LinkedIn Global Green Skills Report 2026: Workers with green skills are getting hired at 1.5x the rate of the wider workforce

Published ahead of COP31, LinkedIn’s Global Green Skills Report 2026 finds that the share of green hiring grew by 25% year-on-year – at twice the rate of workers gaining green skills, up 13%. Demand is on the rise as businesses face pressure to manage costs, increase efficiency and reduce environmental impact – but the skills gap is a worsening bottleneck to progress.

• Demand for workers with green skills is growing twice as fast as supply, with the share of green hiring up 25% compared with 13% growth in the share of green talent in the workforce.
  
  
• Workers with green skills are being hired at more than 1.5x the rate of the wider workforce, despite a challenging jobs market.
  
  
• Nearly three in four green hires (74%) are now going into jobs without traditionally green titles, as businesses look for workers who can help cut costs, improve efficiency and reduce their environmental impact.
  
  
• Gen Z is leading the way, with the proportion of younger workers with green skills growing by an average of 17% a year since 2021, nearly twice as fast as among Millennials.
  
  
• Access to opportunity needs to broaden, with Gen Z twice as likely to have difficulty finding a green job than Millennials and just 3 in 10 green workers being women.
  
  

What’s driving the demand for green skills?

As businesses face pressure to manage costs, increase efficiency and reduce environmental impact, nearly three-quarters (74%) of green hires are now going into jobs without traditionally green titles, reflecting the value of these skills across the economy and beyond specialist environmental roles. The industries adding green skills the fastest over the last five years are Financial Services (+18% annually), Technology and Media (+15%), and Retail (+14%). The sustained demand is helping workers with green skills get hired at 1.5x the rate of the wider workforce, despite a challenging labour market.

Demand for talent is outpacing supply across every industry measured by LinkedIn, raising concerns that skills shortages could hold back business growth and progress towards climate targets.

The growth of AI is also adding to the importance of these skills. The proportion of data centre workers with at least one green skill has more than tripled over the past five years, from 4% in 2021 to 14% in 2026, as skills in energy management and operational efficiency become increasingly important. During the same time period, green workers with AI skills have grown 54% annually as the technology is applied to the transition.

Who is getting access to the green skills advantage?

The report also reveals significant differences by age and gender in the green workforce. Gen Z is developing green skills faster than any other generation, with the proportion of younger workers with these skills growing by an average of 17% annually since 2021, nearly twice the rate of Millennials (9%).

And while younger workers are particularly keen to pursue green careers, finding opportunities remains a challenge. More than half (57%) of Gen Z workers surveyed would ideally like a job that contributes to tackling climate change or the energy transition, compared with 50% of Millennials and 43% of workers overall. Yet 54% of Gen Z say they find it difficult to find a green job, compared with just 26% of Millennials.

Women also remain significantly underrepresented in the green workforce, accounting for just three in ten workers with green skills globally. At the current rate of progress, LinkedIn estimates it will take more than 30 years to close the gender gap.

What needs to happen next?

To help close the growing skills gap, LinkedIn is calling on governments, employers and education providers to:

1. Put green skills at the heart of climate and economic planning. Governments should work more closely with businesses to identify skills shortages and ensure the workforce can keep pace with investment. LinkedIn is calling for workforce readiness to be included in the second Global Stocktake, due to conclude at COP33 in 2028.
   
   
2. Make green skills training more widely available. Build these skills into existing courses, apprenticeships and workplace training so people can develop the expertise businesses need, including by combining green skills with AI and other technical capabilities.
   
   
3. Make it easier for people to access green jobs. Employers should focus more on what people can do rather than their qualifications or previous job titles, an approach that could expand the available green talent pool by 3.5 times. Greater access to training and employment opportunities is also needed for women and young people.
   
   

Sue Dukeopens in a new tab, Managing Director for EMEA and Global Vice President of Public Policy at LinkedIn, said:

“Green skills are no longer a niche. They’re how businesses build efficiency, manage risk, and stay competitive. Demand for them is now outpacing supply in every industry we measure, and that makes talent the bottleneck for progress. Ambition alone won’t upgrade a grid, retrofit a home, or make a data center more efficient – people will. Governments and employers must treat green skills as core economic infrastructure and invest in training now, or workers will miss out on the jobs, growth and economic opportunity the transition presents.”

Resources

• LinkedIn Global Green Skills Report 2026

FAQs

Q: What does LinkedIn mean by a green skill?

A: Green skills are those that directly combat the effects of climate change. These could be technical skills relevant to renewable industries (knowing how to preserve water systems or install heat pumps for example), or broader skills such as climate action planning, corporate sustainability, sustainable procurement, sustainability reporting, and impact assessment. Businesses across all sectors are doubling down on efficiency, resilience and competitiveness - as well as their climate commitments - green skills help them get there.

Q: What is a green job?

A: Green jobs are those that have sustainability at their core and cannot be performed without extensive knowledge of green skills. For example, a Sustainability Officer would be in charge of implementing and upholding a business’s sustainability strategy. A Product Lifecycle Analyst might evaluate and reduce the environmental impact of consumer products as it moves through the supply chain. We now see 3 in 4 green hires going into jobs not traditionally considered to be green, as businesses focus on efficiency, resilience and competitiveness.

Q: Are AI and the green transition not competing priorities?

A: AI is resource-intensive during data center construction and model training, but once established it has huge potential to accelerate progress in the green transition. The number of data center workers with green skills has tripled in the last five years, with operational efficiency the most common skill. At the same time, green workers have been adding AI skills at a 54% annual rate as the technology is applied to the transition.

Q: Which generation is most interested in working in a green job?

A: Gen Z is developing green skills faster than any other generation, with the proportion of younger workers with these skills growing by an average of 17% annually since 2021, nearly twice the rate of Millennials (9%). And while younger workers are particularly keen to pursue green careers, finding opportunities remains a challenge. More than half (57%) of Gen Z workers surveyed would ideally like a job that contributes to tackling climate change or the energy transition, compared with 50% of Millennials and 43% of workers overall. Yet 54% of Gen Z say they find it difficult to find a green job, compared with just 26% of Millennials.

Q: How can the green skills gap be closed?

A: We need to see policymakers, educators and businesses work together to put green skills at the heart of climate and economic planning, make training more widely available, and broaden access to jobs. LinkedIn is calling for workforce readiness to be included in the second Global Stocktake, due to conclude at COP33 in 2028.