Skills gap in climate change scenarios

🌍 Why are so many companies struggling to make progress in their green transitions? One key reason I’ve long argued is the lack of human capital. Sustainability isn’t just about technology, policies, or financial commitments—it’s about people. Without a workforce equipped with the right skills, even the most ambitious climate goals risk becoming unattainable. The newly released Global Green Skills Report 2024 from LinkedIn paints a clear picture of the challenge ahead. Despite growing momentum in climate commitments, the supply of green talent is lagging far behind demand: 🌱 Demand for green skills grew 11.6% globally in 2023-2024, but supply only increased by 5.6%. 🚨 By 2050, half of all jobs in the green economy may lack qualified candidates unless we double the size of the green talent pool. 💼 Workers with green skills are already 54.6% more likely to get hired, showing the immense career opportunities in this space. The report also highlights demographic and industry trends: 👩🎓 Gen Z: A generation eager to tackle climate challenges, but only 1 in 20 have green skills today. 👩🔬 Women: Despite progress, the green gender gap persists, with women significantly underrepresented in green roles. 🏗️ Industries in focus: Utilities, construction, manufacturing, and tech are at the forefront of the transition, with soaring demand for skills like sustainable procurement, renewable energy management, and environmental policy. This data reinforces what many of us have felt for years: we cannot decarbonize the economy without upskilling and reskilling the global workforce. Closing the green skills gap is as much about delivering on climate promises as it is about creating pathways to new economic opportunities. 🟢 How do we move forward? It’s clear that governments, businesses, and educators need to come together to build the workforce of tomorrow. Initiatives like workforce training programs, green certifications, and cross-industry collaboration will be pivotal. Take a moment to explore the report—it’s packed with valuable insights for professionals across industries. What steps do you think can companies, governments, and individuals take to accelerate the green skills transition? #Sustainability #GreenEconomy #SkillsForTheFuture #Leadership

New Study Shows Fewer Than 15% of China’s Coal Power Plant Workers Can Easily Transition to Green Jobs by 2060 Publication: One Earth Date: November 6, 2024 Paper link: https://lnkd.in/e5WAtaC3 PDF: https://lnkd.in/e3yMHREc As China progresses toward its 2060 carbon neutrality target, phasing out coal power remains critical to achieving substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. However, our new study highlights a significant hurdle in the nation’s green transition: less than 15% of China’s coal power plant workforce will find it easy to shift into green jobs. The study, published in One Earth, presents a comprehensive analysis of the geographic and skill-based challenges coal power workers face in transitioning to the renewable energy sector. Our team of researchers using a retirement model of 3,765 coal power units across China, the study reveals that for the majority of these workers, green jobs are not just around the corner—most would have to travel substantial distances, averaging between 178 and 242 kilometers, to reach available renewable energy job sites. Beyond location, the study also examines the skills gap. While green jobs—such as solar technician roles—are often cited as potential new employment opportunities, they generally require specific skills and training. When skill requirements are considered alongside job accessibility, the analysis shows that fewer than 15% of coal power plant workers can easily qualify for green roles. The researchers emphasize that delaying the coal phaseout could make this job transition challenge even more daunting. However, they suggest a potential solution in expanding upstream industries within the renewable energy sector, such as electrical machinery manufacturing, which can be located closer to former coal sites and offer better skill alignment. Developing these industries near coal-dependent communities could ease the transition for a significant portion of the coal workforce, creating a more accessible and sustainable employment pathway. The findings offer essential insights for policymakers. By understanding the spatial and skill barriers to green job transitions, the study can inform tailored strategies that support the coal workforce through retraining initiatives, targeted green job creation, and local investments in renewable industries. About the Study The study, “Fewer than 15% of coal power plant workers in China can easily shift to green jobs by 2060”, was published in One Earth and provides a critical perspective on the coal-to-green job transition, highlighting the need for location-based strategies and skill development initiatives as China works toward a carbon-neutral future. #CoalTransition #GreenJobs #JustTransition #CarbonNeutrality

New data shows why it's important to invest in closing the green skill gap: According to LinkedIn’s latest Climate Talent Stocktake, we need to at least double the green talent pool by 2050 to keep up with employer demand. In fact, we are seeing the share of job postings requiring green skills has been growing 2x as fast as the share of workers who have green skills from 2021-2024. Addressing the green skills gap is an economic necessity and critical climate strategy. As the world works towards meeting ambitious climate targets, green skills will offer both a competitive advantage in an already competitive job market and will help us collectively move faster towards a more climate-resilient future. On a personal note, a career that uses green skills is also incredibly rewarding and fulfilling!   Dig into the data in the LinkedIn Global Climate Talent Stocktake: https://lnkd.in/gH4tNQ2v Access Learning Resources and the actions needed to help close the green skills gap: ✅ https://lnkd.in/ghrGWKxu ✅ https://lnkd.in/gP7a6ViY

I am coming back from a fulfilling week in New York, where UN Climate Week took place. It is halftime for the 17 SDGs (https://sdgs.un.org/goals) agreed in 2015 with the aim to be reached by 2030. Goal number 13 “Climate Action” is usually focusing on sustainable finance, infrastructure, and technology innovation but seldom on the people dimension. This is why Johann Daniel Harnoss, PhD Tanya Mondal and I had a closer look to this facet and discussed the results of our latest brief “Will a Green Skill Gap of 7 Million Workers Put Climate Goals at Risk” (link in comment). Investments on climate-friendly projects are increasing, projects to advance global decarbonization efforts are on the rise. While this is great news, we need to ensure that people with the right skills are also available to carry out those projects. Currently we rather face a bottleneck of qualified workers in all parts over the world. Countries that already suffer from a shortage of workers are especially challenged. Most of these countries are situated in the global north and belong to the largest CO2 emitters. I believe it is self understanding that especially here, decarbonizations efforts are a must. This is why skilling needs to become a priority to increase the amount of qualified green workers - locally but also on a global scale. Skill partnerships between countries that need qualified talent and those that can provide talent, including private and public institutions can be a pathway to solve these challenges. So far, such initiatives are happening on a small scale. But we need to scale up, training green-skilled workers effectively, to reach set climate targets.   We could discuss these ideas and many more with a group of great people and all agreed: we need to find ways to put the people dimension on the agenda of global policy makers and speed up. #climate #climatemigration #skill #skillpartnerships #greenenergy #greenskills Thank you. BCG Henderson Institute IOM - UN Migration The World Bank Labor Mobility Partnerships (LaMP) Ugochi Daniels Stephanie Dei Rebekah Smith Jason Wendle Faith Taylor Betsy Fisher Dr. Raphaela Schweiger Dr. Koko Warner Bidjan Nashat Charles Kenny David Khoudour, Ph.D. Wolfgang Blau Ronnie Goldberg and many more...