China, India to benefit most as Asia-Pacific decarbonisation play adds US$47 trillion to global economy by 2070, Deloitte says
- If China tackles climate change, it has the most to gain, head of Deloitte Access Economics says
- China has established 21 undergraduate programmes related to peaking carbon emissions and carbon neutrality, and 42 colleges to train talent
Of China’s total workforce, 48 per cent are employed in industries that are most vulnerable to the physical impact of climate damage and the economic transition to net-zero, such as agriculture, conventional energy, manufacturing, transport and construction. India had 43 per cent of its workforce in vulnerable industries, on par with the average in Asia-Pacific, according to the Deloitte job vulnerability index included in the report.
China has the highest proportion of the workforce in vulnerable industries in Asia-Pacific, but with education reforms and talent development plans already starting to take shape, the opportunity to shift to green skills is significant, Pradeep Philip, head of Deloitte Access Economics in Australia, said in an interview.
“An economy like China has the most to lose [from climate change] because of its size and industrial structure,” Philip said. “If [China] tackles climate change, it has the most to gain.
“We would expect countries like China and India to be the significant winners in the jobs dividend of that 180 million [jobs]. It’s in every country’s interests to start to decarbonise and meet the net-zero target.”