5 Key studies on sustainability job opportunities

Capital and regulation are moving fast, but talent is lagging. Several authoritative global studies and surveys in 2023–2025 highlight a widening skills gap in sustainable finance, corporate sustainability, and related fields.
Mar 17 / JULIUS ATULINDE
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Since the adoption of the2030 Agenda  for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement in 2015, the global policy and business landscape has seen a steady rise in national strategies, corporate commitments, and financial pledges toward sustainable development outcomes, especially decarbonization efforts to address climate change.
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In the formative years, attention was largely placed on political alignment and the mobilization of capital which were widely viewed as the principal constraints to implementation. However, in recent years, the lack of sufficient expertise across developed and developing countries is reported as a major limit; far more than capital and regulatory frameworks in some cases. For example, 𝒊𝒏 𝑬𝒖𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆, 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 80% 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 60% 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒂 𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒄𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒔.
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This brief post summarizes the key takeaways from five authoritative global studies and surveys in 2023–2025 highlight a widening skills gap in sustainable finance, corporate sustainability, and related fields. These suggest that capital and regulation are moving fast, but talent is lagging. 

LinkedIn Global Green Skills Reports (2023, 2024, 2025).

LinkedIn’s longitudinal labour market data provides one of the clearest quantifications of the emerging imbalance between demand and talent supply.

Between 2023 and 2024, demand for green talent increased by 11.6%, while supply grew by only 5.6%, effectively creating a widening structural gap. In 2025, this divergence persisted, with 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒘𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒔, and professionals with 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒆𝒏𝒋𝒐𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 50% 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆 than the global average.

Internal Energy Agency – World Energy Employment Report 2025

The report identifies “deepening skilled labour shortages” as a critical risk to the deployment of clean energy infrastructure, with 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒇 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒌𝒔. To meet projected demand, the number of 𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒃𝒚 40% by 2030.

PwC – Green Jobs Barometer 2024 (UK)

PwC’s  UK focused analysis of labour market dynamics highlights a paradox: green demand is accelerating even as overall job markets contract. In 2024, 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒋𝒐𝒃 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 9.2% (approximately 23,000 additional roles), 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒂 22% 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒋𝒐𝒃 𝒂𝒅𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔.

This indicates that sustainability-related capabilities are becoming strategic priorities even under economic pressure. The analysis emphasizes that green skills remain in short supply, with 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔 could delay or undermine net-zero targets.

World Economic Forum – Future of Jobs Report 2025

The World Economic Forum’s latest global employer survey confirms that 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒔—𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏—𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. More than 1,000 companies representing over 14 million workers, ranked 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒈𝒂𝒑𝒔 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆, ahead of both financing and policy constraints.

The report further projects that 39% of current workforce skills will become obsolete by 2030, underscoring the scale of reskilling required. At the same time, the “𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏” 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒋𝒐𝒓 𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔, particularly in environmental management, sustainability strategy, and climate-related risk functions.

C40 Cities – Skills for Green Jobs Brief (2024)

This brief provides a system-level perspective on workforce readiness. It notes that globally, 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 13% 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒔, with an estimated shortage of 7 million workers by 2030 in major emitting economies. In Europe, over 80% of companies and 60% of local authorities report skills shortages as a barrier to climate projects.

More critically, it indicates that 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒐 78 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒋𝒐𝒃𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒌 due to structural shifts associated with decarbonization.

C40 Cities – Skills for Green Jobs Brief (2024)

This brief provides a system-level perspective on workforce readiness. It notes that globally, 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 13% 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒔, with an estimated shortage of 7 million workers by 2030 in major emitting economies. In Europe, over 80% of companies and 60% of local authorities report skills shortages as a barrier to climate projects.

More critically, it indicates that 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒐 78 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒋𝒐𝒃𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒌 due to structural shifts associated with decarbonization.
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These studies have parallels with many other studies on the execution gap in national and corporate commitments. Notably, only half of the companies disclosing transition related data with CDP are found to sufficient information, and a far lower number (4% of 20,000 companies) scored in 2025 meeting the strictest criteria for credibility (A list).  Source: www.cdp.net/en/data/scores.

For developing countries, skills shortages are already constraining the absorption and effective use of climate finance, as noted in the Green Climate Fund's Readiness and Preparatory Support Programme and Project Preparation Facility – annual report on implementation.
Green Climate Fund

Readiness & Preparation Facility 

Skills shortages are already constraining the absorption and effective use of climate finance.

Annual report on implementation (2024)
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“the implementation of GCF readiness continued to face several persistent challenges. A key issue was the 𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆, prompting some development partners to shift from individual consultants to consultancy firms to access broader expertise"
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