Green jobs: Where are we in 2022?

Green jobs: Where are we in 2022?

Profile photo of Carmen L Bonilla By Carmen L. Bonilla

 

In this article, I’d like to share highlights from LinkedIn’s webinar “Going, Going, Green: Winning a Global Skills Revolution” held on March 30, 2022.

I thought that Sue Duke, Head of Global Public Policy & Economic Graph at LinkedIn, provided an excellent framework around the conversation, reminding us that “we are living a moment of crisis and opportunity,” as the recent United Nations’ IPCC report pointed out that climate breakdown is happening at a faster rate than previously predicted. I agree with Sue that 2020-2030 will be the defining decade for meeting the climate crisis and that meeting 2030 and 2050 targets means that we will need to transform our economy – and, I would add, our way of life. 

When Sue pointed out that “we have an opportunity to turn this into an economic opportunity for everybody,” it reminded me of Gabriel Kra’s recent TED talk “5 Promising Factors Propelling Climate Action.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYJUgzZYaoo From his perspective as a venture investor in early-stage companies, Gabriel argues that we need to change our thinking about climate change from a problem to an opportunity and that doing this can help us get motivated to employ our energies in this direction. He goes on to explain what makes him optimistic as an investor in this space. 

Drawing on LinkedIn’s view of the job market, Sue shared these stats and forecasts:

  • 10% of jobs advertised on LinkedIn were looking for at least 1 green skill. Examples of these jobs included: fleet manager, healthcare worker, construction worker, facilities manager
  • The number of jobs in renewables, environmental have grown in 237% in the last 5 years
  • 13% of individuals maintaining LinkedIn profiles list having green skills
  • By 2025, we will have more demand for green skills than workers with green skills
  • For every 10 men who have green skills on LinkedIn, there are only 6 women with green skills, indicating an opportunity to close this gap

As we make this transition, we want to make it fast enough and fair and need to reflect on: What skills will be needed to transition workers from non-green to green jobs? What skill gaps are there? These charts start provide a starting point to craft an answer to these questions:

Source: LinkedIn’s Global Green Skills Report 2022, https://economicgraph.linkedin.com/research/global-green-skills-report

(Reader of this article, if you aspire to a green job, it might actually be a good time to update your LinkedIn profile with your green skills, if you haven’t listed them yet.)

The report also provides an interesting view of how green skills are represented across industries by countries. This chart shows the United States leading in terms of the number of sectors with green skills, with the United Kingdom following close behind.

Former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman participated in the webinar as well. She invited careful consideration regarding what replacement jobs can be provided to workers in industries that will phase out. For example, miners of coal.

You can watch the webinar in its entirety here: https://www.linkedin.com/video/event/urn:li:ugcPost:6907842957588987904/

 

 

Carmen L Bonilla is a job search coach to staff and executives with experience editing and writing thousands of resumes. She is the self-published author of a 70-page booklet entitled A Workbook for Career Success. Since March 2020, she has coached over 300 candidates on everything from resume to interview preparation to making a successful transition to a new job. Carmen was attracted to Leaders in Energy because of its Green Jobs/Green Careers program and recently joined Leaders in Energy’s Research, Communications, and Policy Analysis (LERCPA) LinkedIn group to connect with its 3,800+ members around the world. Get in touch: hi@carmenbonilla.com  



 

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