Green Jobs Master Plan

Already now, green jobs are a dynamic business sector in Austria. During the economic crisis, in particular, they proved to be resilient and capable of further development.

Green Jobs Master Plan objectives

The Green Jobs Master Plan was established in 2010. Its main goal is to raise the number of green jobs from around 185,000 by another 100,000 employees by the year 2020. Austria is already well on its way to reach this goal. The latest statistics (dated February 2011) indicate approximately 200,000 green jobs for 2009.

The master plan’s focus is on the areas of:

• Agriculture and forestry
• Environmental technology and renewable energy as well as
• Tourism and leisure industries

Green job potential in key areas

• 35,000 jobs by investing in thermal building insulation and heating system adjustments
• 20,000 jobs by investing in the energy system – renewable energies
• 15,000 jobs by expanding and improving local public and regional transport services
• 13,500 jobs by increasing the demand for eco-friendly tourism options
• 6,500 jobs by promoting the use of forest biomass
• 6,000 jobs by raising the export quota
• 4,000 jobs by increased demand for environmental services

Green Jobs Master Plan implementation

To implement the strategy, six action fields were identified with the following measures:

• To ensure that employees in the area of green jobs have a high level of qualification, innovative and need-based further training and education options in the environmental management sector must be provided.
• Constant improvement and innovation are basic requirements of sustainably successful products, technologies and services and therefore essential for creating and securing jobs.
• A further key priority is the promotion of networking and cooperation between all players involved in the environmental management sector. Due to the size structure of domestic businesses, the strength of the Austrian environmental industry and the associated employment situation depends on targeted networking and intensive cooperation.
• One of the key areas is the support and promotion of internationalisation. Effective marketing abroad is crucial to ensure the economic growth of the domestic environmental management sector and thus the creation of green jobs in Austria.
• The promotion of sustainable investments and sustainable consumption by creating targeted investment and consumption incentives, which stimulate the demand for eco-friendly products, technologies and services along the entire value added chains, has a noticeable effect on the whole employment situation.
• The active creation of public awareness is another critical factor in achieving a transition to ecological and sustainable growth within the society. Values characterise investment and consumption behaviour. This makes awareness raising a key educational task to create and secure green jobs in Austria.