Green careers report: Understanding green jobs and their increasing demand

With a growing awareness around environmental issues, many businesses and individuals have developed a desire to adopt sustainable practices. This has led to the creation of a segment called green jobs.

Though it started because some people felt the urge to contribute towards the betterment of the environment, green jobs are now being embraced as a successful and sustainable career choice. However, before joining the “go-green” bandwagon, it’s crucial to understand what these eco-occupations entail, the kind of roles available, the reason for a continuous increase in their demand, and the numerous opportunities they hold.

So, let’s dig a little deeper.

What are green jobs?

Job roles that are related to environmental, social and governance (ESG) can be considered as green jobs, says Sumit Kumar, Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), Team Lease Degree Apprenticeship. Such roles are associated with the designing and implementation of environmentally friendly solutions and consequently lead to a reduction in carbon emissions.

Individuals can find these positions in the areas of consulting, designing, implementation or execution. Moreover, there has been an emergence of green jobs in renewable energy & power, agriculture, infrastructure, waste management and automotive sectors, adds Kumar.

Witnessing a perpetual surge in demand

According to LinkedIn’s Global Green Skills Report 2023, the share of green talent in the workforce rose by a median of 12.3% between 2022 and 2023. Meanwhile, the share of job postings requiring at least one green skill grew twice as quickly – by a median of 22.4%.

Coming to India’s green industry, the country has the potential to double the current employment of 18.52 million green jobs to 35 million by 2047, according to the Green Industry Outlook report by TeamLease Digital. In addition, the report highlights that contractual workers have been major contributors to the increasing growth of this industry.

India’s ambition of net zero carbon emission by 2070 is fuelling the upsurge in demand for green jobs, says the CSO of TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship. The macro agenda is percolating down and is now being seriously pursued by industry. “We have seen many organisations now driving the net zero carbon agenda and also investing in R&D for alternative energy solutions. Also, organisations are becoming climate-conscious and collectively driving the surge in demand for green skills to cater to green jobs.”

In his opinion, organisations have started working towards developing and maintaining a green talent pipeline by strictly focussing on and leveraging industry-academia collaboration. At the same time, they are heavily investing in upskilling and reskilling the workforce to build talent in-house and constantly upgrade individuals, while keeping the talent cost in control.

Talking about the government initiatives, he says that the Smart City Mission, Make in India, National Solar Mission, Green India Mission, National Water Mission and Swachh Bharat Mission, along with a firm focus on climate-friendly manufacturing, infra development, and R&D will play an instrumental role in continuously stimulating the demand for green skills and growth of green jobs in India.