Lahore September 01, 2010: A study “Seven Myths About Green Jobs,” published in association with more than two dozens think tanks from all over the world, including the Alternate Solutions Institute from Pakistan, concludes that Green Jobs are not that Green as is being claimed by the Green politicians and advocates. The study reveals the hidden costs of so-called “green investments,” bringing a key policy of various governments into question. The study shows that subsidizing “green jobs” wastes resources and reduces growth without necessarily protecting the environment.
Lahore September 01, 2010: A study “Seven Myths About Green Jobs,” published in association with more than two dozens think tanks from all over the world, including the Alternate Solutions Institute from Pakistan, concludes that Green Jobs are not that Green as is being claimed by the Green politicians and advocates. The study reveals the hidden costs of so-called “green investments,” bringing a key policy of various governments into question. The study shows that subsidizing “green jobs” wastes resources and reduces growth without necessarily protecting the environment.
Governments around the world have recently laid out plans to pour taxpayers’ money into “green investments,” claiming that the high costs will be offset by long-term benefits to the economy and the environment. The new study finds that this “win-win” attitude is a delusion. Even the UN admits that a ‘full-fledged [global] green transition’ could cost trillions of pounds. Hidden costs include:
Bureaucracy: In practice, “green investment” gets spent on red tape. “Green jobs” are taken by bureaucrats, siphoning resources away from the productive sectors of the economy.
Waste: For those advocating “green jobs”, inefficiency is a virtue. A United Nations study on green jobs actually calls for fruit to be picked by hand rather than machine. “Green” subsidies effectively pay companies to make everyday items more expensive and scarce, taxing the public twice over.
Debt: Today’s “green investments” are made by increasing national debt, borrowing heavily in the hope of making future generations richer. If the green gamble fails, our children and grandchildren will be left with the bill.
“Green investment” isn’t even a reliable way to improve the environment, the study finds. Steel is one of the world’s most carbon-intensive industries, yet the United Nations Environment Program counts steelworkers as having “green jobs,” because steel is needed to make wind turbines.
Seven Myths About Green Jobs
By Andrew P. Morriss, William T. Bogart, Andrew Dorchak and Roger E. Meiners
