NYCW: High Level Roundtable - Jobs and Skills for the New Economy: Building an Action Agenda for a People-Centered Climate Transition
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A new economy is unfolding with profound implications for people’s jobs and livelihoods. The combined forces of technological change, demographic shifts, geopolitics and the climate transition are reshaping the world of work and the skills people need to thrive. Recent analysis shows that the climate transition alone (the impact of climate change itself and of our actions to address climate change) could result in a job churn – gross gains and losses – in the range of 800 million jobs, potentially affecting up to 25% of the total global workforce. These dynamics carry both risks and opportunities. Seizing the opportunities will require increased investment in skills and workforce transition measures.
Yet, most economic and climate transition plans remain heavily focused on physical infrastructure while giving limited attention to human investments. Fewer than 40% of the second cycle of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs 2.0) reference skills or workforce strategies, and only 1% refer to concrete financing provisions for them. Existing work on the workforce dimensions has largely been confined to mitigation policies and a handful of sectors, particularly energy, leaving broader impacts on jobs, livelihoods, and equity insufficiently understood. Moreover, where social dimensions are addressed, people are often cast as victims in need of social protection and labor rights, rather than as agents of change who, with the right skills and capabilities, could drive innovation, job creation, and economic transformation.
The good news is that leaders who put jobs, skills and social protection at the center of their decision-making can unlock a powerful economic, social and environmental dividend. Those that neglect these human dimensions risk a slower and costlier transition, greater disruption, and widening inequality. The COP30 Presidency has underscored that human development is central to achieving climate mitigation and adaptation goals.
A new flagship report on jobs and skills for the new economy — to be launched at COP30 — sets out an Action Agenda that could help shape this positive future. Action is required across three dimensions: intentionality in strategies, policies and governance; innovation in workforce, skills and social adjustment programs; and new finance for investments in people. The Action Agenda draws on existing evidence, analysis and engagement with eight countries, as well as industry case studies.
Action across these dimensions needs to be urgently pursued at the global, country and industry levels. Interest in addressing the people dimension of the transition has been growing. A number of initiatives already exist, and others are being developed. An emerging group of governments and organizations engaged in these initiatives are working together to build a collaborative multistakeholder platform that aims to bring together existing activities and fill gaps where needed.
The Global Initiative on Jobs & Skills for the New Economy aims to bring together stakeholders across a range of disciplines — e.g., economics, business, climate science, education and training, and social policy and welfare — to support the implementation of the Action Agenda in the coming years. The initiative is already working with several countries as well as the business community through the Working Group on Green Jobs & Skills under the Sustainable Business COP and other corporate platforms.
