The purpose of GLAM is to study the consequences of a green transition on various groups in society. We will investigate who ends up as losers and winners in a green transition. We will do this by investigating which job categories and skills we can expect more and less demand for. An important purpose of the project is to understand more about how negative effects of a transition can be reduced. The empirical setting for GLAM is Norway.
In work package 1, we investigate how different industries and organisations will be affected by a green transition. The work in this work package has so far led to an article (under peer review) that builds on previously collected data via questionnaire and interviews. Interviews have also been conducted for a study of the importance of competence for sustainability transitions in Norwegian municipalities.
In work package 2, we investigate how a green transition can lead to a change in demand for jobs and skills. Here we use data from surveys, register data, quasi-experimental methods, and job postings.
In work package 3, we will study how changes in demand for jobs and skills affect different groups based on age, income, background, place of residence, education and skills, and gender. The analyses in this work package will be based on register data and quasi-experimental methods.
In work package 4, we conduct workshops with the employer and employee organisations in Norway. The purpose will be to discuss what significance the findings should have and what key actors in the labour market can do to reduce negative effects on vulnerable groups as a result of changing demand for skills. The first workshop was conducted in 2024 with participants from approximately 20 organizations.
We expect that our findings on how a green transition affects the labour market and various social groups will fill a knowledge gap among decision-makers and key players in the labour market. A central ambition of the project is that findings and activities will contribute to reducing the negative effects of a green transition, thereby increasing political and social acceptance of the changes required to transform society.
In addition to work in the various work packages, GLAM contributed to the organization of a separate track on just transitions and jobs at the IST conference in Oslo in 2024. GLAM also organized a research workshop in 2024 with participants from other projects funded by the Norwegian Research Council related to restructuring and working life.
GLAM has the objective of advancing our understanding of how the green transition impacts the labour market, how such changes affect the distribution of costs and benefits, and how adverse affects on the labour market from a green transition can be mitigated. For this, GLAM proposes a comprehensive and multidisciplinary empirical analysis that combines quantitative and qualitative data collection, which will be informed by a dialogue with key stakeholders throughout the project.
GLAM will follow a research design based on three sequential steps. First, we will study how a green transition affects different firms and industries. Second, we will study how a green transition affects the demand for jobs and competences. Based on the first two steps, we will in the third step study how changes in demand for jobs and competences are distributed across societal groups. We will organise workshops to discuss preliminary findings with key stakeholders (i.e. trade unions, business organisations, policymakers) and what our findings mean for the labour market and the potential to develop just transition policies.
GLAM is an interdisciplinary research project and consists of researchers with a background from sustainability transition studies, innovation studies, labour studies, and economics. In addition to providing novel empirical insights into how a green transition affects the labour market, GLAM will also contribute with methodological development. We will take advantage of the excellent quality of data in Norway on firms and employees, and the accessibility of stakeholders for qualitative data collection. By combining data and methods such as surveys, interviews, quasi-experimental methods, register data, and job postings, the project will address weaknesses with different approaches. The results from the project will therefore be highly relevant in multiple academic fields and, for achieving societal goals related to climate change and social equality.
