International Journal of Business and Economic Development, Vol. 7 Number 2 November 2019 www.ijbed.org A Journal of the Centre for Business & Economic Research (CBER) 60 Adoption of green jobs in Mauritius: drivers and challenges S D Lukea Bhiwajee Rebecca P M Docile School of Sustainable Development & Tourism University of Technology, Mauritius Key Words Challenges, Drivers, Green jobs, Mauritius Abstract This study investigates the drivers and challenges faced by Mauritian organisations in implementing green jobs. Data was collected through online questionnaires to companies in six major sectors of the economy to identify their level of awareness, to investigate their readiness to embark into green jobs while at the same time, assess the drivers and the challenges. The results showed that the implementation of green jobs in Mauritius is at an early stage and that much needs to be done. Furthermore, Spearman rho correlation found no relation between sector activity and the level of awareness. Moreover, regardless of the sector that the companies are; they face the same difficulties to implement green jobs. The study however showed that firms that do not have green jobs, do engage in green practices like the use of renewable energy, minimising pollution and maximising the use of day light. The major drivers identified were customer preferences and government regulations while the major challenges which emerged were costs and the lack of trained employees. Based on the findings, recommendations were made with respect to the enhancement of existing regulations and policies, subsidisation of costs and dispensing of training programmes to stakeholders concerned Corresponding author: S D Lukea Bhiwajee Email address for corresponding author: sbhiwajee@umail.utm.ac.mu First submission received: 4 th July 2019 Revised submission received: 27 th September 2019 Accepted: 10 th October 2019 Introduction Growing concern about environmental problems during the past years has made “go green concepts” important for businesses (Yi Yong & Mohd-Yusoff, 2016). In fact, the term ‘green jobs’ was first introduced as an amendment to the Workforce Investment Act on a pilot basis in USA, it was then defined in the Green Jobs Initiative in 2008 by the UNEP (Renner, M; Sean, S; Jill., K, 2008) to assess, analyse and promote further green jobs through environmental policies in both developing and developed countries (Jarvis, et al., 2011). The expansion of renewable energy, making buildings and industry more energy efficient, and the need to produce fuel efficient vehicles are core components of a new policy conversation taking place in various countries thus giving "green job" an iconic status (Sweeney, 2009). At the same time, unemployment is now a major challenge worldwide with about 172 million people being unemployed in 2018 globally, with the youth being among those most affected. (ILO, 2019). Thus, the challenge for economies at the dawn of this 21st century is not only to provide jobs to the current and future generations, but to also ensure that jobs provided are “green” so that those concerned are provided with a sustainable living, in line with the Sustainable Development Goal 8 which is about