ODI Logo ODI

Trending

Our Programmes

Search

Newsletter

Sign up to our newsletter.

Follow ODI

Migration and skills for the low‑carbon transition

Working papers

Written by Ipek Gençsü, Avery Parsons Grayson, Nathaniel Mason, Marta Foresti

Hero image description: Workers clean heliostats at the Ivanpah Solar Project, California, USA Image credit:Dennis Schroeder/NREL Image license:CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The low-carbon transition will require adapting and changing existing sectors and industries, creating new occupations requiring new skills, even as others become obsolete. This paper argues that the low-carbon transition must, as part of the labour market solution, consider migration in all its forms – both domestic and international, short- and long-term, of people with different skill levels, and in all directions between and within countries at all levels of economic development. The paper makes the case that migration can contribute to efforts to mitigate climate change, and shows how policy and practice communities can collaborate to enable migration to support the transition to low-carbon economies.