How University Students Perceive Green Jobs in Indonesia

Environmental destruction and climate change have urged some shifts toward a more sustainable lifestyle. These shifts bring change and innovations in various aspects, including work. These days, new jobs touting sustainability concepts – known as green jobs – pop up. Amidst these new opportunities and challenges, how do university students perceive green jobs in Indonesia?

A survey by Suara Mahasiswa Universitas Indonesia (SUMA UI), in collaboration with Yayasan Indonesia CERAH, aims to shed light on the topic.

Green Jobs in Indonesia

Green jobs are decent works in any economic sector that contributes to the conservation, restoration, and improvement of the environment. Introduced by the ILO in 2010, green jobs are meant to alleviate the environmental impacts of businesses by increasing the efficiency of energy, raw materials, and water. Green jobs include but are not limited to jobs that can help decarbonize the economic sector, minimize or prevent waste and pollution, protect or restore biodiversity and ecosystems, and support climate adaptation.

Besides the environmental aspects, green jobs promote decent work and employment involving workers’ rights, social protection, and social dialogue.

A World Economic Forum (WEF) report titled The Future of Jobs Report 2023 mentioned that green transition in the business sector, ESG implementation, and climate adaptation have significantly pushed the development of green jobs.

In Indonesia, green job development goes hand-in-hand with the implementation of green economy. In this sense, green jobs should become one of the country’s national priorities as a part of the low-carbon development plan. According to the Ministry of National Development Planning (Bappenas), Indonesia has the potential to offer approximately three million green job opportunities in 2060.

However, the development of green jobs also brings forth a serious risk of mass unemployment due to the disappearance of carbon-intensive jobs, like in energy transition.

University Students’ Perceptions

The SUMA UI and Yayasan Indonesia CERAH survey involved 532 respondents from July to September 2023. They were undergraduate students from various faculties and universities in Indonesia.

The results show that 98% of respondents believe green jobs can positively impact the environment and society. Furthermore, 71% think green jobs offer interesting career opportunities for young people.

However, 55% of respondents are still not familiar with the concept of green jobs. Some factors that cause this issue are the lack of access to information regarding green jobs, the absence of education, training, class, or any academic activities related to green jobs in universities, and inadequate training to prepare youth for green jobs.

The survey results also convey several challenges that respondents think are relevant to green jobs in Indonesia, such as low wages, insufficient skills and understanding, and less-than-promising job prospects. In this light, university students consider the government and education institutions lacking in their support to create green jobs and opportunities.

Support Needed

Furthermore, the survey shares what kind of support youth need in the face of the development of green jobs in Indonesia. The support includes training to master green skills, in-depth information regarding green jobs, and green jobs expos. Therefore, respondents recommend two main points for the government and education institutions:

Adopt a curriculum that relates to the climate crisis and green jobs.
Put green jobs development as a national priority.

In the end, the development of green jobs in Indonesia needs support and collaboration from all stakeholders. A long-term investment and an inclusive, just facilitating of youth’s improvement in the understanding and skills related to green jobs would be a good start.

Translator: Nazalea Kusuma

The original version of this article is published in Indonesian at Green Network Asia – Indonesia.

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Abul Muamar

Managing Editor at Green Network Asia | Website | + posts

Amar is the Manager of Indonesian Digital Publications at Green Network Asia. He holds a Master’s degree in Philosophy from Universitas Gadjah Mada and a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies from Universitas Sumatera Utara. He has over ten years of professional experience in journalism as a reporter and editor for several national-level media companies in Indonesia. He is also a writer, editor, and translator with a particular interest in socio-economic and environmental issues.