The death of tech jobs? 1-hour innovation process to a green economy

Having spent last days in New York during the UN Summit of the Future and subsequent New York Climate Week, I can’t help but notice that we’re all becoming much more hopeful. This feels new. I believe we can see a light in the tunnel. From prediction that this year might finally be the first one with lower global emissions to exponentially progressing energy transition, we might be close to the long-awaited tipping point.

In my first Illuminem article posted last year, I predicted that within 18 months people might start re-skilling from tech jobs to climate jobs.

Today, almost 17 months since that post, it seems my bet was not quite wrong.

Tech job openings have reached a multi year low:

At the same time, climate-related (green) jobs are at an all-time high in 2024, growing by approximately 4% last year. In fact, clean energy job creation is now 2x as fast as overall job growth. What’s more, this is still insufficient, as the growth in green job openings is outpacing the increase in green talent in the workforce (22.4% compared to 12.3%). As Forbes reported, green job seekers?had a 29% higher chance of getting hired than the general workforce.

This surge is largely driven by major governmental initiatives and an increasing societal shift towards sustainability. The demand for roles such as renewable energy engineers, environmental policy analysts, and sustainability consultants has skyrocketed, reflecting a robust growth trajectory in green sectors. This expansion is part of a broader trend where green jobs are significantly outpacing overall job growth (CleanTechnica)(World Economic Forum)(Presidio Graduate School).

Furthermore, these jobs are not just growing in numbers but are becoming more crucial as every sector of the economy begins to align with green principles. Industries that were traditionally not associated with green jobs are now seeing a shift towards sustainability, emphasizing the widespread integration of green skills across the job market (World Economic Forum).

Overall, the trajectory suggests that green jobs will continue to grow, supported by both policy and market forces that favor sustainable practices and technologies.

Reskilling is ramping up with initiatives such as the American Climate Corps on the climate side and Google’s new $120M education fund on the AI side.

Approximate Chart for illustration only. Based on reports by Deloitte and World Economic Forum.

I believe this is just the beginning and things are only about to accelerate. While I’m not so sure we will see gigantic AI-driven changes in just 6 months from now (as I had predicted in last year’s article originally), the transformation is advancing at an exponential pace and once the tipping point has been reached, we might witness a degree of change no one saw coming, much earlier than predicted.

To read the full article and explore how AI and sustainability are transforming the job market, visit my piece on illuminem : https://illuminem.com/illuminemvoices/the-leap-green-jobs-sustainability-initiatives-and-ai

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