Why you need to develop your green skills in 2025

As you set your intentions for the new year, it may be that developing your sustainability knowledge and skills was already among your priorities for 2025. But if it wasn’t, then think again, because demand for green skills is reshaping the jobs market globally and you risk getting left behind.

According to LinkedIn’s latest annual Global Green Skills Report, global demand for green talent grew twice as quickly as supply between 2023 and 2024 (with demand increasing by 11.6% and supply by 5.6%).

Furthermore, job seekers with green skills or titles saw a 54.6% higher hiring rate than the workforce overall (in the US this rises to 80.3% higher, with Ireland 79.8% higher), and construction had the second-highest demand for green talent with one in five job postings (20.6%) requiring green skills.

The report highlights construction as one of the areas fuelling demand for green skills, with regulations, incentives, and investments related to building decarbonization and energy efficiency, as well as mitigating impact on nature, driving demand for expertise in sustainable building practices.

Personal skills 

In India, where developers certified in sustainable construction are eligible for tax benefits, low-interest loans, and expedited approvals, postings for sustainability consultants rose 41.9% over the past year. Brazil, France and Canada were all also among the fastest growing markets for green jobs in construction, driven by regulations.

What’s more, the workforce is responding. In the US, where policies such as the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law have brought focus on climate and the built environment, the share of workers with building performance skills is 80 times higher this year than it was in 2023. In the UK, where decarbonizing the existing building stock is also a priority, the share of workers adding building performance as a skill grew by a factor of 50. In this climate, workers who fail to address their own sustainability knowledge and skills gaps risk being left behind.

The report also highlights inequalities in the jobs market, with a persistent gender gap in the green workforce. Currently, 10% of women have at least one green skill, compared with 17% of men, and even though women are gaining green skills more quickly than men, the growth in women entering the green workforce is still three times too slow to close the widening green talent gender gap.

Upskilling 

The good news is that the CIOB Academy is here to help! If you're thinking about developing your sustainability knowledge and skills in 2025 (or encouraging your team to do so), there are a wide range of learning opportunities available through the CIOB.

For example, retrofitting skills is an area highlighted in the report, and we have you covered with a suite of related courses, CPD sessions and publications available. 

Our very popular Energy Efficient Retrofit online course is available to book, while CPD sessions covering The Retrofit Challenge & How Passivhaus could help, PAS 2035, and Opening up the Retrofit Market, for example, can be viewed now. 

The Retrofit of Buildings Technical Information Sheet is available to download (free to members and also available in Chinese language with more translations to come) and is one of our growing catalogue of sustainability-related technical publications.

We have a wide portfolio of learning available to boost your green knowledge and skills, so there is something for everyone from Data, Certification and Assurance, to Soils & Stones Management for a Circular Economy, and from Sustainable Procurement to  Lean and Green Building. You will find content from the UK and internationally among our CPD webinar back catalogue.

You might be interested to know that you can also access Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment courses through the CIOB Academy, thanks to a CIOB partnership with training provider Astutis. 

The IEMA courses and qualifications available through the CIOB Academy include IEMA Environmental Sustainability Skills for the Workforce, IEMA Environmental Sustainability Skills for Managers, and two certificate courses in Environmental Management. This is a great place to start for those wanting a broader introduction that is applicable across a range of industries and roles.

If that’s not enough, our annual sustainability conference is available to watch again.

If you’re already using sustainability knowledge and green skills in the construction sector, then perhaps it’s time you consider getting recognition for it with the Chartered Environmentalist registration.

Whether you set news year’s resolutions or not, developing and demonstrating your sustainability knowledge and skills in 2025 (and that of your teams) is an absolute must to continue to compete in a market that will increasingly demand them.