Global Green Skills Report by LinkedIn – Demand for green talent will soon outpace supply

We’re in a time of great upheaval around the world. We are experiencing an unprecedented moment in history where we are reimagining the future of work. Governments are assessing policies, programmes and how to support constituents amid the pandemic. Business leaders are reimagining their entire working models, cultures and company values. Employees are rethinking what they do, where they do it and what it means.

At LinkedIn, we call this the Great Reshuffle.

The Great Reshuffle presents us with an opportunity. We can harness this moment of change to redirect human talent to rise to the most urgent challenge facing humanity: the green transition. We cannot wait any longer to address climate change. We have to green the economy and activate the jobs, companies and policies that will power it. By capitalising on this unprecedented
moment of change to redirect human talent to accelerate the green transition, we’ll have a fighting chance of meeting the climate challenge. But achieving this requires moving toward an economy that transitions workers into jobs beyond those currently considered green. New workers need to enter green and greening potential jobs, bolstered by green skills and more opportunities from employers.
The hard truth is that right now we are nowhere close to having sufficient green talent, green skills or green jobs to deliver the green transition. Based on the current trajectory of green skills growth in the labour market, we are not going to have sufficient human capital to meet our climate targets. While more workers are transitioning into green and greening jobs than are leaving, the total number of workers transitioning into those jobs is still really low. Not all jobs will need to be exclusively green — it’s not just those building solar panels — it’s the sustainable fashion manufacturer, the fleet manager, the sales manager. There is a marked lack of green skills and jobs, and this is slowing the rate at which we can green the economy.

Green skills intensity needs to increase in every sector and country to build the supply needed and meet the demand required to achieve climate goals. Some progress has been made. In 2019, the balance tipped towards green talent as the green hiring rate accelerated ahead of the overall hiring rate in most economies around the world. This means that, globally, green workers were hired at a higher rate than non-green workers. At the same time, the share of green talent in the global workforce increased from 9.6% in 2015 to 13.3% so far in 2021 (an annual growth rate of 6% and a cumulative growth rate of 38%).

Most jobs requiring green skills are not traditional green jobs.

Chart 2 shows that the top five fastest- growing green jobs between 2016 and 2021, in terms of annual growth, are Sustainability Manager (30%), Wind Turbine Technician (24%), Solar Consultant (23%), Ecologist (22%), and Environmental Health and Safety Specialist (20%). The fastest-growing greening jobs, moreover, are less specialised and are found in a variety of sectors — including roles that range from Compliance Manager (19%) to Facilities Manager (11%) and Technical Sales Representative (8%).

We have a historical opportunity to rethink how we approach the global workforce’s 0% transition into a greener economy, based on skills. By adding insights from new data to this challenge, we can make a plan to increase green skills intensity around the world. The workforce is ready and the planet
can’t wait: the time is now.

Five trends shaping the green economy

1. Demand for green talent will soon outpace supply.
2. Hiring of green talent is accelerating faster than overall hiring.
3. There’s currently a good balance in the green skills that are needed.
4. The fastest growing green skills are both mainstream and emerging.
5. The volume of workers moving into green and greening jobs is too low.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story @  LinkedIn’s Global Green Skills Report