A new report by LinkedIn has revealed the massive scale of the green skills gap worldwide.
The social media site and careers board has released its 2024 Climate Talent Stock Take, stating that the global green talent pool needs to double in size by 2050 in order to have a chance of hitting global decarbonisation goals.
In 2023, the global demand for green talent grew around twice as quickly as the supply of qualified candidates, with green talent demand growing by 11.6% and supply only growing 5.6%.
The UK tops the list of countries in demand for green talent, with 13% of new UK jobs requiring at least one green skill. While UK demand for green talent grew by 46% between 2023 and 2024, the nation’s supply only grew by 5.3%.
However, the benefits are clear for those with suitable green skills. Globally, the hiring rate for candidates with green skills is 54.6% greater than the overall hiring rate; in the UK, it is 72% higher.
Certain green job roles are more in demand than others. In the UK, four of the top five most in-demand green jobs concerned the overarching sustainability goals of a company, with sustainability specialist, sustainability coordinator, and director of sustainability some of the hottest roles. However, the UK’s appetite for new solar PV generation capacity is clear, as the role of solar installer was named the second-most in-demand green job among UK jobseekers.
Sue Duke, VP of public policy and economic graph at LinkedIn said: “Every climate goal around the world, every commitment made, is at risk if we don’t have a workforce that can deliver the change we urgently need. The economic opportunity is there and a promising skills-based pathway exists. This year is an inflection point for our planet—and for workers—as countries and companies write new climate commitments; they must include explicit investments in the green workforce.”
The gap between the volume of candidates with useful green skills and those who want to gain these skills is significant. A report by utility OVO Energy revealed that in the UK, only 7% of people receive green skills training at work, despite over one in five (21%) asking for such training. More concerningly, only 30% of workers have heard of the concept of green skills.
A recent Current± blog explored the barriers to addressing the green skills gap in the UK and Europe; read it here.
