What are green skills? 

Green skills can be hard to define, and as mentioned in Green skills in education and employment, the lack of a consistent definition is responsible for low public awareness of green skills and available skilling options. Skills for a net-zero economy: insights from employers and young people uses the definition of green skills from the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop), which is 'the knowledge, abilities, values and attitudes needed to live in, develop and support a sustainable and resource-efficient society' (p.13). The report states that green skills fall into two categories. The first are the 'hard' skills that relate to designing, manufacturing, engineering, and maintaining clean energy infrastructure and technologies for environment, climate or net-zero related industries. The second are the more general people and management skills, the soft and digital skills that drive the business and cultural transition required, and help society achieve its goals. This report reviews what green skills are needed, both now and in the future, to support the transition to net zero carbon emissions by 2050, and the current skill gaps between supply and industry demand.

In the 2022 publication, Reskilling for net zero, 500 UK adults were surveyed about their understanding of green skills. The respondents were provided with a high-level definition of green skills - those needed to ensure the reduction of carbon emissions and achieve net zero. This encompasses not only the technical skills relating to green jobs but the more general skills in project management, change management and leadership. The survey results suggested that respondents' 'awareness and knowledge of green skills is low, with around three in five (62%) respondents saying that they had never heard of green skills prior to the survey' (p.3). The majority of respondents also stated that their work didn't require green skills while 27% said they didn't know. The most common barrier identified by adults that might prevent them from developing green skills is not understanding what green skills are (27%) nor how to acquire them (20%). The survey results show that more awareness is required to ensure adults know what green skills they need in the future and how they can develop them.

While the above reports identify two types of green skills, in Skills for the green transition: evidence from the EU neighbourhood, there are three categories identified. While the definition of green skills aligns with the previously mentioned reports in that it encompasses knowledge, competences and behaviour for resource efficiency and sustainability, this report notes that skill development requires a holistic approach due to the scope of the competencies required. The skills are categorised as technical skills, transversal skills and sustainability thinking. Technical skills are those that are industry or occupation specific; transversal skills are enabling soft skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, innovation, collaboration and communication. The skills relating to sustainability mindset include problem framing, systems thinking and political agency. The report assesses policies and progress in skills development in the European Union region and presents eight recommendations for supporting the green transition.

More on this...

• Closing the UK's green skills gap
• The future of green skills: an Irish perspective
• How to increase the appeal of green skills and training
• Skills and net zero
• Skills for a sustainable future: how green and digital skills intersect and will change the future of work

VET for the green transition

The green transition presents huge potential opportunities for VET. An ally in the green transition stresses that VET programmes must respond to new skill needs at all levels and across sectors and occupations, while safeguarding people's employability over time. VET can help workers to cope with change during the transition by providing tailor-made experiential, work-based learning options in response to local needs. VET can also play a key role in the inclusion of vulnerable groups (such as the unemployed, low-skilled or inactive persons, migrants, young people not in education, employment, or training (NEETs) and early school leavers) to aid in a just transition for all. From linear thinking to green growth mindsets: vocational education and training and skills as springboards for the circular economy, argues that VET could be the main skills supplier for the green transition if collaboration with employers, trade unions, and other skills ecosystem players is undertaken to shape new education and training that addresses the needs of the green economy. This brief notes that to meet emerging and future skill demands, upskilling, on-the-job training and apprenticeship opportunities must be expanded. Conversely, these opportunities involve a range of issues and barriers that may slow the responsiveness and effectiveness of the VET response to the green transition. 

Career and technical education (CTE) for climate jobs: a framework for secondary and postsecondary CTE reveals how the process to develop new programs of training in the United States is often complicated and lengthy. Creating programs requires coordination and collaboration across multiple stakeholders, including from industry. Complications can include time needed to build effective relationships and gain buy-in across partners from different sectors. However, collaboration can bring about numerous benefits. Green skills in VET: final report explores successful partnerships between VET providers and employers across a range of industries and countries. For example, in the water sector in Spain, collaboration between companies and the VET system became strategic for the construction of training paths capable of training technicians and operators to be immediately operational, because they are trained in the workplace and in direct contact with the technologies used in the sector, which are rapidly evolving and transforming thanks to the cross-pressure generated by the green and digital transitions. The report also observes that access to convenient, quality training can encourage people, especially young people, to consider careers in industries that they might otherwise overlook.

Apprenticeships have a vital role in the green transition. Apprenticeships for greener economies and societies explores how skill needs are changing due to the green transition, how this impacts apprenticeships systems, and how apprenticeships can support and promote the transition. Greening apprenticeships: from grassroot initiatives to comprehensive approaches considers apprenticeships to be particularly well placed to develop the skills for the green transition, as they are at the intersection of the education system and the labour market, and argues that high-quality skills intelligence, multi-stakeholder governance structures, and collaboration at all levels can help apprenticeships maximise their impact in meeting the skill needs of the green transition.

More on this...

• Building evidence to support vocational excellence for the digital and green transitions: the role of centres of vocational excellence in the green transition
• Cities in transition: how vocational education and training can help cities become smarter and greener
• Teachers and trainers in a changing world: building up competences for inclusive, green and digitalised vocational education and training (VET): synthesis report
• The green transition in the labour market: how to ensure equal access to green skills across education and training systems
• The role of VET in a green transition of industry: a literature review

The green transition and employment 

A noted rise in green job vacancies across the labour market, not enough green skilled workers to fill them, the growing green skills gender gap, and a constant need to keep climate change in check are just some of the concerns evident in the body of significant research which has already been done in this area. For example, Futures of green skills and jobs in Europe in 2050: scenario and policy implications and OECD employment outlook 2024: the net-zero transition and the labour market call attention to the profound impacts such a shift will have on labour markets globally. These papers outline many of the new skills needed across sectors and occupations, and the considerable commitment and investment required from governments going forward to upskilling and reskilling strategies to facilitate transitions. This is also projected to be the case in Australia, as highlighted in Australia's clean energy workforce: discussion paper. This discussion paper, as the first element in a consultation process, provides insight into the scope and approach of a capacity study on the workforce needs for Australia's transition to a clean energy economy. The comprehensive study aims to clarify characteristics of the jobs and industries involved, education and training pathways needed, how the future workforce will transition to a green economy including employment impacts, and how opportunities that are created can be shared equitably across diverse employment groups. 

With many new skills needed, a large barrier in reaching the shift to more circular sustainable economies and societies is the limited pool of skills and talent available. Growing quality green jobs: driving economic advancement in the green economy, observes that green jobs are more prevalent than commonly thought and many historically non-green jobs have already integrated green skills. This report illustrates how to better shape workforce training programs to meet skill needs with an emphasis on the significant changes that will be required in existing occupations. 

Although there is ambiguity around how 'green' occupations will be defined, Cedefop uses a data-driven approach to underscore emerging occupations and projected changes to current ones, assessing these not only by job title but more importantly by job skills. In Cedefop's report, From 'greenovators' to 'green' minds: key occupations for the green transition: the nuances of defining 'green' occupations', there are five areas of occupations discussed, and whilst these emphasise sustainability in a range of fields, in many ways they overlap. 'Frontline green jobs' include material extraction/recycling/reuse experts, construction professionals, and transport and mobility specialists. 'Greentech specialists' include urban space specialists, energy experts, agronomists and hydrogen specialists. 'Green management' includes smart city managers, logistics managers, waste managers and renewable energy managers. 'Digital specialists' include ICT professionals, data scientists and analysts, and e-commerce specialists. Many of the roles in these first four occupational areas drive green transition, guiding companies towards the design and implementation of more sustainable products and services as tasks change rapidly. Whereas 'green hearts and minds', which includes HR specialists, citizen engagement specialists, and consumer behaviour specialists, are occupations that lead workers towards more sustainable behaviour whilst easing the transition of workers and helping tackle skill shortages. Cedefop also clarifies the importance of VET to deliver necessary skills but also in developing the mindset needed to implement the green transition.

More on this...

• Global green skills report 2023
• Green occupation pathways: from vulnerable jobs to rapid-growth careers
• Listening to Australian businesses on workforce and skills 2024: skills for a clean economy
• Net zero jobs: the impact of the transition to net zero on the UK labour market
• Preparing the workforce for the low-carbon economy: a closer look at green jobs and green skills
• Skilling the energy transition

News items & opinion pieces

• Students say green skills are needed for all future jobs
  (Source: University World News, July 2024)
• Back to school: future-proofing the workforce against the climate challenge
  (Source: Economist, June 2024)
• Doing green things: skills, reallocation, and the green transition 
  (Source: VoxEU, May 2024)
• How renewable energy talent shortages are being overcome in Australia
  (Source: Investment Monitor, May 2023)
• Green skills are needed to achieve net zero - but what are they?
  (Source: The New Daily, April 2024)
• Green jobs present opportunities for vocational school graduates
  (Source: ANTRA, March 2024)
• Green job vacancies are on the rise - but workers with green skills are in short supply
  (Source: World Economic Forum, February 2024)
• How can we fulfil the growing need for green skills in the job market? 
  (Source: Earth.org, February 2024)
• Navigating the green skills revolution: your roadmap
  (Source: Forbes, January 2024)

Published: October 2024