The Climate Project India, an independent chapter of The Climate Project founded by Al Gore and the Sierra Club, a US-based grassroots level environmental organisation, will organise a first-of-its kind ‘Green Jobs fair’ at the India Habitat Centre, Delhi, from September 24-26.

The fair will enable students and job seekers know more about the careers in the green economy. It will seek to inform government officials of the growing potential of the sector and the urgent need to provide education that supports it. “At present, we are seeing Indian industries making huge investments in developing their existing processes and identifying sustainable alternatives. Certain industries are already adapting to green technology, for instance, the construction sector which is focusing on green buildings and other cost effective alternatives. There are some initiatives that have come up out of necessity like water harvesting and setting up of solar energy panels to deal with water and electricity crisis. In the rural sector organic farming and biogas are picking up quickly,” said Gaurav Gupta, founder and director of The Climate Project India.

However, the emergence of demand alone cannot make the green job revolution successful, points out Gupta. “We do not have trained workforce with the right skills because we lack the necessary infrastructure. Our education does not provide for enough courses in subjects like sustainable development,” Gupta said, adding that we need to learn from the IT revolution in which private institutes trained people on a large scale.

The Climate Project plans to start a national movement to stir support for the green economic revolution by organising similar exhibitions in other cities. Some of the companies that are part of the exhibition are WWF, SEWA, Swechha, i volunteer, Indigreen, Nature First, Centre For Social Markets among others.

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