Rising global temperatures and the proliferation of extreme weather events are increasingly pushing climate change to the forefront of the policy debate. Consequently, many countries are taking steps to ensure that the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is not only job-rich, but also green. The urgency of the green transition – understood as the transition to net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) – implies that the pace of the transformation, and in particular of cuts in emissions, needs to accelerate significantly. Depending on how such cuts are made, they could have large economic and redistributive consequences, and interact with other changes in the structure of the economy, such as digitalisation, population ageing and globalisation.

This paper sets out a conceptual framework to analyse the impact of climate change and GHG mitigation efforts on the labour market, migration flows and people’s health, as well as the most important policy, regulatory, legal and social levers that can cushion potential negative impacts and maximise opportunities arising from the green transition. This paper is part of a larger ongoing effort by the OECD to understand the economic and policy implications of the green transition on jobs, income and health.