Significant shortage, gender gap in green skills worldwide: LinkedIn report

Globally only one in eight workers has one or more green skills, according to a new report by professional social networking platform LinkedIn.

Its annual ‘Green skills’, which comes close on the heels of the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28), a key event in shaping global climate policy, that concluded on Tuesday, also reveals a sharp gender gap.

It showed that nine in 10 women lack a single green skill or green job experience. This is in stark contrast to 16 per cent of men with at least one green skill.

The report, based on LinkedIn profiles in 48 countries, showed that the concentration of "green talent" in the workforce -- the share of workers who hold a green job or list at least one green skill on their profile -- is growing in every country.

However, "the increase in demand for green skills is outpacing the increase in supply, raising the prospect of an imminent green skills shortage", the report said.

Between 2022 and 2023 alone, the share of green talent in the workforce rose by a median of 12.3 per cent across the 48 countries, while the share of job postings requiring at least one green skill grew nearly twice as quickly -- by a median of 22.4 per cent.

"Still, we are far from the green skills penetration that we need. Our study reveals that just one in eight workers have green skills. Put another way: Seven in eight workers lack a single green skill, at a time when the future of our planet depends on them," the report said.

A special edition of the Green Skills report 2023 revealed that the green skills gender gap has grown 25 per cent over the past seven years, from 4.9 percentage points in 2016 to 6.1 percentage points.

Since 2021, women have joined the green talent pool at faster rates than men -- 12.3 per cent vs. 9.1 per cent annual growth.

"To close the gap, however, women will need to join the talent pool at 2.5 times the rate they are today," the report said.

"We know that women are disproportionately vulnerable to the ravages of climate change. Our findings indicate that they are also missing out on the chance to be part of the climate solution. And as the urgency of the climate problem increases, our planet is missing out on the full contributions of a group that makes up nearly half of the global workforce," the report said.

The report called policymakers, business leaders, and others to develop regulations, programmes, and policies that foster green skills development and create pathways for workers to transition into jobs that help green the planet.