Abstract
The green economy has previously been defined and measured in various, but limited, ways. This article presents an estimation of the scale of and employment in the US Green Economy using a data triangulation approach that uses many sources of data and multiple types of data. This can give a suggestion of the green economy’s role in economic development and employment at the country level. It also makes it possible to compare the scale of ‘green jobs’ to employment in fossil fuel-related sectors, and to compare the US green economy to other economies. Through the Low Carbon and Environmental Goods and Services Sector (LCEGSS) dataset, the US green economy is estimated to represent $1.3 trillion in annual sales revenue and to employ nearly 9.5 million workers; both of which have grown by over 20% between 2012/13 and 2015/16. Comparison with China, OECD members and the G20 countries suggests that the US is estimated to have a greater proportion of the working age population employed (4%) and higher sales revenue per capita in the green economy. Estimated values for other countries suggests that they too have significant production and consumption in the green economy and the US should consider, as other economies are, developing energy, environmental and educational policies relevant to the green economy to remain competitive in these areas. Given the shortcomings of other data sources, this information can contribute to understanding the potential impact of changes to federal-level policies on economic sectors that are vital to combating climate change and protecting the environment.
Highlights
The green economy has previously been defined and measured in various, but limited, ways
The Department of Energy currently produces some statistics on ‘clean jobs’ in energy, which is useful for understanding the changes in US energy production, since 2013 there has been a lack of comprehensive data on the development of the US green economy
The transactional triangulation methodology is capable of tracking changing and emerging industries; the LCEGSS definition has been revised and extended more than once since data collection began in 2006/7. This is important for measuring the green economy; by comparison, the process of publishing the Eurostat Environmental Goods and Services Sector (EGSS) definition took over 10 years and limitations to the classification of ‘Resource Management’ remain
Summary
The methodology triangulates transactional and operational business data to estimate economic values, frequently where government statistics are not available. The data acquisition methodology is based on a system originally developed at Harvard Business School for triangulating transactional and operational business data to estimate economic values in areas where government statistics and standard industry classifications are not available (Jaikumar, 1986) This system, referred to as ‘profiling’, takes approaches from business intelligence and related fields to track technological and industrial change. The transactional triangulation methodology is capable of tracking changing and emerging industries; the LCEGSS definition has been revised and extended more than once since data collection began in 2006/7 This is important for measuring the green economy; by comparison, the process of publishing the Eurostat EGSS definition took over 10 years and limitations to the classification of ‘Resource Management’ remain. Output in sales revenue ($m) per job (full-time equivalent) is the most appropriate method
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