Continuing our “Talking About Transitions” series, we held a dialogue titled “Can green jobs address the youth unemployment crisis?” on December 12, 2024. Climate change is reshaping economies, and most jobs are set to become green jobs. But is the developing world, including India, prepared to meet the rising demand for a skilled workforce to drive this transition?
Our expert panel—featuring Rwitwika Bhattacharya (CEO, Swaniti Global), Raisha Galib (Accelerator Design Specialist, Climate Asia), and Shantha Venugopal (Research Associate, Transitions Research) as they discuss how to bridge skill gaps, create equitable opportunities, and prepare for a low-carbon, climate-resilient future. We will soon be releasing a blog based on the insights acquired from this discussion. Follow us on our social media channels to stay tuned.
You can watch the dialogue here:
You can read a transcript of the dialogue below:
Shantha Venugopal (00:00:09)
Welcome, everyone. My name is Shantha, and I’m a research associate and the host of the Monsoon Academy podcast, where we interview people from various industries across the sustainability landscape to provide early career professionals and students with insights into the many avenues for working on climate change solutions.
For anyone new to this series, Talking About Transitions features critical conversations on systemic transitions at the intersection of technology, society, and sustainability. Today we’re going to talk about green employment and its potential for India.
As a rapidly developing nation, India faces the dual challenges of achieving economic growth while addressing climate change. The country has made significant progress in renewable energy adoption, but upskilling and reskilling the workforce and creating green jobs are crucial for a just and equitable transition.
Green jobs are any jobs that are decent jobs that contribute to preserving or restoring the environment, whether in traditional sectors like manufacturing and construction or emerging sectors such as renewable energy. India has set ambitious targets for building a sustainable economy, including achieving net-zero emissions by 2070. According to some projections, India’s green targets could create 35 million new jobs by 2047 across traditional and emerging sectors, including renewable energy, waste management, electric vehicles (EVs), green construction, and sustainable textiles. This means we must rapidly upskill our population to fill these roles.
The government has taken proactive measures through initiatives such as the Skill Council for Green Jobs and the Green Skill Development Program, which have trained one million individuals in areas ranging from pollution monitoring to renewable energy management and mangrove conservation. However, less than 10% of India’s youth have received any formal or informal training in green skills. This presents a significant opportunity to address both youth unemployment and the need for skilled workers in green industries. Training the youth in green skills will simultaneously tackle unemployment and improve India’s ability to combat the climate crisis.
This dialogue aims to explore approaches to achieving two key objectives:
- How can we guide unemployed youth, especially from low- and middle-income backgrounds, toward green jobs?
- What obstacles exist in transitioning from non-green to green jobs, and how can government and civil society institutions collaborate to ease this transition?
Today, I have the pleasure to have two exceptional panelists to discuss these questions.
Our first panelist is Raisha Ghalib, who leads resilience-building initiatives at Climate Asia. She works at the intersection of climate action and community development, focusing on strengthening climate resilience among civil society organizations in rural India with a particular focus on co-creating sustainable and culturally relevant solutions with marginalized communities. At Climate Asia, she also supports the EquiLead Initiative, which promotes gender-inclusive workplaces in the climate sector through tailored interventions. Prior to joining Climate Asia, Raisha served as a senior program manager at Teach For India, where she led strategy and operations for their regional program and was a Teach For India Fellow. Her background in education and community engagement informs her current approach to capacity building for climate action. A graduate of Lady Shri Ram College, Raisha is passionate about driving equitable and sustainable change and welcomes collaborative opportunities aligned with her mission.
Our second panelist is Ritwika Bhattacharya, CEO and founder of the Swaniti Initiative, a social enterprise focused on ecosystem building to deliver large-scale energy transitions to last-mile communities. She holds a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School and has previously worked with the World Bank, UNFPA, and FICCI. Rwitwika’s impact has been widely recognized—she has been featured in Forbes India’s 30 Under 30 and Fortune India’s 40 Under 40 and is a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum. She is also an author of books on governance and development, including What Makes a Politician.
Thank you both for joining us today. I’m excited to kick off the conversation with my first question, which is for both of you:
What do you think are the broad challenges India currently faces with green employment? What are the most critical skill gaps that need to be addressed to ensure a smooth transition?
Rwitwika Bhattacharya (00:04:55)
Thank you for having me here today. I’m excited to speak, especially from a youth and employment perspective. To set some context, if we look at India’s solar targets alone and what the country aims to achieve in the next 10 to 15 years, the goals are quite ambitious. Achieving these targets will require not just technological breakthroughs but also a skilled workforce to support them.
If we go one level deeper, at the state level, some states have made significant commitments toward net-zero targets. For instance, Maharashtra is creating large solar feeders. However, the workforce needed to install and maintain these solar ecosystems is very limited. Even at the most basic level, there’s a significant shortage of people with foundational skills. As we move up the hierarchy, the gaps become more pronounced, especially in research and development, operating manufacturing units, and advancing breakthroughs in cost-effective technologies like battery storage.
Battery storage, in particular, has become a critical point of discussion. India lacks enough battery storage manufacturing units to sustain the current momentum in energy transition. One of the major challenges here is the talent gap—there simply aren’t enough skilled individuals to meet the demand.
As you mentioned, Shantha, the gaps exist across every level of the renewable technology ecosystem. There are challenges in finding skilled researchers, capable managers, and even technicians who can maintain solar, wind, or hydro technologies. Solar has the most ambitious targets, but these gaps exist across all renewable sectors.
Another issue is the availability of relevant courses and training opportunities. When we look at employment trends in the industry, many of the people being hired already have skills in this ecosystem and are transitioning from other roles. Swaniti conducted a study on this, which highlights that while new jobs are being created, many remain unfilled due to a lack of skilled professionals—such as those with an electrical engineering background or experience in maintaining renewable technologies.
While there is immense opportunity in the renewable sector, there’s a pressing need to build capacity and provide clear career growth pathways. We need to focus on fostering skills in renewable technologies—be it solar, hydro, wind, or geothermal—to ensure that the workforce is equipped to take on these roles effectively. This requires a mindful and deliberate approach to career development within these sectors so that we can truly capitalize on the new jobs being created.
These are just a few high-level points, and I’d be happy to delve into specifics as the discussion progresses.
Shantha Venugopal (00:08:59)
Over to you, Raisha.
Raisha Galib (00:09:00)
Thank you, Rwitwika, for that wonderful start. You summarized the key points so well and highlighted the various layers where support is needed.
When it comes to green skills, as you mentioned, India has set an ambitious target of creating 35 million green jobs by 2047. According to the latest green skills report, the demand for green skills nearly doubled within a single year from 2003 to 2004. However, we’re currently unable to meet this growing demand due to several challenges.
Focusing specifically on India, while we have many vocational institutes and technical training centers offering support, there are significant gaps. Are these programs available in every state? Are they accessible in every language? What digital infrastructure exists to improve accessibility? These remain pressing questions.
In urban set-up, many people have heard about climate-positive jobs, but they lack clarity on skill-building programs and the various green skills available. Green skills can be divided into two broad categories: core green skills and green intersection skills. As Rwitwika mentioned, there’s a shortage of talent in areas like research and technology. Green intersection skills go a step further, requiring expertise not just in renewable energy, conservation, or climate modeling, but also in areas like product management, program management, and product development.
At a fundamental level, there’s an awareness gap about how people can contribute to the green ecosystem and economy. Additionally, there’s a lack of awareness about existing programs, as well as gaps in policy and funding.
Government initiatives like the Skill Council for Green Jobs and the Green Skill Development Program show promise but haven’t been scaled sufficiently to meet demand. For example, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) runs a green skill development program focused on rural areas and disadvantaged groups. One standout project involves training rural women as solar engineers, which has shown significant potential. However, these initiatives require much greater scaling to support rural systems and build climate resilience in these areas.
These are some of the existing challenges, and I’m happy to address any follow-up questions.
Shantha Venugopal (00:11:50)
It’s interesting that some of the points you’re raising touch on broader issues within the Indian education system. For example, the lack of awareness about the types of jobs available and whether we have the digital infrastructure to train people across the board. Are these resources accessible in every state and language?
India’s diversity is both a challenge and an opportunity in this context. Whether in the traditional employment sector or this emerging green jobs sector, we face the same fundamental issues. If we haven’t fully addressed these gaps in the general education system, it’s going to be even more challenging to scale up for green education, if we can call it that.
With that in mind, I’d like to shift the focus to the demand and supply problem. Raisha, in your work on climate resilience, particularly with rural communities, do you see specific gaps or opportunities that green jobs can address? For example, with the rural women engineering program that was mentioned earlier, what are the key benefits, and what barriers are preventing this program from delivering widespread impact?
Raisha Galib (00:12:56)
Yeah, I’m going to answer your question, but first, I’d like to talk a little bit about Climate Asia, what we do, and what our program is. I think this is a great platform to share that, and it will only take 30 seconds.
To set some context, we run capacity-building programs for PSOs working at the grassroots level, supporting small-scale farmers. We don’t work directly with the farmers, but we focus on building the capacity of organizations that have been working for 25–30 years. These organizations have a lot of locally sourced knowledge and lead many locally driven climate adaptation practices. However, they really struggle to scale their solutions and don’t have dedicated learning and development (L&D) systems.
One issue we’ve observed is the lack of awareness about how someone can build skills while working within an organization. For example, with green skills, you take a training or course, learn what green skills are, and upskill yourself. But you also learn a significant amount of skills on the job. A niche opportunity here is creating L&D systems that teach people while they’re working. A lot of skills are picked up through doing the work, but if there were dedicated systems in place, we could reach so many more people.
This is one of the opportunities we identified while running our program. The people we interacted with often didn’t get similar platforms because they don’t speak the same language or have the same vocabulary as those advocating for these issues. Any learning intervention that helps these organizations build their L&D systems to teach green skills on the job could be a great idea.
Another opportunity for creating green jobs is in the decentralized renewable energy (DRE) sector, particularly through installation, maintenance, and operations of small-scale solar or wind projects in rural areas. This is one area. The second area we’re exploring through our accelerator is climate-smart agriculture. Can innovations in climate-smart agriculture create green jobs by integrating sustainable agricultural practices?
The third area, which we haven’t explored but often think about, is encouraging local entrepreneurship in green sectors, especially women-led solar initiatives.
However, there are significant barriers. First, there’s the language barrier, which we’ve already discussed. Second, while there’s no shortage of capacity-building programs in the country, the people designing these programs often aren’t the ones facing the problems they aim to solve. This disconnect is a major barrier. How do we truly understand the problem to create effective solutions?
Another issue is that these programs are often tailored to a specific population—those who can speak the same language or have the technical know-how to access the knowledge. Are we designing capacity-building programs that align with the context of the population we’re serving?
Lastly, one of the biggest oversights in our own program, and a mistake we learned from, was neglecting basic digital literacy and infrastructure. There may be a strong intent to teach green skills, advocate for them, and get people enrolled in programs, but does the region have the basic digital infrastructure needed to access these programs? That’s another critical question to think about.
Shantha Venugopal (00:17:13)
Thank you for that answer, and it was great to get more insight into what you’re thinking at Climate Asia.
So similarly, I wanted to ask Rwitwika the same question about demand and supply, but from your experience with Swaniti, as that’s exactly what you’re focused on—building capacities at scale and working to address these challenges.
What is the scale at which green jobs are required to deliver the large-scale energy transformation, especially for the last-mile communities you work with? And what role do you see for public-private partnerships in accelerating the creation of green jobs and upskilling the workforce?
If you have any comments on my previous question as well, please feel free to share them. I can repeat it if needed.
Rwitwika Bhattacharya (00:17:58)
Okay, thank you for that, Shantha. And thank you, Raisha. I think you covered a lot of really strong bases on the current ecosystem.
In terms of what Swaniti does, we work on last-mile delivery. What that means is that we actually work in really rural communities across India to look at government programs around climate and sustainability that are not effectively reaching the beneficiaries or target constituents. Essentially, our work involves identifying why that isn’t happening and working with the local administration or state governments to overcome those gaps.
In that context, if you look at skilling, skilling has been a persistent challenge in India. It’s not that we have a dearth of resources, but our deployment systems for skilling often struggle. Going back to the fact that we recently finished a report on green skilling, one of the things we grappled with was that the current skilling ecosystem is not designed to cater to such a large-scale transition.
The basis of this statement is that, historically, we have not had major successes in skilling across any particular sector. Part of that is because skilling does not translate to employability in most cases. We skill people, but they often remain unemployable. Raisha wonderfully articulated this earlier: if you look at the kind of hands-on experiences or apprenticeship components required in skilling, they don’t align with industry needs.
For example, we have ITIs that offer skilling, or programs like the Surya Mitra program, which is a three-month residential training for rural India. But these don’t necessarily translate into tangible job opportunities in the solar sector, and this has been a recurring issue. Granted, these are relatively new interventions, but their effectiveness has been limited.
Shantha, I like your framing about public-private partnerships, and I think that’s a key piece of how things can work. In a public-private partnership, what we need is for industry and academia to step up. Industry, in particular, because it is uniquely positioned to articulate its needs.
When I say industry, I’m not talking about large corporations like Tata Power, which have the capability to set up centers of excellence—such as their commitment to establish a renewable training center in Telangana. I’m talking about MSMEs, which will likely end up being the largest employers in the renewable sector. However, MSMEs lack a pipeline, platform, or task force to convey their skilling requirements effectively.
One model worth exploring is subsidizing MSMEs to train individuals, with the condition that these MSMEs commit to employing them for a stipulated period. Checks and balances can ensure accountability in terms of placement duration and effectiveness.
Another interesting idea is to seed fund grassroots entrepreneurs in green sectors. Some bold venture capital firms have started doing this, but scaling this effort could create significant impact.
The third area is strengthening partnerships with academia, especially for complex roles like research and development. Collaborating with academic institutions to enhance their curriculum and provide hands-on research opportunities can address the growing need for specialized talent. Instead of relying on poaching talent from other sectors or internationally, India can develop its own talent pool. Institutions like the IITs could play a critical role if adequately supported with funding and buy-in.
These are three immediate thoughts on public-private partnerships. All of this is to say that we can’t rely solely on conventional methods or scratch ideas entirely. A mixed model that relies equally on government and industry is essential for enabling this transition.
What’s needed now is more methodical thinking about which rung, how, and who we are trying to reach.
I’ll take the example of Indonesia, where we’re conducting a case study on its EV sector. One learning for India is how Indonesia is leveraging talent from ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles and transitioning them into the EV sector. They are also bringing in international talent to fill gaps while building their ecosystem.
India faces a similar challenge. We lack sufficient skilled talent for the scale required in the renewable sector. While it’s unfortunate, it doesn’t stem from a lack of raw talent. Instead, it’s about honing, growing, and preparing that talent for the demands of this transition.
Shantha Venugopal (00:24:08)
Thank you so much. I want to take this opportunity to summarize a little of what you all said because I think we got a really good picture of what we’re dealing with at this point.
First, there’s the fact that there’s generally an awareness gap. We have the raw talent, but many people either don’t know where to go or can’t find the right places to get trained in the diverse range of green skills that are needed. So the first step would be figuring out how to build capacity in local contexts and local languages.
The other big problem is that skilling isn’t necessarily translating into employability. Even if we’re skilling people on a large scale, they’re not able to secure those jobs.
As far as solutions go, I think we’ve got a great range—from seeding local entrepreneurs to encouraging them to take up green jobs. In doing so, they’d be able to skill themselves in their local context and gain what they need for their businesses to grow. This ties in with both Rithika’s and Raisha’s points about MSME subsidies, training, and hiring, which allow smaller enterprises to grow their pool of green-skilled workers.
We also touched on climate-smart agriculture and improving on-the-job learning and development systems. I think it’s really interesting that you mentioned the rungs—trying to figure out which rungs need to be trained first.
Before we move on to the scheduled questions, I wanted to know if either of you had any additional thoughts on that.
Rwitwika Bhattacharya (00:25:34)
Happy to elaborate on that, in case that’s helpful.
In terms of rungs, if you look at it, there are three broad pieces that emerge. Again, I’m using the examples of solar and EV, particularly because those are the areas where we’ve done studies and have more insights.
The first is what I would call the floor worker level. Here, you’re looking at more entry-level roles, which, to take Raisha’s point, involve new talent—particularly non-urban folks who could be brought into the fold. While it’s not exclusively necessary to focus on this demographic, there’s potential to engage them. This, to my mind, represents the lowest-hanging fruit in terms of creating new jobs.
For example, if you look at the EV sector, the ratio might be 10 people in R&D, development, and management roles to about 400 floor workers. So, in terms of scale and the ability to onboard a large workforce, the opportunities here are significant. This is where new industries can emerge, and new talent can be brought in.
When it comes to more complex jobs requiring advanced degrees and significant work experience, the focus shifts to managerial and R&D roles. Raisha, you mentioned the importance of building a career in these spaces and having academic institutions not only offer degrees but also provide those initial jobs focused on these areas.
This is where there’s an opportunity for exponential career growth. Over the next 10–15 years, while we’ve solved one piece of the puzzle—making cheap solar panels widely available—we have yet to tackle other critical challenges. For instance:
- Battery storage is still not cost-effective.
- Geothermal exploration is not affordable enough to recover costs within a reasonable time frame.
- Hydro and wind energy have not reached the desired scale.
- And although there’s increasing conversation around nuclear energy, we’ve only scratched the surface in terms of what it could mean.
Both in terms of market opportunity and career potential, young people stand to benefit immensely. This transition is here to stay, and it represents a major boom for those entering these fields.
As we stand on the precipice of what I believe is the next major energy transition, the key question becomes: how do we capitalize on and retain the talent we have?
In terms of the hierarchy, bringing in talent at the R&D level and nurturing leaders in this space is a remarkable opportunity waiting to be tapped into. This isn’t about leaders transitioning from conventional energy but rather young, fresh talent with a new lens who’ve been exposed to these emerging technologies and ideas.
Shantha Venugopal (00:28:46)
So, for the next question, I wanted to bring in the equity lens, since I know that both of you have a lot to say on this or have worked extensively in this field.
Raisha, I was reading that men make up 85% of all candidates who have undergone green skills training, according to the Skill Council for Green Jobs data. What role do you think gender plays in the Indian green jobs market? And how do you think we can address this imbalance?
Raisha Galib
I was most nervous about this question, because how can we address that? It’s so tough to crack.
Shantha Venugopal
Yeah heavy question, and I don’t expect you to have like a you already figured it out.
Raisha Galib (00:29:32)
I can mostly share what we’ve learned so far, including the mistakes we’ve made along the way. In preparation for this call, I was reading a few reports, and one statistic that really stood out to me was the high percentage of men in cross-functional green skills. These are skills required to grow the green economy, though not directly part of it, such as maintenance and repair work—electrical systems, vehicles, buildings, computers, etc. This creates far more job opportunities for men than women.
I’m not saying women don’t step into these fields, but statistically, their representation is relatively lower. When it comes to green jobs, you do see women in areas like sustainable development and sustainable education. The percentages aren’t high, but they are slightly better compared to men in those specific fields. There are, of course, many reasons for this disparity.
From our limited interactions with grassroots NGOs, we’ve noticed a few causes and potential solutions. These solutions can feel repetitive—policy-level interventions, education and training, and awareness campaigns. While these are important, I think we also need to explore other approaches.
One way to look at this issue is to focus on breaking traditional societal norms to help women access the job opportunities they want. However, there’s also value in exploring home-based opportunities as a way to reduce barriers to change. For women in rural economies, home-based work could be an easier first step before exposing them to jobs that require overcoming multiple barriers.
This is a tricky subject. While exploring this approach for Climate Asia, I kept questioning myself: Is this an intersectional feminist approach? Will it truly empower women, or am I reinforcing traditional barriers? Is my approach forward-thinking, or is it limiting? Despite these challenges, I see value in exploring home-based opportunities as a starting point.
The second point I want to bring up is the role of community-based training centers for women in green skilling. While these centers are often designed to be women-led and prioritize safety for female participants, we still haven’t solved the issue of infrastructural access. Safety concerns around transportation, long travel distances, and access to these spaces remain significant barriers for many women.
These are just two points I’d like to share for now. I’d love to hear what Rithika thinks, and then we can build on the conversation.
Shantha Venugopal (00:33:18)
I completely agree with your point about cultural barriers and how they shape what people are accustomed to. I understand why you were struggling to frame it—it’s not about settling for incremental progress and keeping women inching forward instead of leaping ahead. Rather, it’s about recognizing the realities we’re working within.
Even in my research, I’ve seen examples of this dynamic. For instance, when solar panels are installed on a large scale, security guards are almost always men, especially since much of the work occurs at night. Another interesting example comes from Pull’s work on transitions research. In our initiative in Panjim, where we were considering electric buses, my colleague Ashali pointed out a fascinating challenge. For women bus drivers, the height of the driver seats in new EV buses would need to be adjusted to accommodate the average height of Indian women, who are generally shorter than the specifications of mass-manufactured buses.
This is such an intriguing problem, and it’s unlikely that policymakers would naturally think about it. Nobody says, “Before we order the buses, let’s ensure they’re accessible for women drivers.” But these are exactly the kinds of considerations we need to start incorporating if women are going to make those significant, non-home-based leaps forward.
I completely agree with your perspective, and I’d love to hear Rwitwika’s thoughts as well.
Rwitwika Bhattacharya (00:34:35)
Thank you, Shantha, for those insights and thoughtful points. This reminds me of a study conducted in the Netherlands—if memory serves me right—where researchers noticed that young girls stopped going to parks after a certain age. They dug deeper to understand why this was happening and found that children generally visited parks until around the ages of 9 or 10, but then there was a significant drop-off for girls.
A group of women involved in urban planning came together to investigate this issue. They discovered several factors: the pathways to the parks weren’t designed in ways that felt safe or accessible for women and girls, the bus schedules to reach parks were reduced during hours when girls might feel comfortable traveling, and even the play equipment, like swings and monkey bars, was not as inclusive or conducive for girls.
What stood out from this study was how decision-making in urban planning was largely driven by men, which meant the perspectives of women and girls were often overlooked. I think this highlights a similar issue in the energy transition space. While we talk a lot about women in leadership roles in tech, we need to pay closer attention to women in leadership in renewable energy.
Women’s representation in renewable energy leadership mirrors the gender imbalance in the workforce. For example, when we were working in rural Chhattisgarh, many women in panchayats proposed biogas as a viable solution for their communities. However, because solar energy was prioritized by the government, we focused on that instead. But what truly works for the community and especially for women? These questions aren’t being asked often enough, and they highlight the lack of women decision-makers and designers in conversations about green jobs.
The current approach to renewable energy is shaped by historically male-dominated perspectives. For example, solar installation jobs have traditionally been dismissed as unsuitable for women due to the physical demands of lifting and assembling heavy materials. However, when we spoke to women in rural areas, they pointed out that maintenance, which is becoming increasingly automated, could open new opportunities for women if properly designed.
We need to bring a gender lens into this conversation. Right now, this space is largely void of such perspectives, and that limits our ability to find solutions. As we stand at the cusp of a large-scale energy transition, it’s imperative to have more women at the decision-making table. They can help shape a renewable energy future that works better for women—one that identifies and addresses gaps, challenges traditional notions, and redefines what green jobs can look like for women.
Shantha Venugopal (00:38:11)
I think you’ve already started to address my question, but I’ll ask it anyway in case there’s more to unpack. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is supporting decentralized and off-grid solar programs to ensure energy security and generate livelihoods for rural and last-mile communities. This includes initiatives like setting up solar streetlights, off-grid systems, and training rural women engineers—which Raisha mentioned earlier.
In your experience, aside from the lack of women decision-makers that we’ve already discussed, what is the reality when it comes to generating employment and delivering benefits in rural communities? This doesn’t have to focus solely on women; we can approach it from a broader equity perspective, particularly for marginalized communities. What barriers do they face in fully benefiting from these government-supported programs?
As the government rolls out programs like those under MNRE, encouraging decentralized systems, how can we ensure that an equity lens—not just for women, but for marginalized communities as a whole—is consistently applied? Beyond decision-making power, which we all agree is crucial, what other measures can we take to address this?
Raisha Galib (00:39:32)
Okay.
Shantha Venugopal (00:39:33)
What additional steps can we take to ensure that the benefits of these programs are distributed equitably among marginalized communities?
Raisha Galib (00:39:43)
I have a somewhat idealistic answer, but I think it’s worth mentioning. Have you heard of the work done by [organization name]? They focus on bridging access to welfare schemes for people in marginalized communities. I attended their State of Welfare report launch event yesterday, and a critical point came up during the discussions. It’s this: the people designing capacity-building programs, institutions, curricula, and training programs are often not those affected by the problems they aim to address.
Ideally, the individuals designing these initiatives should be representatives of the marginalized communities they intend to serve. However, until we reach that level of inclusivity, it’s essential to base these programs on a thorough and genuine understanding of what the community needs.
This is one of the first lessons in community work—when you step into a community to solve a problem, you don’t do so with the mindset of “I know better.” Even if you have more theoretical or technical knowledge, assuming that you know better is the first mistake. I’ve experienced this myself. Last year, when we ran a pilot program, I designed the curriculum without fully understanding the community’s needs, and much of it failed. Their existing practices were already deeply rooted in their lived experiences and understanding. Introducing something new, without aligning it with their context, simply didn’t work.
So, the first step is to effectively capture and listen to community voices. While a significant amount of research and data already exists, there’s often a disconnect between researchers and practitioners. Speaking as a practitioner, I can admit that we don’t always update our knowledge or learning repertoire as frequently as we should. This gap needs to be addressed.
For example, practitioners often rely on one set of data to create programs, but we fail to adapt or refine these approaches as circumstances or regions change. Consistently capturing voices and tailoring interventions based on the most current understanding of community needs is critical.
This is the thought that stands out most prominently to me right now, though I may add more later.
Rwitwika Bhattacharya (00:42:21)
Sure, and thank you for that, Raisha. Building on your point, I think amplifying voices is undoubtedly essential, but there’s also a broader systemic gap in our planning and design processes. These processes often remain top-down and don’t consistently create equitable opportunities for local solutions to be implemented and owned by local communities.
This isn’t to say that every state or region operates this way—there are variations. For instance, West Bengal’s Panchayati Raj system is notably stronger than Jharkhand’s. The issue, however, is that energy is an inherently hyper-localized matter, deeply tied to individual communities. Energy security impacts homes directly, but when it comes to designing solutions, the process often shifts to a centralized, infrastructure-heavy decision-making model. This makes it harder to capture and prioritize marginalized voices effectively.
Take the example of biogas. This was brought up repeatedly across different spaces as a community-proposed solution. While it’s not to say biogas is the ultimate or only answer, the key question is whether there is room to pilot and experiment with such ideas in specific clusters and communities. To be fair to Jharkhand, while I used it as an example earlier, they are trying to implement programs with local inputs. However, even these efforts often stem from a top-down approach—whether in funding or technical assistance.
Another critical gap is technical capability. Once you step outside major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, or Kolkata, the technical expertise required to enable these transitions becomes increasingly scarce. This significantly limits the potential for equitable, localized solutions.
This systemic issue extends beyond energy security. It’s a broader challenge across the Global South. Our governance systems, while robust in many respects, still have room for improvement. Over the past few years, I’ve traveled to several countries and delved into governance structures, and India’s local governance systems stand out as strong. Yet, when it comes to fostering truly inclusive voices—whether through systems, capacity-building, or funding—we still have significant work to do. Strengthening these areas will be crucial to achieving equitable transitions.
Shantha Venugopal (00:45:19)
One point I’d like to pick up on from what you said is the emphasis on infrastructure. In sustainability work, we often face the challenge of balancing two seemingly opposing goals: creating localized, contextual solutions while also managing to scale them effectively. These can feel like two ends of a spectrum, especially with larger infrastructure projects.
Once such projects are implemented, local governance often has limited scope to make changes if things don’t work out as planned. For example, if a large solar field is installed but ends up disrupting the local ecosystem or community dynamics, it’s nearly impossible to reverse that decision or start over. This highlights the critical importance of ensuring local voices play a substantial role in decision-making early in the process—before projects become infrastructurally permanent.
That said, I’d love to hear your perspective. Do you agree, or is there another angle you’d like to add? You seem to have thoughts on this.
Rwitwika Bhattacharya (00:46:24)
Right. So I think that’s also India’s biggest Achilles’ heel, as per commentators of democratic thinking: maybe we have too many consultations. Maybe we would have been like China had we had fewer consultations and fewer voices. Right? And that’s a controversial thought. But, you know, I do think there are flip sides to the same coin. At the same time, I do think there are strategic and well-designed ways to accomplish both sides. I don’t think you have to be one extreme or the other. I don’t think you have to be like China, nor do you have to just keep doing consultations.
I do think there are enough European nations that have referendums and have done it time and again in a very time-efficient manner, where decisions are taken by a certain date. But I think that’s also because, again, the energy or climate movement is fascinating because it highlights what is almost like an ethics or values evaluation process.
Now, I feel like a fundamental question for India is: are we more capitalist, or are we more socialist? If we are more capitalist, then we prioritize economic growth, we prioritize solar growth, we try to bring in more industry, and we try to grow more homegrown industries. Are we more socialist? Are we going to go back into asking communities what they think, or do we want to create more socialist, community-centric issues?
So it’s interesting that you say this because it’s almost a point for us to look at ourselves in the middle and ask, “You know, it’s been so many years since independence. What have we really evolved into becoming more of?” And that reflection will essentially tell us the approach we want to take. Again, we don’t have to be purely capitalist, nor do we have to be purely socialist. But where on the spectrum are we now?
Raisha Galib (00:48:12)
Thank you for bringing in that lens. When you mentioned it, I know it was a controversial point to bring up, but when you talked about it in terms of ethics and evaluation—are we moving in the right direction?—I think that was just a wonderful perspective to bring in.
This brings in a lot of clarity. I think in terms of decision-making, it’s not about one path or the other, but rather whatever is most needed at this point. So, yeah, this perspective was really nice to help bring it all together. Thank you for sharing that.
Shantha Venugopal (00:48:47)
Yeah, and I think our ethics also have multiple layers. Even if we’re acting ethically, we face a choice: we could switch entirely to green and renewable energy and see where that leads us, or we could continue to benefit from fossil fuels and other resources. So I think the question is much larger and more complex. I would love to discuss it further, but I’ll refrain for now since we have only about 10 minutes left. I want to give some time to the audience questions, and we already have a few. One of them is from Himanka Kaushik:
“How do we define green jobs? Does the term refer exclusively to roles in hardware technology industries, MSMEs, and entrepreneurship in engineering-related fields? Or does it also encompass roles in policy, think tanks, and academic research tied to the green economy? Additionally, where do students from disciplines like social sciences or non-STEM backgrounds fit into this broader framework of green jobs?”
I’ll let you respond.
Raisha Galib (00:49:57)
Sure, I can take a shot at this, and I’d love for Ritvika to answer the next question, as I don’t have much to add there. So, I’ll start with this question, and then we can open it up. Can I share my screen to show a slide? I think it might make it easier for Himanka to understand. We recently covered this in a session, and I have the slide ready. I think it will be easier to explain this way.
So, Himanka, here’s an overview of green skills. This is just a summary slide, but essentially, green skills include expertise in areas like renewable energy, conservation, climate modeling, and environmental law. These are the hardcore technical skills you’d be looking at. Then, there are green intersection skills, which include expertise in areas like research methodologies, MNE, finance, and talent management—skills that can help you work in climate-related spaces and programs.
Next, we have green-adjacent skills, which are enabling skills that support climate programs, like program management. Think of this as levels: the first level is technical skills, the second is intersectional skills, and the third is enabling skills.
Now, regarding your second question about someone from a non-STEM background entering this space: I myself come from a non-STEM background and didn’t study renewable energy, climate policy, or environmental law in college. But I was passionate about it and found my way in. So, passion and interest are key factors. This slide was really helpful for me in exploring my entry into the climate space.
For someone at the start of their career who doesn’t have many green skills yet, moving into the climate space can be challenging because employers often look for specific green skills. So, it’s a good idea to build on those skills early in your career. However, if you’re from a non-STEM background, green intersection skills are a great option. You could consider roles like product development or program management for climate-based programs—something I do myself.
I hope that helps answer your question! We can discuss this further after the call if needed.
Shantha Venugopal (00:52:32)
Yeah, that was really helpful, and the slide captured the answer to the question so efficiently. So, I think we moved through that quickly. As you planned, Raisha, I’ll let Ritwika answer the next question, but please feel free to jump in as well.
Does transitioning to a green economy truly lead to net job creation, or is it primarily a redistribution of the workforce, with jobs in declining sunset sectors being replaced by opportunities in emerging sunrise sectors? In this context, is the shift genuinely additive, or does it risk being a zero-sum game?
Rwitwika Bhattacharya (00:53:07)
Thank you for that, and for framing the question so well. In terms of whether this is a zero-sum game, I think it’s still too early to say how many new jobs will be created. However, I don’t think there’s any doubt that new jobs will be added. The important point you raise is that the shift is happening mostly from sunset sectors, primarily because there’s more experience in working with newer technologies. But we’re still at the beginning of something very new, and how it will shape up is uncertain.
We can speculate that millions of jobs will be added in the next several years, but we don’t really know. We are still speculating to a great extent, especially regarding the availability of skills. The real question is whether we can create enough talent to meet the demand, respond in a timely manner, and add value to what is already being produced.
Another key aspect is geopolitics. For instance, despite schemes like the PLI, India produces only about 3-4% of solar panels, with the rest still being imported from China. Even if we push that figure to 10%, we’re still not creating the ecosystem for fresh new jobs. We have the scope and demand, but the capability to meet it is not yet fully there.
Regarding your question of whether this shift is additive or zero-sum, the answer depends on how quickly we respond to market demands within the country. Can we build the necessary infrastructure, such as battery storage, wind energy units, and local industries to hire? The ecosystem for this is not yet fully developed, and I think the next five years will be critical in determining whether we can take advantage of the opportunity.
For example, the U.S. has pumped significant resources into job creation through the Inflation Reduction Act, ensuring that local jobs are created, such as in the production of EVs by Rivian. They’ve also focused on sourcing critical minerals domestically, rather than relying on imports from Africa or East Asia. The U.S. has the advantage of dollar power to push these resources through, and it’s something India can learn from. However, even in the U.S., much is uncertain, especially with the new president-elect coming into office.
Shantha Venugopal (00:56:43)
I think that answers the question quite well, Raisha, unless you have something to add. Alright, we’re running out of time, so I’ll quickly summarize some of what we’ve discussed today. Thank you both for such wonderful answers—this has been a great discussion.
Oh, wait—there’s one more question. How do you both feel about time? Do you have another 5 minutes, or would you like me to wrap up?
Shantha Venugopal (00:57:16)
We’ll answer this last question as well. It asks: We’ve discussed the role of the private sector in promoting green jobs, but is there a pathway for governments to incentivize the private sector to create green jobs specifically targeting young people?
Rwitwika Bhattacharya (00:57:34)
I’ll quickly jump in on this. It’s interesting that in the last budget, the Honorable Finance Minister mentioned apprenticeships coming from CSR initiatives, and for the first time, she highlighted green jobs. This shows that the government is certainly thinking about green jobs as a pathway. For example, the Surya Mitra program has already been implemented with rural demographics in mind. However, there hasn’t been a widespread push for green jobs at the state level yet. My sense is that this is because the scale of the energy transition carries risks for our infrastructure. We’re essentially betting on solar and other renewable sources to work in the long term without compromising energy security.
That being said, there is potential for the government to think creatively about green job opportunities for young college graduates. This could include CSR-driven apprenticeship programs or more hands-on training opportunities. There’s definitely room to explore these possibilities.
Shantha Venugopal (00:58:58)
Thank you so much. I’ll quickly summarize what we’ve discussed today as we wrap up. Our conversation focused on whether the transition to green jobs and a green economy can help address both unemployment and capacity-building challenges that India is facing. Some key solutions we discussed include directing funding to the right areas, building capacity locally, ensuring digital infrastructure is accessible in local languages, and implementing state-wise programs that align with ambitious targets. While these targets are indeed ambitious, we currently lack the capacity and institutional support needed to meet them.
In terms of equity, we agreed that it’s crucial to increase the number of voices at decision-making levels and support MSME-level entrepreneurship to foster localized green projects. To conclude, we all agree that while we have the potential and the people needed for this transition, we must revamp our systems to ensure we don’t end up outsourcing jobs or falling short of our targets in the next 5 to 10 years. If the ambitions are set in the right direction, we need to accelerate our efforts.
For those who wish to revisit this conversation, we’ll be posting it online, and Rushalee and I will also publish a summarized version in the future. Once again, thank you both for your insights, and we look forward to continuing discussions on transitions and dialogues in the New Year.
