Methodology

1. Introduction

Purpose of the Taxonomy

The Green Skills Map, initiated by HolonIQ, is an open-source framework for organizing and evaluating the diverse skills required in the green job sector. It provides a comprehensive understanding of the competencies needed to achieve net zero emissions and drive a sustainable economy, aligning educational programs, workforce development, and policy efforts with environmental objectives.

Scope

The Green Skills Map addresses the full spectrum of competencies required across various sectors within the green industry. It spans sectors including renewable energy, environmental management, circular economy, and sustainable agriculture. This taxonomy captures the technical and interpersonal skills needed to drive sustainability and innovation within these sectors. By mapping out the competencies required for each sector, the framework facilitates a comprehensive understanding of skill requirements, enabling precise alignment with industry needs, regulatory standards, and emerging technological advancements.

Context and Relevance

The Green Skills Map is useful in identifying the precise skills needed to meet climate targets and tackle environmental issues. By providing a structured framework, it supports skill development, informs resource allocation, and aids in career planning. Its open-source and collaborative nature ensures that it remains current and relevant amidst the rapidly evolving green job market.

2. Literature Review

The development of the Green Skills Map is grounded in a wide broad body of literature. This review examines current research and reports from leading organizations on green skills, workforce transformation, and the implications of skill development in the context of achieving climate goals. For the most part, the existing literature concerns itself with identifying industry trends and the associated gaps that emerge in the workforce instead of creating a comprehensive taxonomy. This emerging body of research serves as groundwork from which the initiative for Green Skills Map was taken - an exploratory attempt at mapping out every major component of the green skills space.

The Economist’s Green Skills (2024) report identifies specific green skills that respondents to its survey identified as most important to various sectors including infrastructure, energy & utilities, IT & technology, and transportation. It further emphasized that while the field could grow by several million jobs by the end of the decade, traditional sectors are likely to face substantial job losses. As such, rigorous reskilling programs will be necessary to address these shifts.

The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)’s Green Skills working paper identifies a gap in empirical data to guide public skill development interventions. Using a two-step methodology with ONET data, it finds that environmental regulations drive technological changes, increasing demand for technical skills. Additionally, the analysis highlights job polarization, with growing demand for specialized and foundational jobs and a decline in middle-skill occupations suggesting that employment shifts driven by technology may impact the transition to a sustainable economy.

According to the UK Parliament’s Green Skills in Education and Employment paper, key sectors, including power, home heating, and waste management, will require a substantial increase in green skills for this transition. Addressing emerging shortages necessitates upskilling the current workforce, as many roles will evolve. The report further notes the importance of vocational education and training (VET), particularly apprenticeships, in developing these skills. It also emphasizes the need for tailored policies to address regional disparities in green skills demand and calls for stable government policies to foster investment in skill development.

LinkedIn's analysis of workforce trends in the Global Green Skills Report 2023 shows a marked increase in green talent, rising from 9.6% of the global workforce in 2015 to 13.3% in 2021. Job postings requiring green skills have surged, highlighting a significant skills gap as the supply of green talent has not kept pace with demand. Sectors such as corporate services, manufacturing, energy and mining, public administration, and construction exhibit the highest intensity of green skills. Notably, emerging roles such as Sustainability Manager and Renewable Energy Technician reflect shifts in workforce requirements due to climate policies.

The ILO’s Skills for Green Jobs study underscores the importance of skills development for unlocking employment potential associated with green growth. The report examines the experiences of 21 countries adapting their training systems for a greener economy and warns of job losses in high-emission sectors, with effective retraining strategies deemed essential. It highlights that while few entirely new occupations are emerging, significant changes within existing roles necessitate updates to skill profiles across various sectors.

ESCO's Green Skills and Knowledge Report provides a structured framework for categorizing green skills. By classifying 571 skills and knowledge concepts, the report fills a critical gap in existing literature—the need for a unified taxonomy for skills essential to achieving climate goals. The integration of green transversal skills highlights the necessity of equipping workers at all levels with sustainability competencies.

In the area of skills development, UNICEF’s Skills for a Green Transition report highlights the need for targeted educational interventions among youth migrants and forcibly displaced individuals, considering that the climate crisis exacerbates educational disparities – nearly 6.5 million young people aged 12–17 were forcibly displaced in 2022, with climate change increasingly becoming a driver of migration. These employment constraints can be significantly alleviated by broader governmental commitments to goals such as limiting temperature increases. For instance, 55 million jobs are projected to arise in construction and operations during the shift to a net-zero economy.

Deloitte’s Blueprint for a Green Workforce Transition further stresses the necessity of transforming workforces to meet sustainability goals. Deloitte highlights a skills gap, with 60% of executives stating their current workforce lacks the necessary skills for sustainability objectives – companies are encouraged to invest approximately $16 billion annually in upskilling programs to equip employees with essential green skills over the next decade.

Finally, UNIDO's Green Industrial Skills for a Sustainable Future paper points to the necessity for coherent policies that align skills development with environmental goals, advocating for partnerships and continuous learning to adapt to evolving technologies. A significant challenge is the lack of consensus on what constitutes green jobs and skills, complicating data collection and coordination efforts. To address this, the paper advocates for systematic mechanisms to forecast future skills needs, enabling stakeholders to anticipate labor market changes related to green technologies.

Finally, the Skills for Green Jobs European Synthesis report by CEDEFOP notes that investments in clean energy yield 2.5 to 4 times more jobs than fossil fuels, and that a specialized workforce is needed for a low-carbon economy. Europe’s broad strategy highlights innovation and green growth, yet systemic weaknesses in STEM skills hinder progress, leading to significant engineering vacancies in countries like Germany.

Green Skills Map is directly informed by emerging trends, skill gaps, and the needs identified across various sectors. Some examples of this are discussed here. The emphasis on job polarization and the shift towards high-skill, green-focused roles directly influence how skills are classified within the framework. The classification of skills into areas, sub-areas, and clusters further reflects this stratification, ensuring that both specialized and foundational roles are adequately represented. Furthermore, the literature underscores the need for reskilling and upskilling as traditional sectors face job displacement due to environmental regulations and technological advancements. This informs the development of clusters related to vocational training and university green skills integration within the taxonomy, particularly in sectors like renewable energy, circular economy, and design & construction. The literature's focus on the need for stable policy frameworks, as stressed by Deloitte and UNIDO, also aligns with the taxonomy’s inclusion of clusters related to policy development and compliance, ensuring that skills essential for regulatory alignment and sustainable practices are prioritized. Finally, Green Skills Map differs from the approach of ESCO, attempting to categorize skills by parts of the broader green economy as opposed to breaking down skills into categories such as skills, knowledge, and transversal skills.

By integrating insights including these, the Green Skills Map remains responsive to the dynamic nature of the green job market, aligning educational programs, workforce development, and policy efforts with the real-time needs of the industry.

3. Approach

Research Design

The research design for developing the Green Skills Map involved a systematic approach. Initially, an extensive review of existing skills databases was conducted to establish a comprehensive list of skills essential for achieving net zero targets. Theoretical constructs were employed to create a taxonomy framework that organizes these skills into broad thematic areas, sub-areas, and clusters. This framework was designed to reflect hierarchical relationships and facilitate an intuitive understanding of skill interdependencies while maintaining flexibility for future updates. The framework was further refined through iterative research, which involved deepening the knowledge of each area, incorporating new skills, and consolidating clusters based on relevance and strength assessments. The use of HolonIQ’s machine learning tools in this theoretical framework ensured rigorous validation and accuracy in the final classification of skills, supporting a robust and dynamic taxonomy.

Data Collection Methods

The data collection process for the Green Skills Map incorporated multiple sources to ensure a comprehensive and detailed set of information. Methods included:

• Review of Existing Databases: Comprehensive reviews of existing skills databases such as the European Skills, Competencies, Qualifications, and Occupations (ESCO) database and IdeaGen’s databases provided a foundation of relevant skills and competencies. This secondary data was essential for understanding the landscape of green skills

• Expert Consultations: The Climate Intelligence Unit engaged with industry experts and stakeholders through workshops and consultations. These interactions provided valuable insights into emerging trends, required competencies, and sector-specific needs.

• Literature Review: Academic and industry literature was reviewed to identify and validate the skills necessary for achieving environmental sustainability and compliance with present-day standards.

Taxonomy Structure

The Green Skills Map is designed with a hierarchical structure to effectively organize and categorize the extensive array of skills and competencies identified. This structured approach ensures a comprehensive understanding of the green skills landscape. It is organized into Areas, Sub-Areas, and Green Skills Clusters.

Criteria for Classification

The classification of skills and competencies within the Green Skills Map was guided by several critical criteria to ensure that the taxonomy effectively supports the overarching goals of the climate movement. A key criterion was the relevance of each skill to achieving net zero emissions, focusing on competencies that directly contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, enhancing energy efficiency, and promoting sustainable practices. In addition, the framework prioritized skills based on their alignment with the broader climate objectives, such as supporting international climate agreements and addressing pressing pollution challenges. Industry demand played a significant role in the classification process, with emphasis placed on skills that are in high demand or expected to become increasingly important due to emerging industry trends and technological advancements. The relevance of skills to both current and emerging green technologies was also an important factor, ensuring that the taxonomy reflects cutting-edge innovations and practices across the various areas.

4. Data Analysis

Analysis Techniques

The development of the Green Skills Map employed two techniques to ensure the accuracy and robustness of the taxonomy:

Top-Down Approach

The top-down approach in data analysis for the Green Skills Map begins with a broad, high-level view and progressively drills down into more specific details. This method is particularly effective for understanding how general industry trends and sectoral needs translate into specific skill requirements. The analysis starts with a broad categorization of industries that are pivotal in the green economy. These industries are identified based on their overall impact on sustainability and their role in achieving net zero targets. Within each industry, sectors are delineated to capture more specific areas of focus. Each sector is then broken down into clusters, which group related functions or areas of expertise necessary for specialized tasks within the sector. For example, within the renewable energy sector, clusters might include solar power, wind energy, and geothermal energy. Finally, each cluster is analyzed to identify the specific skills required. These skills are mapped to the clusters based on their relevance and necessity for performing the functions within each cluster. This top-down method ensures a comprehensive understanding of how the broader industry needs to translate into specific skill requirements. It allows for a systematic breakdown of the complex green economy landscape into manageable and actionable components.

Bottom-Up Approach

Conversely, the bottom-up approach starts with a detailed examination of individual skills and builds up to identify clusters and broader categories. This method is useful for identifying emerging trends and understanding the specific competencies driving changes in the green economy. From the detailed skills list HolonIQ developed (as previously outlined), clusters are identified by grouping related skills that are often used together or are required for specific job functions. This step involved analyzing skill interdependencies and commonalities.

The identified clusters are then organized into broader sub-areas, mapping them based on their application and relevance. For example, clusters relating to nuclear operations and safety might be grouped under the Nuclear Energy sub-areas. Finally, the sub-areas are aggregated into broader industry categories, aligning the specific sectoral needs and skill clusters with overarching industry categories.

The bottom-up approach provides detailed insights into emerging skills and competencies, ensuring that the framework captures the nuances of the rapidly evolving green job market. It helps identify new trends and ensure the taxonomy remains current with industry needs.

By integrating both the top-down and bottom-up approaches, the Green Skills Map ensures a robust and comprehensive analysis of green skills, aligning broader industry trends with specific skill requirements and emerging competencies.

Category Refinement

The initial categories identified during the development phase underwent a rigorous refinement process to ensure their relevance and accuracy. This process involved the iterative enhancement of the Green Skills Map to ensure that it effectively captures and organizes the diverse competencies needed in the green economy. This process begins with a detailed review of the initially established categories—areas, sub-areas, and green skills clusters—to refine their accuracy and relevance.

One key aspect of this refinement is assessing the strength of each green skills cluster. Strength ratings are assigned based on a relevance assessment and overlap analysis. Each cluster is evaluated to determine its significance and impact within the taxonomy, and clusters are assigned strength ratings to indicate their importance and frequency of use within specific contexts. This helps to streamline the taxonomy by consolidating clusters that are too narrow in scope while ensuring that important competencies are adequately represented. The taxonomy underwent continuous iterative development in this manner until every area, sub-area, and green skills cluster met a minimum threshold.

Challenges and Limitations

Throughout the development of the Green Skills Map, several challenges and limitations emerged:

• Dynamic Nature of the Field: The green sector’s swift pace of innovation and frequent emergence of new technologies presented a challenge in keeping the taxonomy up-to-date. To remain relevant, the framework requires ongoing monitoring and periodic updates, ensuring it accurately reflects the latest advancements and practices, particularly in areas where significant technology is employed.

• Data Fragmentation: The presence of incomplete or fragmented data from existing databases complicated the creation of a comprehensive taxonomy. Overcoming these gaps involved extensive research and validation to ensure that all relevant skills were included and correctly represented within the framework.

• Skill Identification Complexity: Identifying and categorizing a broad set of green skills was challenging due to the sector’s diversity and the fact that there is skill cluster overlap across the various industries involved. Defining each of the clusters such that they were within the bounds of the relevant sub-area was necessary to circumvent this.

5. Results

Final Taxonomy Structure

The development of the Green Skills Map has produced a detailed framework comprising 11 core areas, 54 sub-areas, and 243 green skills clusters. This comprehensive taxonomy offers a structured approach to understanding and categorizing the diverse skills essential for advancing a sustainable economy. It enables a clear view of the specific competencies required across various sectors and functions, facilitating better alignment of educational, workforce, and policy efforts with the goals of achieving net zero and decarbonizing the global economy.

6. Discussion

Implications for Practice/Field

The Green Skills Map offers several significant implications for both practice and further research within the green sector:

• Enhanced Skill Matching: The taxonomy provides a structured framework for matching skills with job roles and industry needs. This alignment helps employers and educational institutions better understand the skills required for various roles, facilitating more targeted recruitment and training programs.

• Investment and Strategic Planning: Organizations and policymakers can use the taxonomy to identify skill gaps and emerging needs within the green sector. This insight supports strategic planning and investment in workforce development initiatives aimed at addressing these gaps and preparing for future demands.

• Educational Alignment: Educational institutions can utilize the taxonomy to design curricula and training programs that align with industry requirements. By incorporating the skills identified in the taxonomy, educational programs can ensure that graduates are equipped with the competencies needed to succeed in the green sector.

• Policy Development: The taxonomy serves as a valuable resource for policymakers in crafting regulations and incentives related to green skills and employment. It provides a clear picture of the skills needed to achieve environmental goals and can inform policy decisions aimed at supporting a skilled green workforce.

Future Refinements

As the green sector continues to evolve, the Green Skills Map may require further refinements and updates to maintain its relevance and effectiveness. Potential areas for future refinement include:

• Ongoing Data Collection: Continued collection of data from industry trends, emerging technologies, and feedback from practitioners will be compulsory for keeping the taxonomy up-to-date. The components of the various skills clusters can change as industry practices evolve, and these changes must be reflected in future iterations.

• Expanded Scope: As new areas within the green sector develop, the taxonomy may need to expand to include additional core areas, sub-areas, and Green Skills clusters. This expansion will ensure comprehensive coverage of all relevant skills and competencies.

• Enhanced User Feedback: Gathering feedback from a broader range of users, including employers, job seekers, and educational institutions, will provide additional insights into the taxonomy’s practical applications and areas for improvement.

• Integration with Other Frameworks: Exploring opportunities to integrate the Green Skills Map with other skills frameworks and classification systems can enhance its utility and provide a more holistic view of the skills landscape.

7. Conclusion

The development of the Green Skills Map has successfully produced a robust framework spanning 11 areas, 54 sub-areas, and 243 green skills clusters. By integrating both top-down and bottom-up analysis methods, the framework effectively aligns industry needs with specific skill requirements, accommodating emerging trends and technological advancements. The comprehensive nature of the taxonomy supports enhanced skill matching, strategic planning, and educational alignment within the green sector. The Green Skills Map represents a significant step forward in addressing these challenges. Ongoing updates and refinements will ensure its continued relevance and effectiveness in a rapidly evolving field.