Developing the Green Economy in Ireland

ENACHE FLORINA BEI DANIELA

Human beings depend on ecological systems for survival.

A best estimate suggests that there are more than 6,500 people directly employed in the green economy in Ireland.

Ireland has significant capabilities in key areas such as water, electronics, software and waste/ recycling that positions them well in this sector.

Transition and developing countries, in particular China and India are now seeing strong growth in those sectors in response to environmental problems such as air and water quality, arising from their rapid industrialisation and urbanisation.

Ireland already has significant strengths in the environmental goods and services sector. There is already a significant existing base of companies operating in the environmental goods and services sector. This sector offers very significant enterprise opportunities and has substantial export potential. While the enterprise opportunities are diverse, they may be broadly categorised under: Renewable Energy; Efficient Energy Use and Management (including EcoConstruction); Waste Management, Recovery and Recycling; and Water and Wastewater Treatment.

Many countries, including Ireland, are looking to green growth as the way out of the current economic crisis. Other countries have undertaken partial assessments of employment growth: The Danish wind industry employs 28,400 people and contributes an annual 5.7 billion to their economy; The German renewable energy sector employed 278,000 people in 2008 (up from 160,000 in 2004), and contributed 28.7 billion to the economy. A further 1.8 million work in environmental protection more generally.

In Japan, employment in environmental industries is expected to double to 2.8 million people by 2020. Internationally, approximately $436 billion (about 16 percent of the total committed stimulus plans to address the current global recession) can be characterised as a green stimulus.

Jobs in the green economy will also support indirect employment in other sectors of the economy. As highlighted earlier, the development and adoption of environmental goods, services and processes also has the potential to sustain and create new employment across a wide range of other sectors including, food, tourism, transport and financial services.