Environmental jobs used to be all about regulatory compliance. No more is this the case. Having recently taken a new role in the “green collar” workforce at Johnson Controls, sustainability is simply smart business.

As many as one out of four workers in the United States will be working in the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries by 2030, according to a recent report from the American Solar Energy Society. 

Who makes up the “green collar” work force? There's no real hard and fast definition, but green collar is any role implementing sustainability in business. This can include retrofitting buildings, designing new solar cells, organizing recycling programs, carbon trading, or being part of a company's corporate responsibility team.

Governments and companies alike have made public pledges to reduce their carbon footprint and are beginning to realize the environmental benefit, as well as the financial sense, of the sustainable business case. 

In the U.S., 5.3 million jobs have been created by environmental management and protection, according to a study by Management Information Services Inc., a Washington, D.C., research firm that has been tracking green jobs for two decades. Those jobs include such titles as chief sustainability officer, solar-panel installer and software engineer, on top of more traditional environmental careers in wastewater treatment and hazardous materials management. The 5.3 million figure is almost half the number of people employed by hospitals, and nearly a third of the number in construction. It’s 10 times the number of jobs in the pharmaceutical industry. 

Also fueling the green collar workforce is our younger generation of employees. At a recent panel discussion at Marquette University entitled “Sustainability and the Triple Bottom Line,” over half of the audience was students! According to the Dean of Marquette’s Business School, Dr. Linda Salchenberger, “Today’s business student is very focused on the triple bottom line – people, planet and profit. They are attracted to companies that are socially responsible and provide their employees with opportunities to give back to the local and global communities in which they operate.” Volunteerism is also on the rise and is part of the younger generation’s personal and professional lives. “New business student organizations such as Net Impact, focused on sustainability and sustainable development are growing as are centers and resources such as the Sustainability Consortium,”  stated Salchenberger.

By 2010, green employment is expected to reach 5.8 million jobs; by 2020, 6.9 million. Meanwhile, corresponding green-industry sales—including energy 
suppliers and consumer-products makers—are predicted to climb from $341 billion to $496 billion in 2020. 

Green collar jobs aren’t simply a rebranding of blue collar trades. Rather, they are safer, typically higher-paying jobs that are community-serving and meaningful. Workers will change how they measure success in their careers away from just earning a living, and toward building a more sustainable world. I know I did. 

It’s a green new world out there, and it needs employees  —lots of them. 

Paul Poblocki
Marketing Manager, Energy Solutions
Johnson Controls, Inc.