SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth | SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure | SDG 13: Climate Action
Ministry of Labour and Employment | NITI Aayog
The ILO Research Brief Assessing the Size of the Green Economy: Global Evidence from Harmonized Labour Force Surveys mentions that approximately 31.7% of global employment is now in occupations containing green tasks. Utilizing a new green taxonomy and natural language processing (NLP) on data from 134 countries, the report identifies a significant “green employment divide” linked to national income levels. While green employment reaches 35.7% in high-income economies, it drops to 23.1% in low-income nations. The study categorizes green jobs into “Darker Green” (12.1%), which rely intensely on green tasks, and “Lighter Green” (19.6%), which include green responsibilities but are not defined by them. This structural analysis provides an internationally comparable baseline to track the global workforce’s transition toward environmental sustainability.
Key Pillars of the Green Employment Landscape The brief outlines several critical foundational pillars that define the current state of global green jobs:
Task-Based Taxonomy: Moving beyond sectoral definitions to analyze specific occupational tasks using ISCO-08 descriptions, allowing for a more granular view of “greening” across all industries.
The Income-Based Green Divide: High-income countries have a significantly higher share of green employment compared to low-income countries, reflecting a disparity in technology adoption and structural economic shifts.
Sectoral Concentration: Green employment is notably distributed across specific sectors, with Transportation and Communication (53.0%), Mining and Quarrying (50.9%), and Manufacturing (50.3%) showing the highest overall shares of combined light and dark green tasks.
Emerging Vacancy Data: Using real-time vacancy data as a complement to long-term structural surveys to capture country-specific and rapid emerging trends in green skills.
Structural Transformation: The shift toward green employment is identified as a long-term structural change rather than a temporary trend, necessitating sustained policy focus on labor mobility.
What is the “Green Employment Divide”? The “green employment divide” refers to the significant gap in the share of green jobs between high-income and low-income nations. While high-income economies have successfully integrated green tasks into over 35.7% of their workforce, low-income nations remain at 23.1%, largely due to slower technological transitions in key sectors. This divide suggests that without targeted international support and technology transfer, workers in lower-income regions may be left behind in the global transition to a net-zero economy.
Policy Relevance
The February 2026 ILO brief represents a transition from general “Green Job” anecdotes to a data-driven “Task-Based” labor policy. By quantifying the “green employment divide,” the report provides a strategic signal for the Ministry of Labour and Employment and NITI Aayog to ensure India’s workforce does not fall into the lower-income trap of low-green-task density.
Bridging the Green Skill Gap: India can utilize the ILO’s task-based taxonomy to refine the Skill India Mission, targeting “Lighter Green” tasks in the services and manufacturing sectors to raise the national green employment share.
Capitalizing on High-Green Task Density: Since sectors like Transportation and Communication show high green task density (53.0%), targeted fiscal support for electric mobility and digital infrastructure can rapidly “green” a significant portion of India’s industrial workforce.
Addressing Sectoral Lags: The relatively lower green employment in Agriculture (24.0%)—calculated from the 76% non-green share—offers a mandate for the Ministry of Agriculture to scale up agroecological training and sustainable water management as “green tasks” for rural workers.
Utilizing Real-Time Data: Integrating real-time vacancy data with traditional National Sample Survey (NSS) data can help the National Career Service (NCS) portal identify and promote emerging green job clusters in urban centers.
Follow the full report here: ILO: Assessing the Size of the Green Economy