Energy / GUIDE: How is the world meeting the green skills demand?
William Geldart
June 8, 2022
The drive towards net-zero will be underpinned by green skills.
However, the challenges we face are not simple. And the solutions we need will require immense levels of co-ordination and unilateral thinking.
We’ve produced ‘A Global Update on the State of Green Hiring – 2022 edition’ to give an accessible overview of the green hiring landscape.
Our guide illustrates the intensity of the green transition and highlights where action is required.
How are major economies and industries reacting to the skills challenge? What constitutes a 'green' job or skill? And what's required to ensure we don't fall short in realising this generation-defining opportunity?
This is what’s covered:
- Green jobs and skills growth.
- Country and industry analysis.
- Creating the UK’s green workforce.
- Plotting the boom in renewable energy jobs.
- Enabling a just transition.
- And much more!
Download the guide to take the pulse of the green transition.
A snapshot of the global green skills picture
"The green economy needs to grow faster.”
That’s one of the key takeaways from the LinkedIn Global Green Skills Report 2022.
Leveraging data from the platform’s near 800m members worldwide, LinkedIn has been able to take a comprehensive temperature check on the growth of green jobs.
Green talent is rising worldwide but not fast enough to meet future demand.
In 2021, “less than 1% of hiring involved green jobs.” And by 2026 it’s projected that there will be a 2% gap between the demand for green jobs and the supply of people with relevant green skills.
Therefore, it’s essential that action is taken now to meet future skills requirements.
Defining green skills and jobs
The green economy is growing across the globe. However, its true potential lies beyond traditional green jobs, such as those involved in renewable energy.
Wholescale change will only be realised through the further growth of green jobs, while at the same equipping people with greater green skills. The latter will ensure a higher number of people can transition into green jobs, greening jobs, or those with greening potential.
LinkedIn has developed its own green skills taxonomy and labelling to present the different shades of green jobs. Their methodology also measures what they’ve described as ‘green skills intensity’. This qualifies the extent by which different countries, sectors and jobs use green skills. This intensity will need to increase in every country and sector if we’re to meet our climate goals.
The following classification is based on LinkedIn’s evaluation of 15,000 jobs and their green skills intensity:
Green: Requiring extensive green skills. E.g – solar technician.
Greening: Can be performed without green skills, but typically require at least several green skills. E.g – civil engineer.
Greening potential: Can be performed without green skills but require at least one green skill. E.g – data analyst.
Not Green: Do not require green skills. E.g – nurse.
10%
Green or greening jobs only accounted for 1 in 10 hires in 2021
50%
Non-green jobs still made-up half of hires in 2021
1 in 10,000
Number of people transitioning from a non-green job to green jobs in 2021.
Source: LinkedIn Economic Graph – An Action Plan for Climate Change
Key takeaways:
- To fully achieve the green transition we need to take a skills-based approach to re-skilling and upskilling.
- ‘Green-skilling’ will be key to boosting greener jobs. This requires a dual-strategy of increasing the number of jobs that use green skills while ensuring green skills are greater leveraged within those roles.
- Despite green hiring being on the rise, not enough workers are being hired into green or greening jobs.
This is an initial introduction taken from ‘A Global Update on the State of Green Hiring – 2022 edition’.
Get the guide and learn more about the pace of change and how we can enable a just transition to a greener future.
