- Despite Australia’s status as the biggest exporter of fossil fuels in the world, there are relatively few Australian jobs in fossil fuel extraction. The “mining” sector – which covers coal and mineral ore mining, as well as oil and gas extraction – makes up only 1.9% (~250,000) of Australia’s labour force. “Sustainable jobs” are hard to define in an Australian context, but The Australia Institute argues for a broad definition: transformational, low- impact, remediation, natural-appreciation and environmental-
education jobs should all be included. There are many current examples:
- The Great Barrier Reef alone supports 64,000 jobs across the state of Queensland, more than the entire Australian coal
- The Australian renewable energy industry employs around 25,000
- Tens of thousands of environmental scientists, planners and
- And the energy efficiency industry, which currently employs around 60,000
- With small policy adjustments the Australian renewable energy industry could and should employ 45,000 people by
- A transition to a “Sustainable steel” industry that could help re- deploy the 55,000 carbon-intensive workers in regional coal mining
www.climatescorecard.org/2020/09/green-job-opportunities- in-australia-being.
