ABSTRACT
Supporting green skills development is integral in the transition to a green economy. Green skills can be difficult to define and measure at an aggregate level because they are a socially constructed concept, intangible and are often unobservable. Further, a demand-led approach to green skills has not worked because employers are unable to effectively articulate their needs to skills delivery bodies. This advances the need for a transformative methodology that is able to provide a more nuanced view of skills planning to support green work.
Drawing on transition theorists, this chapter demonstrates that greening work transitions occur in “niches” at local levels, where nexus concerns arise around the impetus to green work. Furthermore, it is from these transformative niches that wider social changes and regime shifts are driven or emerge.
Using experiences from the chemicals sector in South Africa, the chapter illustrates the need to develop non-reductionist conceptualisations that illustrate the “regime lock-ins” as well as green skills opportunities at multiple levels.
