Green Skills are in demand, but is this just another form of greenwashing?

Recent reports highlight that one of the biggest skills gaps that exist across all industries is green skills. This is not surprising considering changing legislation and increasing global awareness on the impacts of climate change. Companies know that they need to do things differently. The challenge is that they don’t always understand just how much needs to change or where to start. Hence the demand for green skills.

Putting the words “green” or “sustainable” in front of a job title isn’t going to change much on its own. An individual can’t be expected to magically transform a company’s carbon footprint, biodiversity impact, or reduce volumes of waste even if they are made the Chief Sustainability Officer. Systems, processes, policies and strategies need to change. Without a commitment to that, it’s quite literally just another form of greenwashing. Companies giving a public appearance of making an effort that realistically results in little positive impact.

We’ve seen it repeatedly. Companies add words to make a product sound different: Recyclable packaging, sustainably sourced ingredients, but are they really? Often, when you dig a little deeper into these claims, you find there’s little positive environmental impact. Even if the efforts are well intentioned, it’s clear that companies sometimes lack an understanding of what sustainable really is, and what specific green skills are needed to turn things around.

Why the hype over green skills?

In a recent conversation with a client, we were discussing some sustainability initiatives that her company were undertaking. It reminded me of a company I’d worked with back in 1992. They wanted to improve their margins and in auditing their operations discovered that there were several areas where resources that could be reused were simply being wasted.

One example was the generation of excess heat from a specific process in the factory. Yet, in another area of their operations they were purchasing fuel to generate heat. Instead of each unit continuing to operate in isolation, engineers devised a way to divert the excess heat from one area of operations to another where it could be reused for processes. This reduced the fuel required and resulted in resource savings. Back then it wasn’t implemented as a sustainability or carbon initiative, it was simply about energy efficiency, cost reduction and what made business sense.

So, why now the hype over green skills? I’m not questioning that they’re vital, but we should be weary of yet another label. Energy and resource efficiency are not new concepts, neither is waste minimisation or repurposing materials. This knowledge has been around for decades. What’s been lacking is the will and commitment to make them central to operations. The shift to focusing on green skills is a great thing, but please ensure it’s driven with outcomes in mind.

What are green skills to achieve?

It’s tempting to define anything related to renewables or sustainability as green skills, but this isn’t always the case. For example: Solar power makes use of a renewable resource and optimising a solar array requires an understanding of energy efficiency which is considered a green skill. How the panels are angled, and switching on certain systems at peak production times impact how effective the system is. But installing a solar system is about ensuring the wiring, connections and voltage are correct for the system to operate effectively and safely. In this case the installation skills needed are more electrical than green, even though they’re being used in a renewables project.

This highlights that when hiring green skills, it should be with a specific objective in mind. This could be reducing consumption of raw materials, reducing waste, making better use of energy and fresh water or improving packaging.

Choosing to focus on just one thing may seem like a good start, but keep in mind that change needs to be evaluated in terms of the impact to other areas of operations. Changing operations is invariably complex. Therefore, green expertise needs to include the ability to understand the bigger picture as well as the many factors that influence outcomes and how they’re interconnected. This not only ensures that projects don’t pull in opposite directions, but also uncovers new opportunities for efficiencies. In other words, identifying more ways to close the loop.

In seeking to close the green skills gap, lets ensure that candidates not only have the knowledge needed, but also the ability to engage different stakeholders and apply knowledge to situations. This, combined with company support is what will help achieve sustainability outcomes. With green skills especially, competencies count.