LIFE greening jobs and growth

LIFE is a catalyst for investments in innovative green businesses that will help generate more jobs, both directly and indirectly. Replication of successful projects and ideas can lead to further green growth. LIFE funding has supported the upscaling of technologies and the replication of techniques which have had a positive impact on employment, generating jobs for unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers, as well as highly-qualified specialists. These jobs range from people doing planting and clearance work in conservation areas, to those who repair goods in reuse centres to engineers using advanced electrochemical processes in wastewater treatment plants, architects specialised in sustainable buildings, builders qualified to recover gypsum waste and jobs in organic aquaculture. LIFE has helped in identifying skills gaps in the labour force and has successfully worked with universities and training institutions to fill them. The range of green skills advanced by LIFE projects covers the gamut from the repair of electrical goods for reuse, to new river restoration techniques, sustainable building concepts for architects, new knowledge on wastewater treatment techniques for chemical engineers, to practical and commercial skills needed to develop a sustainable farming business in cities.