2023 Global Climate Talent Stock Take: We Must Accelerate Green Skills Development

Fighting climate change is a human capital problem.

The future of our planet depends on talent. Every new tool, technology, or process designed to curb carbon emissions, produce renewable energy, or deliver efficiency gains requires people with the right skills doing jobs to bring that intended impact to life. Combined with the necessary financial capital, people are necessary enablers of the climate transition. The problem is the global workforce is not ready to deliver the whole-of-economy shift we need.

That is my takeaway from LinkedIn's green skills research throughout 2023, collectively the 2023 Global Climate Talent Stock Take. It doesn't mean that the transition to a more sustainable economy is out of reach, but it does mean we are out a crucial juncture where every aspect of the economy must reorient itself toward accelerating climate talent development across all industries and job categories.

As COP28 shifts to focus on the Global Stock Take during which countries review their progress toward the goals outlined in the first Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) as part of the Paris Climate Agreement, it's important to similarly take stock on the global workforce's capacity to enable the transition.

Let's dig into the core findings:

Only 1-in-8 workers have a green skill globally.

A whole-of-economy shift can only happen when the percentage of workers with at least one green skill reaches critical mass in all industries. While some industries have a higher green talent concentration, key industries like finance are significantly lower. In the financial industry, only 1-in-15 workers have at least one green skill. LinkedIn analysis suggests we need to triple the global climate talent concentration to greater than 1-in-3 to keep up with employer demand. See more trends in LinkedIn's 2023 Green Skills Report.

The LinkedIn hiring rate for workers with green skills is 24% higher than for workers overall.

Put simply, workers with green skills are in greater demand by employers. This isn't limited to obvious green times. This metric looks at hiring for workers with green skills across all job titles and industries. When workers learn green skills relevant to their jobs, they become stronger candidates for potential employers. This trend also shows up when looking at the supply and demand of climate talent. While demand for workers with green skills has growing 9.2% annually, the supply of workers with green skills is growing only 5.4% annually.

There is a wide and growing gender gap when it comes to green skills.

While 16% of men have at least one green skill, it's only 10% for women. In fact the green talent pool, which includes workers with at least one green skill or one green job experience, is 66% male. The green skills gender gap is a problem for two reasons. First, we need every worker contributing to the fight against climate change. There's no way we can approach that number if 51% of the global workforce. Second, the transition should be equitable in that groups, such as women, that have been historically left out of economic opportunity are able to participate and benefit equally. Since workers with green skills face better employment prospects, women face barriers to accessing the economic opportunity presented by the transition. Even as female green talent concentration growth outpaces that of men, the gender gaps persists and widens. Read more in LinkedIn's special report on the green skills gender divide.

Hiring in renewable energy is strong and growing stronger.

The message is clear: we need to triple global renewable energy production by 2030. That only happens if a workforce is there to build, operate, and maintain renewable energy infrastructure. The good news is renewable energy is growing all over the world. LinkedIn data shows 120 workers join renewables for every 100 that leave. In fact, the resilience of the utilities sector in the United States through the pandemic is driven by hiring for solar energy production. Bold plans coming out of COP28 will demand even more workers in this sector.

Green skills are increasingly relevant in all titles

The data back up the idea that all jobs can be a green(er) job. Green skills aren't reserved only for jobs who core purpose is to improve the environment. They are also relevant in jobs that are increasingly crucial, sometime surprisingly, to fighting climate change. This example of the CSO of Xbox talking about what happens when a software engineer has the skills to right code for games that is more energy efficient is just one of countless examples. Another example I cite frequently are supply chain and procurement professionals who will be indispensable when it comes to addressing scope 2 and scope 3 emissions.

EV skills are growing as the EV transition takes off

EV skills increasingly show up among workers in the auto manufacturing, infrastructure, and power generation sectors. Sweden, the UK, and Germany lead the way in terms of share of auto workers with green skills (8%, 7%, and 6% respectively). Sweden is similarly leading the pack when it comes to growth EV skills among infrastructure workers (9% year over year) as it commits to deploying EV infrastructure to further enable the EV transition. Relatedly, new demands for grid management drive the presence of EV skills in the utilities and power generation industries. Our research note into the EV transition shares more detail.

How do We Move Forward?

Just as countries should use the Global Stock Take to drive the next round of their climate commitments, governments, businesses, NGO, multilateral organizations, and training providers should use the Climate Talent Stock Take to strengthen their respective commitments to equipping the global workforce with skills for the green transitions. Here are a few recommendations:

• Make jobs and skills more central to climate commitments and COP negotiations. This includes making public and trackable commitments to skills development as part of the next round of NDCs due for completion at COP30 and seeing jobs explicitly mentioned in COP decision text, including in the Just Transition Work Programme.
• All local, regional, and national climate policies should include strategies related to jobs and skills in recognition of the enable role that climate talent plays in all approaches to mitigation and adaptation.
• Employers should develop a keen and granular understanding of the skill their workforces will need to achieve their climate goals. This skills-based approach will help ensure relevant and efficient upskilling for employees.

By working together, we can get this done. Let's find inspiration in the depth of human capacity to rise to the challenge and motivation that we still have a chance of staving off the worst possible effects of climate change if we act at scale now.