Demand for Green Skills Experiences a Downturn, According to LinkedIn Analysis
The momentum for green skills is slowing down, as recent data from LinkedIn’s 2025 Global Green Skills Report indicates a decrease in the growth rate of demand for such skills. Despite a narrowing gap between supply and demand, the underlying dynamics reveal a complex situation that raises concerns about meeting climate targets.
According to the report, the demand for green talent, as evidenced by hiring trends, increased by 7.7% from 2024 to 2025, a decline from the 11.5% increase seen the previous year. Meanwhile, the supply of workers equipped with green skills grew by 4.3%, compared to a 5.5% rise in 2023. This led to the supply-demand gap shrinking to 3.4% from about 6% the year before, primarily driven by diminished demand rather than an increase in skilled labor.
The report highlights a 3.8 percentage point drop in demand growth and a 1.2 percentage point decrease in supply growth. Neil Farrell, head of Farrell Associates, attributes this slowdown to factors such as policy uncertainty, the politicization of ESG, and cautious corporate spending amid economic challenges. “Companies have been in a wait-and-watch mode,” Farrell explains.
For policymakers and sustainable industry stakeholders, this trend is alarming, as the shortage of green talent is perceived as a barrier to the energy transition. LinkedIn’s analysis of over 1 billion member profiles and job postings reveals that of its 41,000 standardized skills, approximately 1,200 are categorized as green, underscoring the specialized nature of these roles.
Cooling of Corporate Sustainability Hiring
Separate LinkedIn data indicates a broader deceleration in corporate sustainability hiring, examining trends across 52 related job titles. From 2024 to 2025, global corporate sustainability roles declined by a slight 0.4%, marking the first negative trend since 2021. Over the previous four years, these roles had been increasing by an average of 1.8% annually.
The slowdown has been observed in five of the six countries for which detailed data is available, including the UK, France, the US, Canada, and Australia. Germany was the exception, showing a 4.3% increase, though this was about half the growth seen in the previous year. Recruiters, including Farrell Associates and Weinreb Group, corroborate these findings, noting minimal sustainability hiring in late 2024 and early 2025.
The Persistent Labor Shortage Challenge
LinkedIn’s findings echo the concerns of policymakers and industry leaders about labor shortages impeding the green transition. In March, the European Commission warned of growing skills and labor shortages in sectors like construction, energy production, and transport.
Germany, with the largest number of cleantech workers in the EU, reflects a similar trend of a narrowing skills shortage. Sarah Janczura, spokesperson for the Association of German Engineers (VDI), attributes this to macroeconomic conditions that temporarily ease hiring pressures, though the fundamental issue of insufficient qualified workers persists.
“The shortage has eased cyclically but persists structurally, especially in climate-relevant clusters such as energy and electrical, and construction and building systems,” Janczura states. “Skills scarcity remains a risk to the transition.” The VDI’s data for the second quarter of 2025 shows a 22.1% year-on-year decrease in technical vacancies across all sectors in Germany.
Sonia Dunlop, chief executive of the Global Solar Council and vice-chair of the Global Renewables Alliance, explains that “the workforce challenge varies across technologies. In wind and hydro, you need a smaller number of highly trained technicians, while in solar PV, you need relatively straightforward upskilling of local roofers, electricians, and construction workers.”
Original Story at www.sustainableviews.com