C40 Cities united: How our global peer network is creating lasting good green jobs – C40 Cities

C40’s Good, Green Jobs and Just Transition peer group includes representatives of 14 global megacities – from Accra in Ghana to Vancouver in Canada. Over the last two years, the group has showcased how climate action can drive equitable, sustainable and secure local green jobs to support a just transition to net zero.

The group exchanges solutions and shares knowledge to create a more just, resilient economy for its 60 million residents in diverse urban centres around the world. The group’s work shows that cities can achieve more success when they work together. Many of the group’s local actions have influenced policies that are shaping our shared future.

How green jobs support wider city targets

In 2022, C40 mayors committed to help create 50 million good green jobs worldwide by 2030. Good green jobs are found across most sectors of the economy, including construction, transportation, energy, waste management, healthcare, and emerging industries. Green jobs provide fair wages, safe working conditions, and stable employment. By bolstering the local economy, developing local green jobs can also ensure climate justice and increase public support for climate policy.

A just transition means that employment and training opportunities are available to everyone and that there are pathways in place to mitigate potential job losses. Cities are becoming green job creation hubs and are able to bridge the skills gap by working together with other stakeholders (businesses, unions, and training institutions). Many of the sectors that provide the most green jobs are in industries that are strongly influenced by local policy, such as construction, transport, or waste management. 

About the Good, Green Jobs and Just Transition peer group

In 2022, C40 responded to cities’ determination to tackle some of the most challenging issues associated with the green economy and transition to net zero – from how to encourage departments to work together to create equitable employment opportunities, to tracking green jobs data. Supported by C40, the city’s peer group was formed under the Inclusive Climate Action (ICA) Forum, a networking platform to exchange knowledge and best practices to drive policy change. Some of the member cities are also part of the Global Green New Deal programme, which is delivering inclusive climate action in practice and showing how to achieve a just transition. 

Over the past two years, the group participated in 16 virtual meetings. City representatives shared their challenges, best practices, and practical workforce examples. They exchanged ideas on how to quantify green employment and ensure better access to decent green employment and workforce development.

The meetings helped cities focus on shared objectives. For example, only 13% of the global workforce have the skills needed for green jobs. Cities’ participants are committed to addressing barriers and inequalities to make the workforce more inclusive for vulnerable groups such as young people and migrants. They also want to work with sectors that have historically had barriers to entry – such as women finding work in the construction industry. 

Other meeting sessions covered youth engagement and inclusion in the green workforce, decent employment, and cross-departmental collaboration.

Hear from participants

“[A key takeaway is] how critical social dialogue and both deep and wide ranges of partnerships are. Without a community behind you, it’s impossible to move this work forward.” – George Benson, Former Senior Manager of Economic Transformation Decarbonization and the Just Transition at Vancouver Economic Commission (Current ZEIC Senior Manager, Economic Development and Market Transformation)

The virtual sessions led to an Academy event where city officials met in person to examine ways to create and support good green jobs. This event helped local governments share ideas on emerging issues and solutions to adapt to local contexts.

“Thanks to the exercise carried out at the Academy and the exchange of experiences from the group, this has provided input and inspiration for the creation of the first proposal for measuring green jobs in Bogotá, where the city can continue its process of just transition and good green jobs.” – Anyela Guerrero, Specialist, District Secretariat for Economic Development, city of Bogotá, Colombia

The Good, Green Jobs and Just Transition peer group provides practical examples of how cities are advancing climate and social goals together. They are showing the power of collaboration by creating sustainable employment, building skills and re-skilling opportunities. 

By working with local communities, some cities have identified the need for public investment in workforce initiatives that protect socially and economically vulnerable workers, such as those exiting the fossil-based industries. By engaging them in the transition process and re-skilling pathways, a just transition opens up the opportunity to bring these experienced and committed employees into the green workforce, enriching the sector further. From Los Angeles, where oil workers are being actively engaged, to Salvador, Bogotá or London, where more women are receiving training in sectors traditionally underrepresented, to Accra, where efforts are on improving working conditions of informal workers, see below how cities are paving the way.

Local implementation: Good, green jobs in practice

The 14 participant cities are: Accra, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Milan, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, São Paulo, Seattle, Tshwane, and Vancouver. 

Over 75% of city respondents have been able to implement green jobs programming following these sessions.

Hear from cities involved in the programme:

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More action in C40 cities

What is needed for a fairer future

Many cities share similar priorities including tackling increasing inequality, the impacts of the climate crisis, high rates of informal employment and youth unemployment. They have identified a particular need for further investments in skills development. This includes addressing potential job losses (such as workers exiting fossil-based industries) and bringing their skills and experience to green sectors.

Further action is needed to help cities go further and faster towards a fairer future that improves quality of life and economic opportunities for all residents. The next step is to scale practical solutions, replicate these initiatives in other countries, and continue working together towards a green and just transition. Recommendations emerging from the peer group include:

• Increase cities’ role in the just transition in national and multilateral forums. The South African Cities Dialogue has shown how local governments can enable just transition processes that are critical to improving livelihoods and safeguarding the lives of communities and workers in South Africa whilst making reductions in emissions. 
• Strengthen partnerships with youth, workers, unions, businesses and other organisations for city climate action. Explore replicable partnership examples in C40 case studies in the Good Green Jobs: Dashboard of city programmes. 
• Produce further evidence on green jobs data, including the prevalence of informal jobs, decent work indicators and skill gaps to anticipate the increased demand in key sectors. Cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Bogotá, Vancouver, London are leading the way, but localised data is needed in other cities. 
• Ensure that cities can access funding to address workforce gaps to deliver the climate action needed by 2030. The new C40 policy brief Barriers to Action highlights how, out of 63 sources of finance or funding for climate action and/or the just transition that were assessed, only three funds provide direct access to cities. 

C40’s work on good green jobs supports cities in creating equitable, sustainable employment opportunities through collaboration, research, data analysis, and tailored support. 

Visit our interactive dashboard for more city success stories.