More women needed in growing green jobs market
Michelle Ward
30th September 2010
The need for qualified technicians and scientists and people with environmental training is growing as European businesses work to become more sustainable – and women are increasingly being sought to fill the gap.
A major European Union (EU) conference in Brussels about green jobs heard this week how businesses are struggling to find qualified employees for science and technology positions and that there is a need to recruit more women into such positions.
Marc Van den neste, vice-president of AGC Glass, which processes glass for the construction industry, said the search for qualified researchers and scientists is challenging, especially when looking for women.
“It is very difficult to find women in the field of science,” he said. “It is very difficult to find competent people at all. Glass is the perfect material to provide energy and we are working on reducing the impact we have on the planet from what we are producing. We need skilled workers of either gender.”
Green recruitment
“We created Green Recruitment to help businesses hire green workers,” said co-founder Laurent-Philippe Ham.
Ham said there was room for women in the field of green technology, but currently most in the field are in functional roles as environmental advisors rather than working in technical roles.
Green knowledge for all employees
Bernard Mathieu, the director for global environmental sustainability at Heidelberg Cement, said all employees should have some environmental knowledge, even if they aren’t working in science or technology.
“To be successful in a company today, each and every employee should have a green awareness,” said Mathieu. “It’s all about exchanging knowledge. We tried to integrate environmental sustainability into the managerial processes that already exists in a large corporation so that’s it’s a natural part of business.”
Dallemagne said that the green jobs of today will be the regular jobs of the future as companies adapt to the changing climate. Some jobs, like biomass and biotech jobs, will be created as a result of climate change, but most jobs will simply change to encompass a company’s environmental initiatives, he said.
“This is what the youth need to know: if you want to go into green jobs, you have to go into science and technology first, ” Damien Dallemagne, founder of management consultants Innergic, told the ‘Promoting Green Jobs: Ministerial Conference’, organised by the Belgian Presidency of the EU in cooperation with the European Commission. yesterday.
Innergic is working with GreenWin Cluster, which groups businesses and educational institutions to work toward a more sustainable future together. “You have to study engineering, chemistry, physics, or you have no chance of going into green innovation. And that’s where the future is,” said Dallemagne.
Filling the gender gap
But Dallemagne said he wants to see more women in green innovation. “Green jobs are about looking at all the aspects, and women are natural multi-taskers,” he said. “Men are only good at focusing on one thing. Women should be the ones in green technology.”
Marc Van den neste, vice-president of AGC Glass, which processes glass for the construction industry, said the search for qualified researchers and scientists is challenging, especially when looking for women.
“It is very difficult to find women in the field of science,” he said. “It is very difficult to find competent people at all. Glass is the perfect material to provide energy and we are working on reducing the impact we have on the planet from what we are producing. We need skilled workers of either gender.”
Green recruitment
Green Recruitment, a professional recruitment firm helping businesses further their sustainability goals, stressed the growing need companies have for employees with environmental training.
“We created Green Recruitment to help businesses hire green workers,” said co-founder Laurent-Philippe Ham.
Ham said there was room for women in the field of green technology, but currently most in the field are in functional roles as environmental advisors rather than working in technical roles.
Green knowledge for all employees
Bernard Mathieu, the director for global environmental sustainability at Heidelberg Cement, said all employees should have some environmental knowledge, even if they aren’t working in science or technology.
“To be successful in a company today, each and every employee should have a green awareness,” said Mathieu. “It’s all about exchanging knowledge. We tried to integrate environmental sustainability into the managerial processes that already exists in a large corporation so that’s it’s a natural part of business.”
Dallemagne said that the green jobs of today will be the regular jobs of the future as companies adapt to the changing climate. Some jobs, like biomass and biotech jobs, will be created as a result of climate change, but most jobs will simply change to encompass a company’s environmental initiatives, he said.
Like this story? Please subscribe to our free weekly e-newsletter at the top of the page for more content like this.
Related news:
