China national level dialogue on Green Jobs for the Youth for Circularity

Asia Pacific is home to more than 750 million youth, accounting for 60 per cent of the global youth population. The youth has been faced with limited employment opportunities with the rise of the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, as they have been adversely affecting the job market. Research confirms that 40 % of all jobs depend on healthy ecosystem services and that climate change induced heat stress may cause loss of 80 million full time jobs, with disproportionate impacts on the youth and women. China is also not an exception to this phenomenon, with its urban youth unemployment rate rising to 21% as of May 2023, up from 15.4% two years earlier.

To address this multi-faceted issue of triple planetary crisis and youth unemployment, a systemic transition to a circular economy, where materials remain in use at their highest possible value for as long as possible, green jobs has emerged as a solution. It is estimated that the circular economy will create a shift in almost 80 million jobs.

UNEP, through GO4SDGs, together with UNITAR, with the support from Northwestern Polytech University in China, is hosting a 2.5 days national level multi-stakeholder dialogue in Xi'an, China. It aims to bring together all relevant stakeholder groups, including public and private sector representatives, academia, youth and development partners explore how green jobs can advance circularity.

Target Audience: Government officials, educators, university students, development institutions across China