From green jobs to Green New Deal: What are the questions?

Abstract

Proposals for development of ‘green jobs’ emerged when environmentalists, labour organisations and political economists recognised the need for economic restructuring to reduce climate change. Current proposals for a Green New Deal go further by putting additional emphasis on fiscal stimulus, ‘just transition’, reducing socio-economic inequalities, and political empowerment. This article analyses the development of this more comprehensive policy approach, its rationale, the constraints it would face and its prospects in the Australian context.

JEL Codes: B50, H12, L78, P18, Q58

Keywords

Employment empowerment environment equity sustainability

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alexander

Gleeson

(2019) Degrowth in the Suburbs: A Radical Urban Imaginary. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Australian Conservation Foundation/Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACF/ACTU) (2008) Green Gold Rush. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: ACF/ACTU.

Baer

(2019) Democratic Eco-socialism as a Real Utopia. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Berghann.

Bennett

(2020) Reorienting the post-coronavirus economy for ecological sustainability. Journal of Australian Political Economy 85: 212–218.

Bernes

(2019) Between the devil and the green new deal. Commune. Available at: https://communemag.com/between-the-devil-and-the-green-new-deal/ (accessed 23 February 2021).

Burgmann

(1998) Green Bans, Red Union. Sydney, NSW, Australia: UNSW Press.

Celermajer

(2021) Summertime: Reflections on a Vanishing Future. London: Hamish Hamilton.

Chalmers

(2020) To surge forward, not snap back. In: Dawson

McCalman

(eds) What Happens’ Next? Reconstructing Australia after COVID19. Carlton, VIC, Australia: Melbourne University Press, pp. 51–58.

Chomsky

Pollin

(2020) Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal. London; New York: Verso Books.

10.

Combet

(2014) The Fights of My Life. Carlton, VIC, Australia: Melbourne University Press.

11.

Crowley

(1999) Jobs and environment: the ‘double dividend’ of ecological modernisation. International Journal of Social Sciences 26: 1013–1026.

12.

Denniss

(2020) Weal of fortune. The Monthly, July. Available at: https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2020/july/1593525600/richard-denniss/weal-fortune (accessed 5 April 2021).

13.

Di Natale

(2019) The time has come for a green new deal, Australian Greens. Available at: https://greens.org.au/time-has-come-green-new-deal (accessed 23 February 2021).

14.

Dorling

(2017) The Equality Effect: Improving Life for Everyone. Oxford: New Internationalist Publications.

15.

Edwards

(2020) Corporate Power in Australia: Do the 1% Rule? Clayton, VIC, Australia: Monash University Publishing.

16.

FitzRoy

Gin

(2018) Public income and a basic job offer: complementary policies to reduce poverty and unemployment. Journal of Poverty and Social Justice 26(20): 191–206.

17.

Fonda

(2020) What Can I Do? The Truth about Climate Change and How to Fix It. New York: HarperCollins.

18.

Fraser

Honneth

(2003) Redistribution or Recognition? London: Verso Books.

19.

Galgoczi

(2019) Towards a Just Transition: Coal, Cars and the Future of Work. Brussels: Electrical Trade Union International.

20.

Goods

(2011) Labour unions, the environment and green jobs. Journal of Australian Political Economy 67: 47–67.

21.

Hamilton

(2010) Requiem for a Species: Why We Resist the Truth about Climate Change. Sydney, NSW, Australia: Allen and Unwin.

22.

Heenan

Sturman

(2020) Labour, nature, capitalism and COVID-19. Journal of Australian Political Economy 85: 193–199.

23.

Henderson

(1978) Creating Alternative Futures: The End of Economics. New York: Berkeley Windover.

24.

Humphrys

(2019) How Labor Built Neoliberalism: Australia’s Accord, the Labour Movement and the Neoliberal Project. Leiden: Brill.

25.

Hutton

(2012) Lessons from the lock the gate movement. Social Alternatives 31(1): 15–19.

26.

Inglis

Kramer

(eds) (1985) The New Economy Agenda. Forres: Findhorn Press.

27.

Johnson

(2020) How labour can lead the way and land on its feet. Journal of Australian Political Economy 85: 175–188.

28.

Klein

(2019) On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal. London: Allen Lane.

29.

Langmore

(2020) How to start processes for determining post-viral strategy. In: Dawson

McCalman

(eds) What Happens Next? Reconstructing Australia after COVID-19. Carlton, VIC, Australia: Melbourne University Press, pp. 23–32.

30.

Leigh

(2020) Reducing inequality through reconstruction. In: Dawson

McCalman

(eds) What Happens Next? Reconstructing Australia after COVID-19. Carlton, VIC, Australia: Melbourne University Press, pp. 112–121.

31.

Macklin

(2020) An emissions and employment accord. In: Dawson

McCalman

(eds) What Happens Next? Reconstructing Australia after COVID-19. Carlton, VIC, Australia: Melbourne University Press, pp. 33–42.

32.

Masterman-Smith

(2010) Green collaring a capital crisis? Labour and Industry 20(3): 317–330.

33.

Mitchell

(2000) The job guarantee in a small open economy. In: Carson

Mitchell

(eds) The Path to Full Employment and Equity (Supplement to The Economics and Labour Relations Review), vol. 11. pp. 10–25. Available at: https://modernmoneynetwork.org/sites/default/files/biblio/jobsmaria.pdf

34.

Munday

(1981) Green Bans and beyond. Sydney, NSW, Australia: Angus & Robertson.

35.

New Economics Foundation (NEF) (2009) A Green New Deal: Joined-up Policies. London: NEF.

36.

Obeng-Odoom

(2020) The Commons in an Age of Uncertainty: Decolonising Nature, Economy and Society. Toronto, ON, Canada: University of Toronto Press.

37.

Pearce

Stilwell

(2008) Green-collar jobs: employment impacts of climate change policies. Journal of Australian Political Economy 62: 120–138.

38.

Pennington

Stanford

(2020) Rebuilding after COVID-19 will need a sustained national reconstruction plan. Journal of Australian Political Economy 85: 164–174.

39.

Piketty

(2014) Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

40.

Pollin

Wicks-Lim

(2008) Job Opportunities for the Green Economy. Amherst, MA: Political Economy Research Institute.

41.

Quiggin

(2020) Economic recession as the norm. Journal of Australian Political Economy 85: 39–43.

42.

Richardson

Friel

Grafton

, et al. (2020) Efficient, Effective and Fair Climate Policy: A Discussion Paper. Canberra, ACT, Australia: Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.

43.

Robinson

(1977) What are the questions? Journal of Economic Literature 15(4): 1318–1339.

44.

Robinson

(1980) Collected Economic Papers II. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

45.

Rosewarne

(2020) From one crisis to another: the underlying malaise in the Australian economy. Journal of Australian Political Economy 85: 29–38.

46.

Rosewarne

Goodman

Pearce

(2014) Climate Action Upsurge: The Ethnography of Climate Movement Politics. London and New York: Routledge.

47.

Rudd

(2020) After the virus: a green recovery. The Saturday Paper, 31 October. Available at: https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2020/10/31/after-the-virus-green-recovery/160406280010636 (accessed 6 April 2021).

48.

Spies-Butcher

Stilwell

(2009) Climate change policy and economic recession. Journal of Australian Political Economy 63: 108–125.

49.

Spies-Butcher

Phillips

Henderson

(2020) Between universalism and targeting: exploring policy pathways for an Australian basic income. The Economics and Labour Relations Review 31(4): 502–523.

50.

Stilwell

(2011) Marketising the environment. Journal of Australian Political Economy 68: 20–138.

51.

Stilwell

(2019) The Political Economy of Inequality. Cambridge: Polity Press.

52.

Washington

(2020) Whither ecological solutions? In: Washington

(ed.) Ecological Economics: Solutions for the Future. Sydney: Washington, 341–362.

53.

Wilkinson

(2020) The Carbon Club. Sydney, NSW, Australia: Allen and Unwin.

54.

Wilkinson

Pickett

(2009) The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better. London: Allen Lane.

55.

Wilkinson

Pickett

(2018) The Inner Level: How More Equal Societies Reduce Stress, Restore Sanity and Improve Everyone’s Wellbeing. London: Allen Lane.

56.

Worldwatch Institute (2009) Towards a Transatlantic Green New Deal: Tackling the Climate and Economic Crises. Brussels: Heinrich-Boell Stiftung.

57.

Wright

(2020) Cashed-up Australians squirrel away $100 billion. Sydney Morning Herald, 30 October. Available at: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/cashed-up-australians-squirrel-away-100-billion-20201030-p56a4m.html (accessed 15 February 2021).