Connection Research has released a major new report – Who are the Green Collar Workers? The report examines a range of different definitions from governments and private industry around the world, and attempts to establish the common ground between them. It then develops a taxonomy, or categorisation, which defines the different types of green collar worker in Australia and New Zealand.

The report was produced in conjunction with the Environment Institute of Australian and New Zealand (EIANZ), and funded by the Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC) NSW. It is available at no cost from Connection Research’s website, or by contacting us directly.

The term “Green Collar Worker” is increasingly being used to describe people working in the environmental and sustainability sectors, but until now there has been no attempt to define just who these people are. Connection Research's’s research director Graeme Philipson coordinated the report, which contains substantial input from all three participating parties.

“We hear figures of anything between 50,000 to 300,000 green collar workers in Australia”, says Philipson.

“But the figures are just guesswork. The fact is, it’s impossible to know how many there are until we define them.

“We believe the emergence of the green collar workforce is one of the most fundamental shifts taking place in the labour market today,” he said. “A lot of research is needed to understand this group, so governments and industry can develop strategies to ensure they have the necessary skills to meet the many challenges that we all face.”

The report makes a key distinction between jobs in the environmental sector and the sustainable sector. The first is concerned more with practical action, the second more with policy and process. It also takes into account skills levels and which industries green collar workers are employed in, by building on Australian Bureau of Statistics and Statistics New Zealand’s standard ANZSIC and ANZSCO industry and job coding systems.

The report is the latest phase of the “Evolution or Revolution” project, an initiative by the NSW division of the EIANZ to engage the wider environmental profession, to define green collar workers, and what they need in order to support them to be better professionals and contribute towards addressing environmental issues.

“We want to draw a line in the sand, provide some rigour around a definition, and catalyse the development of metrics that will help move Australia towards a more ecologically sustainable economy. We believe this report is an excellent start,” says Tom Davies, NSW president of the EIANZ.

The taxonomy is available for download, free of charge if you register through our website

click here to read more about the report

How green is your organisation’s IT? Connection Research is helping Australian organisations answer this important question with the Green IT Report Card, an easy but comprehensive way of rating your Green IT readiness against others.

The Green IT report card was developed to benchmark the results of each participant in an initial Green IT survey by Connection Research against the other respondents in their industry and the whole respondent base.

“The results of our Green IT survey have shown us that Green IT is an important item on most people’s agenda but that implementation is still in the very early stages", says Cassandra Phillips, Sales Manager of Connection Research”

The exercise involves filling out a short 20 minute online survey.

By mapping individual responses against our full database of survey responses from our recent Green IT survey, we can show you how your organisation compares to others in the survey—both the full respondent group and your own industry.

Connection Research has also developed a Green IT Best Practices Guide, which outlines areas for improvement, and detailed responses to all questions in the survey.

Connection Research is offering the Green IT Report Card for $795 (plus GST). We believe this is an outstanding offer. The full package comprises:

• Your organisation’s Green IT Report Card, which compares you to the respondent base as a whole and to organisations in your industry.

• Full responses to the survey, including questions not included as part of the report card (previously available only to vendor organisations for $2500)

• Green IT Best Practices Guide, outlining key Green IT initiatives in the five key areas of: end user efficiencies, enterprise efficiencies, lifecycle and procurement, measurement and monitoring, and IT as a green enabler.

• Two free tickets to Connection Research’s Green IT breakfast briefings.

• A discount of $795 (the full cost of the report card) off Connection Research’s full Green IT Readiness Index Audit (full cost $2500 plus GST).

Click here for more information about our Green IT report

Read more about our Green IT services here

Sign up for our new Green IT newsletter, The Green IT Monitor here