Equipping India's workforce with green skills will be critical: Expert

New Delhi, Sep 3 (IANS) Equipping India’s workforce with green skills will be critical for meeting the twin challenges of economic growth and climate action, said experts at a high-level plenary on ‘Skilling for a Green Future’ on the second day of WRI India’s annual flagship event, Connect Karo 2025, on Wednesday.

The session highlighted that while India has made significant progress in strengthening its skilling ecosystem, the rapid expansion of clean energy, sustainable manufacturing, and resource-efficient practices now calls for urgent reforms in training and workforce development.

Speakers emphasised that the transition to a low-carbon economy could create millions of jobs, but workers must be trained in line with the demands of emerging sectors.

Madhav Pai, CEO, WRI India, said, “India aims to create 3.4 million jobs in the green sector by 2030. To meet this demand, we must adopt an ‘identify-train-recruit’ approach to skilling. Public-private partnership models are key, and the private sector must play a deeper role in workforce development. Above all, the skilling transition has to be inclusive and just, ensuring that vulnerable communities also benefit from the opportunities of a green economy.”

Expanding the discussion, Shashishekhar Pandit, Chairman and Co-founder, KPIT Technologies, underlined the global context of shifting jobs and the need to rethink economic growth models.

He said, “We are witnessing both a shift and a shrinkage in jobs. Manufacturing jobs are moving geographically, while technological change is shrinking traditional roles. With AI, many more jobs will soon come into question. At the same time, our current economic model is exploitative -- forests are being destroyed, plastic is filling our oceans, and our air and rivers are polluted. We need to fundamentally shift towards a sustainable model that creates value without destroying the environment.”

Arpit Sharma, CEO, Skill Council for Green Jobs, further said, “India has set a target of reducing one billion tons of carbon emissions by 2030, which is also leading to the creation of a large number of green jobs. To meet this demand, we are revamping existing curricula, designing new ones, and preparing certificate training programs to make the workforce ready for green jobs in an evolving industry landscape. While we draw on international best practices, we are tailoring the curricula and training to suit the local context.”

Connect Karo 2025 brought together leaders committed to critical issues related to sustainable cities, clean energy, food, land and water and climate action and finance.

The two-day convening hosted more than 150 thought leaders, experts, academics, scientists and civil society members to discuss the most urgent development and environmental challenges of our times.

Speaking at a session on “Shift Transport -- Data-driven Decision-Making for India’s Urban Mobility” at Connect Karo, Kailash Gahlot, member of the Delhi legislative Assembly, said, “The biggest hurdle in mobility today is the debate around fare box collection and cost recovery. When we talk about mobility, we cannot focus only on how much money is recovered. We don’t call hospitals or schools loss-making institutions -- our mindset has to change.”

He further said, “Public transport must be seen as a social investment with wide-ranging benefits, not as a revenue-generating scheme. Any city or country with a strong transport system attracts investments and drives both social and economic development.”

Joining the same session virtually, Tejasvi Surya, member of the Lok Sabha, said, “For too long, we have prioritised vehicles over moving people. Our cities need people-centric infrastructure and a shift towards data-driven decision-making. Strengthening governance in urban local bodies and building capacity in our corporations is critical. The only sustainable solution to traffic congestion is investing in more public transport, not building more roads.”

Pawan Mulukutla, Executive Program Director -- Integrated Transport, Clean Air and Hydrogen at WRI India, said, “To make urban mobility truly seamless and integrated, we need a robust framework that looks at transport economics with demand, supply, and performance indicators. Equally critical is mandating the collection of household travel data across all cities. Only then can transport planning be evidence-based, inclusive of diverse user needs, and guided by a spatial-temporal approach to effectively address urban mobility challenges.”

In a fireside chat, G. Mathivathanan, Director General, State Administrative Training Institute and Head, Centre for Good Governance, Government of Odisha, emphasised institutionalising innovation.

He said, “Transformation in urban governance is possible only through innovation, and innovation must be tested, validated, scaled, and finally institutionalised so that it outlasts individual leaders or teams.”

--IANS

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