Go green and go global: Job creation post Covid-19

This article was originally published here by the C40 Knowledge Hub. It is part of a new report Agenda for a Green and Just Recovery set out by leading mayors and a complementary set of policy briefs written by C40 for cities beginning their recovery phases which can be found here.

It is hard to overstate the scale of Covid-19 job losses and the critical need for city governments to do everything in their power to boost local employment. This job-creation effort will need to take place alongside ongoing physical distancing, testing and contact-tracing, at least in the near term, so we can safely live with the virus and avoid the need to return to emergency containment measures.

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At the same time, the threat from climate change looms large. Lise Kingo, Director of the UN Global Compact which invites businesses to sign up to principles of environmental protection and social justice, recently described the pandemic as a "fire drill" for the climate crisis. The good news is that maximising job creation and responding to the climate emergency have proved to be compatible goals; indeed, a low-carbon recovery offers better outcomes for jobs and economies than high-carbon options, not just in the future, but now, too.

This article sets out how city governments can help to drive high-quality local employment through Covid-19 recovery periods. It looks briefly at measures being taken to mitigate job losses in the immediate term, before setting out opportunities to create jobs through municipal procurement and infrastructure projects, to enhance social justice through municipal investments and services, and to accelerate the delivery of upskilling and reskilling programmes to drive up the quantity and quality of employment opportunities.

The global picture of Covid-19 unemployment

Globally, the equivalent of 400 million full-time jobs (14% of working hours) are estimated to have been lost due to the pandemic by the end of June 2020, compared with pre-crisis employment levels.

We are seeing the largest declines to date in the Americas, Europe and Central Asia. Almost all sectors have been negatively impacted, with local surveys in cities emphasising job losses in the entertainment and recreation sector, notably tourism and hospitality, as well as retail, manufacturing and transport. In the informal economy, 76% of all informally employed workers (1.6 billion people) are being significantly affected.

Everywhere, members of marginalised and low-income households, already holding vulnerable jobs, are among the hardest hit; many face the dilemma of going to work and risking infection, or sinking deeper into poverty. Read the International Labour Organisation’s _Covid-19 and the world of work_for updated global estimates and analysis.

Mitigating job losses and economic impacts during Covid-19 crisis periods

Mitigating the economic impact of Covid-19 outlines the measures that city governments are taking to minimise job losses during initial emergency response periods. It explains the approaches and actions that cities are taking to:

• Provide immediate cashflow assistance, including for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and marginalised groups.
• Provide guidance to affected businesses, workers and marginalised groups.
• Monitor the economic impacts of Covid-19.
• Analyse and forecast impacts on employment and the economy.
• Mobilise and collaborate with local industry, non-governmental organisations and trade unions to produce equipment.
• Support job-search and training opportunities, including for green jobs.

Many are now taking additional steps to help businesses stay afloat throughout the pandemic by:

• Resuming municipal services and processes to keep economies moving. Non-essential services that were temporarily suspended in many cities to help reduce the spread of Covid-19 are now resuming in safe, physically distant formats. For example, virtual planning-permission committee meetings are now taking place in some cities.
• Altering processes to accelerate revenue-generating activities. For example, streamlining processes for issuing permits or business licences, without compromising on key checks.

Work with trade unions, businesses and community groups to monitor impacts and opportunities

Mapping the impacts of Covid-19 on local employment is key to understanding which sectors are hardest hit and which offer the greatest opportunities for job growth.

To this end, city governments can use national statistics, commission advanced data analytics of online job advertisements, and engage trade unions, industry associations, chambers of commerce and community groups to understand industry-specific challenges and worker needs, as well as to co-design solutions.

Many municipalities, including Vancouver and Seattle, are conducting extensive citizen-engagement and local business-impact surveys. In the short term, cities can use these data, knowledge and partnerships to design or scale up existing upskilling programmes, connect unemployed people with job opportunities and inform plans to relax containment measures. Medium to longer term, they will be critical to designing, implementing and adapting effective stimulus and recovery packages.

Creating jobs through municipal procurement, infrastructure projects and initiatives

Municipal recovery packages can create jobs rapidly by implementing and bringing forward "shovel-ready" projects already in the pipeline, in addition to prioritising new municipal projects that are likely to deliver the greatest number of jobs in a short timeframe.

These include hard infrastructure projects, such as sidewalk repairs, school upgrades and new cycle lanes, and soft infrastructure projects, such as natural flood defences and tree planting. In addition to the staff they employ directly, these projects will create jobs in the architecture, accounting and myriad other service industries that support them.

The Covid-19 crisis has accelerated the need and opportunity to upskill and re-skill workers to facilitate the energy transition, prepare for increased automation and align with other trends for the future of work

Critically, there is clear evidence that green infrastructure projects offer a more effective route to job creation and economic stimulus than fossil-fuel projects. Through green economic recovery measures, municipal governments can maximise short-term benefits for employment, while catalysing wider transformations and securing the longer-term socioeconomic rewards associated with ambitious climate action.

Jobs created, directly and indirectly, per USD 10 million in spending (excluding induced jobs)

Source: McKinsey & Company, How a post-pandemic stimulus can both create jobs and help the climate

A host of research suggests that the sectors offering the best opportunities for rapid, large-scale job creation go hand-in-hand with climate action:

• Building retrofits for energy-efficiency. Many cities will have a pipeline of shovel-ready retrofit projects, primed for investment, that can be quickly deployed to accelerate and deepen local economic recovery. Building retrofit is labour-intensive work that can create a significant number of jobs and inject money into local businesses and supply chains, many of which will be SMEs. Given the potential scale and scope of building retrofits required to reduce emissions and energy bills, these jobs will be secure for many years. Climate Opportunity: More jobs, better health, liveable cities explains more about the job-creation potential and other benefits of retrofits. How cities can strengthen local economic recovery through building retrofits looks at how cities can create jobs through municipal-building retrofits, including social housing, and accelerate the scale and pace of commercial and residential upgrades.

• Clean energy. Renewable technologies, especially solar power, usually create greater numbers of local, high-quality jobs than fossil fuels. Recent research by McKinsey indicates that government spending on renewable energy technology creates 50 more jobs per USD 10 million invested than equivalent spending on fossil fuels, for instance. Cities can advocate for grid upgrades and other investments to be included in national post-Covid stimulus packages, foster the growth of clean energy sectors and directly invest in local clean energy as part of city-scale recovery plans. Read more in Realising the clean energy opportunity through city-scale Covid-19 recovery plans.

• Infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists. Walking and cycling are physically distant, active, equitable and low-carbon transport modes that are helping to facilitate safe essential shopping and exercise and alleviating pressure on public transport. As we live with the virus in the medium to longer term, investment in pedestrian and cycling infrastructure will be critical to enable more people to travel safely and efficiently around their cities, as well as to reviving local highstreets. Space for pedestrians and cyclists is central to the 15-minute city concept, which is already being pursued by many cities to support the Covid-19 recovery. Critically for job creation, programmes to widen pedestrian spaces and construct cycling infrastructure can create jobs quickly and, while streets are quiet and traffic is reduced, with minimal disruption. Countless cities have introduced temporary routes and expanded walkways during the initial response period and many are already turning this into permanent infrastructure. For a closer look, please see Prioritising cyclists and pedestrians for a safer, stronger recovery.

• Public transport infrastructure. Public transport investments have repeatedly been shown to have greater economic multipliers than roadbuilding programmes and any other transport investments. This includes through direct job creation and through increased access to jobs and recreational opportunities, particularly for lower-income groups. For example, a recent study in the United States found that public transport investments generated over 30% more jobs per dollar than construction of new roads and bridges. These investments will also help to ensure that public transport can continue to operate safely as we live with Covid-19, and that cities don’t become gridlocked with traffic as residents increasingly return to work and travel within their city. Read more about how cities can adapt mass transit to limit Covid-19 transmission, and investments to ensure the longer-term sustainability and success of public transport services, in Public transport after Covid-19: rebuilding safe and connected cities.

• Electric vehicles. An accelerated shift to electric vehicles as part of Covid-19 recovery packages would also create significant numbers of new jobs. Jobs in green and healthy transport: Making the green shift, a new report by the International Labour Organisation and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, finds that 10 million additional jobs could be created worldwide – 2.9 million in Europe alone – if 50% of all business-as-usual vehicles manufactured were electric. Cities governments can lead by shifting their own fleets, particularly buses, to electric; you can read more in How to shift your bus fleet to zero emission by procuring only electric buses. Further guidance is available in How to build an electric vehicle city: deploying charging infrastructure and How to drive electric vehicle uptake in your city.

• Urban greening and nature-based solutions. Tree planting, blue corridors, coastal habitat restoration and other nature-based solutions can generate fast job growth, as worker training requirements are relatively low, projects can be launched without a significant amount of planning and procurement, and social distancing rules can be followed easily during most activities.

• Circular economic strategy. Many circular economic activities, such as waste recycling and repair, are highly labour-intensive and can be ideal for rapid service-sector job creation. Investments here can also help to avoid locking in emissions and harmful business models in the long run. An increasing number of municipalities already have ambitious visions and strategies to become more circular, many of which could be adapted for the Covid-19 context. For example, Ljubljana’s Repair and Refurbish Centre initiative offers work to hard-to-place job seekers while advancing the city’s circular economy targets. The BauKarussell social enterprise in Vienna, set up with support from the municipality to help marginalised people back into work, has created an estimated 9,000 jobs in repurposing materials from dismantled industrial factories. Read about these and many more initiatives in Municipality-led circular economy case studies.

A range of practical, Excel-based tools for municipalities to estimate the economic and health benefits of climate actions are available here.

Use your pension funds

In addition to stimulus spending, the vast investments held by city pension funds offer another significant means of steering the economic recovery.

City governments can make the case for divesting pension fund fossil-fuel investments – and those of other private investors – and reinvesting those funds in green, job-creating sectors. Spotlight On: Cities Divest-Invest provides a city toolkit on how to do this, along with city case studies and commentary from institutional investors that are already making the switch. New York City, for example, has committed to double its pension-fund investments in climate solutions from USD 2 billion to USD 4 billion by 2021.

Enhancing social justice through municipal investments and services

The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed and embedded inequalities in cities around the world. At the same time, the pandemic has increased the sense of solidarity and common belonging in many cities and communities, as well as public support for change. To help address inequalities and build social resilience, cities should prioritise municipal stimulus spending for projects that advance social justice, and design recruitment for municipal services to reduce inequalities.

Cities can:

• Target municipal spending in the aforementioned sectors to tackle local inequalities directly. For example, as lower-income residents in the worst housing conditions have been among those most affected by Covid-19, retrofitting investments can prioritise social housing, where this is within a city’s powers. Public transport and active travel investments can be designed to prioritise the needs of lower-income communities and those most impacted by air pollution. Read Inclusive Climate Action in Practice for more on this.

• Raise procurement standards for municipal projects. An increasing number of municipalities are incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria into their procurement. For example, in 2015, the City of Paris initiated a transnational procurement group with several other European cities, incorporating ESG criteria. Amsterdam’s "social return" clause for public procurement requires contractors to create local employment, training or work experience for job seekers, young people without qualifications and other vulnerable groups. Cities can also connect municipal procurement criteria with voluntary certification schemes, which help to drive up standards. London’s Good Work Standard is an ambitious example. The scheme sets a benchmark for high employment standards, covering pay and conditions, wellbeing, skills and progression, diversity and recruitment. As of March 2020, it had accredited 60 businesses, collectively employing 200,000 Londoners.

• Target recruitment for municipal services. Hiring additional people, where possible, to deliver municipal services, such as street cleaning, park maintenance or administration, to support the response to and recovery from Covid-19 can provide direct job creation. This recruitment can be targeted at supporting those most impacted by the pandemic, including long-term marginalised groups.Longer-standing examples:

  • Barcelona offers job opportunities in park maintenance for people with disabilities. Zagreb employs the long-term unemployed to manage the city’s public green spaces and provides education and training in fields that are in high demand in the local economy. Read more about these and other initiatives in Europe in Green jobs for social inclusion.

  • Philadelphia’s City as a Model Employer programme, which aims to fight against poverty and inequality by connecting people who have been disconnected from employment with stable, well-paying municipal jobs, while helping recruitment for hard-to-fill positions. The programme also works with private-sector partners to promote workforce training as well as a decent minimum wage and diversity in hiring more widely.

  Examples during the pandemic:

  • Cities including Quebec are supporting food-sector recruitment and retention by helping to connect people who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic with local farms lacking workers, and helping to make farming more attractive and accessible to local workers.

  • Pakistan’s national green stimulus scheme, which aims to plant a huge number of trees over a five-year period, is prioritising employment opportunities for women and for labourers who are out of work due to the pandemic.

Visions of success: Aiming higher than just boosting growth and consumption

Municipalities pursuing a sustainable and equitable recovery should seek to create new markets and support businesses that contribute to the city’s social and environmental goals, as well as its economic goals.

Stimulating growth and mass consumption of products from raw materials as a way to kick-start the economy and create jobs increases the city’s impact on the climate and pollution down the supply chain, unjustly affecting communities around the world. Read more about cities’ consumption-based emissions in The Future of Urban Consumption in a 1.5°C World.

City governments have a chance to aim higher and embrace new economic thinking, such as circular economy models, to design recovery strategies and monitor long-term progress. Cities already doing so include:

• Amsterdam, which has a vision to emerge from the Covid-19 crisis as a city that ensures a good life for everyone, within the Earth’s natural boundaries. The vision, set out in the Amsterdam Circular Strategy 2020‒2025, is to transition Amsterdam into a circular city that takes a smarter approach to managing scarce raw materials, production and consumption, increasing the number of circular jobs – already estimated at 11% of the city’s working population. See Amsterdam’s City Doughnut as a tool for meeting circular ambitions following Covid-19 for more.
• Santa Monica, which uses a Wellbeing Index to measure residents’ quality of life based on data from community surveys, social media and other city metrics.
• Countless cities are shortening their food supply chains to support local producers, reducing food waste by redistributing surplus food to communities in need and encouraging a shift to more sustainable food consumption. Read more in Food and Covid-19: How cities are feeing residents today and building a better tomorrow.

Accelerating the delivery of upskilling and reskilling programmes

The Covid-19 crisis has accelerated the need and opportunity to upskill and re-skill workers to facilitate the energy transition, prepare for increased automation and align with other trends for the future of work. Established approaches and recent programme pilots can be introduced, scaled up or adapted to mitigate job losses and create new employment in the wake of Covid-19.

As well as helping to drive entrepreneurship and job creation, upskilling is proven to generate a positive return for governments in the form of increased revenue and lower welfare payments. The World Economic Forum’s Towards a Reskilling Revolution: A future of jobs for all, for example, explains more about this. Moreover, upskilling can support career pathways to higher-paid employment, lifting families out of low incomes over the longer term.

• Municipality-led upskilling schemes to support unemployed people and grow local markets. Rapid upskilling programmes can support recruitment for activities such as grocery retail, local food production, cleaning and disinfection, and delivery services – where many cities are experiencing short-term demand surges due to the pandemic. To strengthen the recovery from Covid-19, municipalities can also partner with technical and vocational education and training institutions, as well as industry associations, employers’ organisations and unions, to design and run programmes to fill skills gaps for growing low-carbon economies. Here, too, upskilling programmes can be designed to tackle local inequalities and foster careers with long-term growth opportunities, realigning youth career aspirations.

  • Amsterdam’s House of Skills initiative is a public-private partnership bringing together more than 90 representatives from businesses, employee associations, research institutes, the education sector and local government to facilitate upskilling and skills matching from the circular economy to information and communications technology.

  • To prepare the city’s workforce for jobs in the growing green buildings sector, New York City has supported the training of 3,000 workers in the construction industry through the NYC Green Jobs Corps, a partnership with the Building Construction Trades Council. The supportive programmes your city needs to drive toward zero-carbon buildings provides more guidance on training and partnerships, which can help to fill skills gaps and build local retrofit markets. New York City also runs the NYC Cool Roofs initiative, providing local jobseekers with training and work experience installing cool, low-cost, energy-saving reflective roofs to participating building owners.

  • A retrofit project in low-income communities in Cape Town provided nearly 2,350 local people with temporary employment. The project worked with a national agency to deliver training to participants to develop retrofitting skills, increasing economic mobility. Read more in the case study in Inclusive Climate Action in Practice: How to jointly tackle climate change and inequality.

  • Seattle City Light, which is Seattle’s publicly-owned electric power utility, runs an apprenticeship programme providing paid training for jobseekers to gain skills as cable splicers, electricians, hydroelectric maintenance machinists and more.

  • In 2019, London launched a programme called Start Up, Step Up London to boost entrepreneurship and upskilling for underrepresented groups through a series of workshops, targeted skills training, coaching and mentoring.

• Supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses to upskill while helping to solve the city’s challenges. Cities can offer support to SMEs to help them transition to working virtually or trading online, for example, while further recovery measures can enhance local innovation and grow the share of citizens underrepresented in entrepreneurship.

  • The City of Tokyo worked with private-sector partners to provide support and training to small firms to maintain business continuity or expand activities after Covid-19.

  • The Employment-Environment Alliance programme launched by the City of Brussels, has helped more than 200 SMEs to transform their business models to a more circular approach as part of the city’s circular strategy and supported 1,500 citizens through direct upskilling.

  • The City of Medellín has established a platform to assemble its science and technology sectors, so they can work together with the public sector to solve the most pressing Covid-19 challenges.

With negotiations for fiscal stimuli underway, the municipal opportunities outlined here must be combined with advocacy efforts to require businesses to align to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Agreement on climate change.

While a rising tide of businesses are committing voluntarily through global organisations, such as CDP, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the United Nations Global Compact and We Mean Business, securing widespread uptake will be needed to shift business models and upgrade the skillsets of the global workforce, enabling all sectors, organisations and employees to contribute to carving a path for a socially and environmentally sustainable future.

We are grateful to officials of the International Labour Office, including Moustapha Kamal Gueye from the Green Jobs Programme, for their input to and feedback on this article.

(Picture credit: Unsplash)