Demand for Green Skills is Rising: What Can Employers Do to Prepare?

The demand for green skills is booming in the APAC region as global efforts to create a sustainable future accelerate.

Green skills enable the environmental sustainability of economic activities. These include skills such as pollution mitigation, waste prevention, environmental remediation, sustainable procurement, and energy generation.

A ‘green job’ is defined as one that cannot be performed without green skills. And LinkedIn’s unique data shows hiring for such jobs has been surging in the APAC region.

In Australia and New Zealand, sustainability, environmental awareness, environmental science and environmental impact assessment are the most sought-after green skills, indicating strong demand for talent that understands how to minimise the impact of new development projects on the environment.

In China, one of the most sought-after green skills is knowledge of ISO1400116, the international standard for environmental management systems. The fastest-growing green job in China is sustainability manager, with a 33% increase in hires between 2016 and 2021.

China also provides an interesting example of the rise of so-called “greening jobs” – jobs that can be performed without green skills, but typically require some knowledge of them.

Private equity specialist was by far the fastest rising greening job in China between 2016 and 2021, with mainstream investment roles increasingly demanding the acquisition of green skills. China’s jobseekers are also rapidly acquiring skills in clean energy as the government drives a renewable-energy transition.

In India, the fastest growing green job between 2016 and 2021 was sustainability manager, while corporate social responsibility and sustainability were among the top green skills listed by individuals. Although employer demand is slower in India than other major APAC job markets, companies across India are beginning to embrace environmental goals.

Meanwhile Singapore is becoming a centre for green-tech innovation. Globally, software and IT services have a below-average level of green-skills intensity, but in Singapore the sector is one of the major recruiters of green talent. In common with the global trend toward green entrepreneurialism, Singaporean founders are also increasingly likely to list one or more green skills.

In countries where the government is investing heavily in green initiatives, green hiring is growing fast. In New Zealand, for example, public administration is one of the primary recruiters of green talent and policy advisor was the fastest growing greening job between 2016 and 2021, rising by a quarter over the period.

In Australia, the energy and mining sector was a leader in green talent hiring in 2021, driven largely by government investment of US$1 billion (AUD 1.4 billion) in renewable generation and storage. Green hiring will also likely accelerate in the construction sector in coming years as demand for green buildings and infrastructure grows.

In Singapore, urban solutions and sustainability are key components of the country’s national R&D strategy, known as the Research Innovation & Enterprise (RIE). Food, waste, urban design, and climate science were added in 2020. The education sector has the highest share of green talent hires in Singapore.

The Chinese government is actively encouraging a green finance system and supporting green lending and investment activities, making finance one of the leading recruiters of green talent in 2021.

Green transformation in India, however, has been slower. Non-green jobs – jobs that do not require green skills – actually accounted for a greater share of Indian hiring in 2021 than in 2016. All kinds of green jobs declined over the same period. In 2021, 56% of all hiring in India was into non-green jobs, 13 percentage points higher than in China and six percentage points higher than the global figure.

It’s clear from the data that governments are crucial in driving demand for green skills and transforming the economy. So what can companies do in response?

A good place to start may be identifying existing non-green or greening jobs that can become green, and investing in upskilling existing talent in those roles. Achieving this will benefit from cooperative action with governments.

Belinda Jones, Principal Advisor - Talent & Learning, Innovation at mining giant Rio Tinto believes employers need to read the shifting winds.

“Organisations need to take a lead role in shifting mindsets and developing the skills they will need to decarbonise,” Ms Jones says.

“The first stage of this is through general awareness and education activities".

“By increasing team member understanding of what a business plans to do in response to climate change, they can start to think about ways they can approach work differently and participate in the green economy.”

"Including sustainability goals in career development conversations is an easy win and a great starting point. There is also a role in showcasing roles and examples of people demonstrating their ‘green skills’ and how their contribution is supporting company or clients’ goals.

At Ventia, Sustainability is one of three strategic pillars. In the past 12 months, we have added Sustainability aspects in our HR system ‘SuccessFactors’ in the objective setting field – this system is used by our managers and salary-based employees."

Our data shows that green job postings have grown 8% a year for the past five years. However, the share of green talent has only grown around 6% a year over the same period. Growing demand for a limited supply of green talent calls for action on reskilling and upskilling.

It’s a challenge being taken seriously at Standard Chartered Bank, which is supporting its clients transition to a low carbon economy.

“Significant skill-building is at the core of accelerating net zero and we aspire for all 85,000 colleagues in the Bank to have skills in this space to make our ambitious stand a reality,” says Tanuj Kapilashrami, Chief Human Resources Officer, at Standard Chartered.

“We are designing and deploying learning programmes that enable all our people to upskill themselves on driving sustainability through the bank’s business, operations and community partnerships.”

"We are designing and deploying learning programmes that enable all our people to upskill themselves on driving sustainability through the Bank’s business, operations and community partnerships. This, along with focused interventions, especially for client-facing colleagues, to build skills on sustainable finance products, climate risk, regulations and transition financing. And we’re further educating and encouraging colleagues on making sustainability a part of their day-to-day lives – starting by planting a tree each on behalf of the first 50,000 learners.”

Rio Tinto is taking a proactive approach toward training for the green future.

“Initially, we will be building a foundations learning module for technical professionals, establishing and leveraging internal communities of practice, as well as ensuring there are opportunities for knowledge sharing in place,” says Rob Ramsden, Principal Energy & Climate Change Capability, Rio Tinto.

“We will also be targeting the growth and development of employee capabilities in the new tools and processes being developed to support our strategic intent to accelerate decarbonisation. And we will be activating our employees using publicly available learning tools like LinkedIn Learning".

“Not every role will be a ‘pure’ green role. However, what we will need is every single person taking individual actions within their current roles to support decarbonisation efforts; this will require a mindset shift.”

At Ventia, sustainability is one the company’s three strategic pillars, and work is being done to leverage existing skills into green skills.

“Some traditional industrial work, like supporting shutdowns, is also applicable to ‘green energy’ jobs. There is some direct correlation in the skills that already exist in our business,” Ms Monson adds.

“Including sustainability goals in career development conversations is an easy win and a great starting point. There is also a role in showcasing roles and examples of people demonstrating their ‘green skills’ and how their contribution is supporting company or clients’ goals.”

There is no simple one-size-fits-all solution to attracting and creating green skills as a discrete entity. Increasingly, companies are having to think about evolving existing roles and existing skills into green jobs and green skills, even in roles that have not traditionally been associated with environmental impact.

Successful organisations will meet this challenge head on, because the trends in our data are conclusive: demand for green skills and green jobs will continue to accelerate across the APAC region in coming years.

For further insights, read the 2022 Global Green Skills Report.