Examination of green industries and its potential for job creation in eThekwini Municipality.

Abstract

bstract The global and the local interest in the ‘green economy’ has increased substantially since the 2008 economic downturn, thus, creating more and more green industrial development around the globe. This sector is slowly becoming more prevalent in South Africa because of the high levels of unemployment. An evaluation of countries considered as economic power houses has indicated that it is through an industrial revolution of various kinds that fast tracked job opportunities have been realised. It has been noted through research on the green economy, that this sector has for many years been dominated by the European countries and North America. However, the changing economic landscape forces some developing countries like South Africa to seriously consider the development of green industries and a viable green economy. This is more so because internationally, it has been proven that it creates a large number of job opportunities. Given this background information, this research has focused on the green industries that operate within the boundaries of the Ethekwini Municipality, with the aim of ascertaining the various categories of green industries that already exist and are thriving. Also, it investigated the required skills sets for the emerging green industries to survive and grow. Lastly, the study has provided feedback on the interventions that would maximise the growth of the businesses and create as many employment opportunities as is possible under these difficult economic times. To achieve these, a quantitative study was conducted utilizing a structured questionnaire. Questionpro, an online programme was utilised to conduct the survey. Furthermore, a manual survey was undertaken at a Green and Livable City event to improve the results of the survey. The results indicated five main categories of green industries that are prominent: manufacturing, energy, waste, professional services and infrastructure. Technical skills are in high demand, with product design and equipment maintenance. Given these findings, the following recommendations were made: an improved supply of environmentalists, finance and administration skills, might increase employment opportunities for the locals in these sectors. Government and other stakeholder support of the industry need to focus on legislating, incentivising the industry and, building up awareness of the environmental and economic benefits of such an industry in Ethekwini Municipality.