The impact of environmental protection on employment

Until recently, the traditional view has been that environmental protection comes at the expense of jobs. Economists and business strategy theorists have argued that environmental regulation is a 'burden' for industry and that its overall employment impact is negative. Recent work has turned this old theory on its head. There is now a growing understanding that it is possible to have strong environmental regulation and employment growth acting in tandem. This view has been put most strongly by Harvard Business School academic, Professor Michael Porter. When medium-term economic development trends are analysed, it is, in fact, becoming more obvious that we can have 'jobs and the environment' or neither. This paper analyses the shortcomings associated with the old theory. It also reviews recent work that examines the potential for 'green jobs' in Western Australia.

Excerpt from published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner.

The main entry for the Working Visions Conference 2001 is at TD/WA 69.06. Individual presentations from the Conference can be found from TD/WA 69.07 to TD/WA 69.39. Show less