According to Greenpeace, an ambitious climate policy and a strong economy are not mutually exclusive. According to an investigation of several scenarios by the environmental protection organization, ambitious climate protection can generate hundreds of thousands of additional jobs. On average, there will be around 275,000 additional jobs by 2030 – in the best scenario there are 1.2 million, as Greenpeace said on Friday when the study “Job Motor Climate Protection” was presented.
Two studies came to negative employment effects – they examined the effects in the coal sector as well as the change of drive in the automotive industry.
The organization evaluated a total of 25 climate protection scenarios from twelve studies and examined their effects on the economy. The result: “Better climate protection does not mean less, but more employment,” said Greenpeace economist Mauricio Vargas.
Ecological modernization of the economy
The scenarios in the studies will therefore almost all contribute to economic growth up to 2030 – on average it is 1.1 percent, in the best case 2.5 percent. However, the sectors benefit differently from an ecological modernization of the economy: According to Greenpeace, the winners include the construction and electrical industries, trade and services. Negative effects can be seen in fossil fuels and in the automotive sector.
Improvements are necessary – especially the “dangerous backlog of German carmakers when switching to clean drives” is a warning, explained Vargas. The future government must therefore insist on a faster ecological restructuring.
Greenpeace evaluated recent studies, some of which only dealt with individual aspects – such as the effects of onshore wind energy or electromobility. In some cases, however, the consequences of a comprehensive energy transition for all federal states were also examined. Investigations by the Ifo and Fraunhofer institutes have also been incorporated.