Our climate is changing and countries around the world are playing catch up, investing in new “green” technologies and shifting to more sustainable ways of living. From AI-driven farming to machines that capture and safely recycle carbon emissions, the world will look very different in the near future.
Reaching this point requires changes from every industry, however. We'll all need to acquire so-called green skills, many of them outside the specialised sustainability areas you might expect.
A report by Deloitte found the demand for candidates with green skills has seen double-digit growth recently. Deloitte’s A Blueprint for Green Workforce Transformation found that the pool of professionals working in UK green jobs increased by 8% in the past year.
While most employees with green skills in 2021 were found working within traditionally green sectors of the economy (environmental services, construction and renewable energy), the fastest-growing pools of green skills were in the luxury goods, technology, finance and health sciences sectors.
With green skills predicted to be a daily part of every job in the future (in much the same way digital skills), they are becoming essential for current and future managers. So what are the green skills that managers need to acquire and develop?
1. The understanding to engage with specialists
The United Nations defines green skills as “the knowledge, abilities, values and attitudes needed to live in, develop and support a sustainable and resource-efficient society”. For many sustainability professionals, that means being able to respond to technical, analytical and complex challenges and opportunities across a range of environmental topics.
Many large companies, for example, are prioritising a strategy for decarbonisation and achieving net-zero targets. That means developing skills such as carbon target-setting, and measurement and reporting.
“When it comes to green skills, managers need the technical expertise to be able to identify and measure their environmental impact as individuals and an organisation,” explains Kostas Iatridis, senior lecturer at the University of Bath’s School of Management who specialises in corporate responsibility and sustainability.
But green skills go much further than that – and place demands on all managers. As Deloitte’s report points out, many new sustainability roles are being created; larger organisations often have an influential chief sustainability officer. As a result, all managers must be able to engage, and develop meaningful action with these sustainability specialists.
2. The courage to make ethical decisions
Iatridis says that ethical management is the bedrock of green skills.
“Tackling climate change and adopting more sustainable ways of working and running an organisation can be expensive. Managers are subject to pressures to generate profit, so they need to combine that with a more values-based approach to green decision-making,” he adds.
Deloitte’s research found that making the decision to adopt sustainable strategies and practices requires courageous, strategic decision-making. Organisations that want to transition successfully to the green economy must have strong leadership with sufficient foresight and awareness of the opportunities that environmental sustainability can bring to their industry.
3. The ability to break old habits
Embracing sustainability also requires a cross-organisational team effort, but embedding a green culture will need strategies to break established habits among employees.
Generational differences in environmental awareness were often mentioned in discussions with the experts and case studies that took part in Deloitte’s research. Millennials and younger generations entering the workforce were seen to be more motivated by environmental awareness, but that did not always translate into an understanding of how to apply green skills in the workplace.
Iatridis says in order for everyone within the organisation to embrace a more sustainable way of working and develop the green skills that the company now requires, managers must make sure that the message is clearly communicated from top to bottom. Those in leadership positions must act as visible role models for this change.
Kostas Iatridis, senior lecturer at the University of Bath’s School of Management
- CMI webinar: How do you embed sustainability in the workplace? Watch this CMI session led by Asha Mistry, social impact projects officer at the University of Leicester
- ESG explained video: ESG for managers: Why you should pay attention to environmentally friendly practices - CMI
- Ann Francke OBE CMgr CCMI on why green skills are crucial to economic recovery
In summary, get in the game
There is no one-size fits all approach to green-skilling your workforce; the skills required within your organisation will depend on the emissions-intensiveness of the industry. But with the UK government pushing for the creation of two million green jobs by 2030 – and with a new UK Department of Energy and Climate Change – it seems clear that organisations will be left behind if they fail to adopt a sustainable approach to management.