a). The Mauritian textile sector has adopted green initiatives like the use solar water heating systems, recycled wastewater, recycling and natural air-cooling practices (ILO, 2013a). Despite such