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Characterizing green and carbon-intensive employment in India

Author

Listed:
  • Ham, Andrés
  • Vazquez, Emmanuel
  • Yanez-Pagans, Monica

Abstract

We study green and carbon-intensive employment in India and discuss the implications of the ongoing green transition for the education and skill development ecosystem. Our analysis employs two definitions to identify green and carbon-intensive jobs in survey data. The first is India's official green occupations list and the second is an international classification of carbon-intensive occupations used in previous research. We apply these definitions to data from the 2019–20 Periodic Labour Force Survey to estimate the size and composition of green and carbon-intensive employment, examine their distributions across sectors and states, and characterize green and carbon-intensive workers in attributes and wages. Our results highlight the importance of monitoring green and carbon-intensive jobs with robust labor market monitoring systems to guide decisions on the sustainability transition and suggest key aspects to consider when investing in green skills and the potential distributive consequences of sustainability policies on the population.

Suggested Citation

  • Ham, Andrés & Vazquez, Emmanuel & Yanez-Pagans, Monica, 2025. "Characterizing green and carbon-intensive employment in India," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:236:y:2025:i:c:s0921800925001788
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108695
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Climate change; Labor markets; Green employment; Carbon-intensive jobs; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J49 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Other
    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth

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