Greening the Workforce: Net Zero Skills for a Sustainable Future

The need for Green skills is expanding exponentially. Worldwide, bold Net Zero objectives have created urgent demand for new roles, knowledge, and capabilities with sustainability at their core.

However, there’s an alarming disconnect between ambitious climate change targets and the available talent to achieve them. Seven out of eight workers lack Net Zero skills or experience. And despite a generational drive to make a difference, only one in ten young people has a clear understanding of what Green skills entail.

Adecco’s Greening the Workforce: Net Zero Skills for a Sustainable Future report confronts the shortfall head on. For expert insights and forward-looking resourcing strategies to close the Green skills gap for good.

The Green skills deficit: falling behind on the future

The UK government has pledged to reach Net Zero greenhouse emissions by 2050. The commitment is a call to action for businesses, prompting a fundamental shift to sustainable production and consumption methods.

Green skills – the knowledge, competencies, values, and attitudes required to thrive in, contribute to, and promote a resource-efficient society – are critical to the transition. These capabilities span practical and technical expertise, as well as long-term strategic thinking, monitoring, and interpersonal proficiencies across every industry.

• Green skills encompass existing competencies applied to tasks associated with achieving Net Zero performance in various sectors, such as builders adopting alternative materials.
• They also include novel skills that emerge to support new processes, like energy auditors assessing the efficiency of homes and buildings.

The Net Zero transformation is moving at speed, triggering a marked upswing in Green skills vacancies. LinkedIn has recorded a yearly 15.2% median increase in job postings requiring at least one Net Zero skill since 2022. Our report spotlights the growing disparity between Net Zero talent supply and demand, jeopardising government and organisational climate change objectives.

Key findings include:

• Greening the workforce is integral to a successful Net Zero transition: Government and business commitments to low-carbon initiatives can’t be fulfilled without a well-skilled labour market.
• Rising demand for Green skills: The UK saw a threefold increase in Net Zero job openings during 2022 compared to the previous year.
• Current skills misalignment: Seven out of eight workers lack Net Zero skills or experience.
• Emerging talent pipeline gap: 71% of young people (aged 16-24) say they’re motivated by the desire to combat climate change, and 80% are more likely to choose an employer with a Green agenda. Yet only one in ten clearly understands what Green skills involve.

Realising hidden talent resources

Greening the Workforce: Net Zero Skills for a Sustainable Future recognises that the Green transition demands widescale skills transformation – but also presents valuable opportunities for growth, innovation, and job creation. Here is the UK’s springboard to a robust, highly specialised, and future-proof workforce, capable of driving forward a resilient low-carbon economy.

The talent is out there, but much of it remains untapped. Systemic barriers and persistent gaps in awareness and support prevent underrepresented groups from pursuing Green jobs and STEM-focused careers. Similarly, mid-career workers, who are more likely to be deterred by a perceived skills mismatch, could benefit from targeted training focusing on the value, purpose, and impact of their role in their respective sectors.

With recent data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing a surplus of over 200,000 people re-entering the job market following periods of economic inactivity, now’s the time to use tailored upskilling, reskilling, and education programmes to develop a truly diverse Green talent pool.

Collaboration between key stakeholders is crucial to unlocking Green potential:

• The government plays a pivotal role by establishing a national roadmap for a Net Zero economy, providing the necessary assurances for investors and employers to confidently set Green goals. This can be achieved by removing policy-level obstacles, investing in research and development, and laying the groundwork for an agile and flexible policy framework.
• Businesses can accelerate adoption by contributing to the policy-making progress.
• Skills providers can develop and offer courses to cultivate a more environmentally responsible workforce, empowering individuals of all ages and backgrounds to explore Green careers.

Practical steps to a sustainable workforce

Building a labour market fit for the Net Zero economy requires joint action from both policymakers and businesses. Greening the Workforce: Net Zero Skills for a Sustainable Future sets out a multi-layered approach to building employability, prioritising diversity and inclusion through robust, collaborative upskilling and reskilling programmes, education, and apprenticeships.

Featuring commentary from the industry’s most trusted sources, the whitepaper provides exclusive insights on forecasting and filling Green skills needs, alongside practical guidance on:

• Contextualising the Green skills shortage – and what it means for your present and future resourcing strategies.
• Establishing meaningful routes to employment via improved educational resources, visibility of Green careers, and clearly defined training pathways.
• Creating tailored approaches to smooth the segue into Green roles for existing, inactive, and future talent.
• Capitalising on current initiatives between government, businesses, and investors to facilitate a Net Zero tomorrow.
• Designing new and adjusted skills profiles, qualifications, and training models to meet the demands of the decarbonised economy.
• Engaging vital demographic groups to tactically expand the UK’s Net Zero talent pool.