According to the report, while demand for workers with green competencies grew twice as fast as supply, the scarcity of qualified employees could be a severe bottleneck, particularly in high-impact sectors like energy, construction, manufacturing, and utilities. These industries are under pressure to decarbonize, reduce waste, and adopt renewable energy solutions in line with national and international climate agreements. With the U.S. workforce lagging in these skills, the path toward a sustainable economy looks increasingly uncertain.
Green Skills Gap Poses Significant Risks to Climate Targets
The gap between demand and supply of green skills comes at a time when urgent climate action is needed. “Every single climate goal is at risk if we don’t have a workforce prepared to deliver the change we urgently need,” stated Sue Duke, LinkedIn’s Vice President of Public Policy and Economic Graph. Without a workforce equipped to implement sustainability measures, even the most well-intentioned corporate sustainability initiatives may falter. Green skills are not only critical in fields traditionally associated with climate action, like renewable energy and environmental science, but are also becoming essential across a variety of roles that may not explicitly focus on sustainability.
The report finds that developing green skills in existing workers, rather than hiring new ones, is often the most effective route for companies. LinkedIn’s senior economic and policy lead, Efrem Bycer, pointed out that organizations need to integrate basic climate literacy across all employee levels, helping them understand their industry’s environmental impact, the company’s sustainability goals, and their specific role in achieving those goals. This baseline knowledge would ensure that sustainability becomes a shared responsibility within organizations, empowering employees to make more climate-conscious decisions in their daily work.
Gen Z: Eager but Underprepared
Gen Z, a generation that broadly supports environmental goals, is also eager to enter the green workforce but faces significant barriers. LinkedIn’s report highlights that 45% of Gen Z workers feel they lack the experience needed to secure a green job, and 40% report not having the requisite skills. In the U.S., fewer than one in four Gen Z workers have access to training programs specifically focused on green skills. This disparity between ambition and preparedness could limit the potential of a generation willing to work toward meaningful climate action but under-equipped to do so effectively.
Moreover, many young people perceive “green jobs” narrowly, often associating them solely with roles such as sustainability officers or solar panel installers. Bycer stressed that green skills are applicable across a much broader array of roles, highlighting that green competencies extend into roles ranging from project management and supply chain oversight to data analysis and software engineering. This broader understanding of green jobs could encourage more diverse career paths for Gen Z, especially as corporate roles increasingly require sustainable solutions.
Corporate, Educational, and Governmental Coordination Needed to Build a Green Workforce
To address the skills gap, LinkedIn’s report recommends a multifaceted approach involving corporations, educational institutions, and government policy. Corporations need to prioritize upskilling current employees in climate-related competencies as well as partnering with colleges and universities to integrate green skills across various programs. By encouraging climate literacy and green skills development within their organizations, corporations can ensure that their workforce is capable of meeting sustainability targets without relying exclusively on the limited pool of existing green talent.
Education will also play a crucial role in closing the skills gap. Bycer advocates for embedding green skills into a wider range of disciplines in higher education, ensuring that students across all fields of study graduate with an understanding of their industry’s climate impact and knowledge of sustainable practices. Integrating these skills into curricula is essential if the future workforce is to drive the green transformation needed across industries.
Governmental action, too, can expedite the growth of the green workforce by supporting policies that prioritize sustainability training and incentivize businesses to adopt green upskilling programs. As Sue Duke emphasized, climate commitments set by governments need to be backed by explicit investments in green skills training. Without this policy support, corporate and educational efforts may prove insufficient to build the green workforce required for a sustainable future.
A Defining Moment for Workforce Sustainability
The LinkedIn report paints a compelling picture: corporate sustainability targets cannot be achieved without an intentional and coordinated push to build green skills across the U.S. workforce. As the climate crisis intensifies, businesses, educational institutions, and government agencies must collaborate to develop the skills and knowledge necessary to confront the challenges of a carbon-constrained world. With ambitious climate goals at stake, the need to close the green skills gap has never been more urgent.
Ultimately, the findings of LinkedIn’s Global Green Skills Report underscore the importance of equipping current and future workers with the competencies to drive meaningful change. The green skills gap is not just a workforce challenge—it is a defining obstacle in the global journey to achieve a sustainable future.