NEWS

As climate change continues to apply pressure to policy makers at the highest levels of government and business, ambitious sustainability targets, commitments, and mandates are being introduced at an unprecedented pace. Yet, LinkedIn data reveals a concerning reality: the global workforce is not equipped to meet these demands. To achieve these goals, the green talent pool must at least double by 2050. Without significant investment in workforce upskilling, nearly half of the green jobs needed will go unfilled due to a lack of qualified candidates.

“Every climate goal around the world, every commitment made, is at risk if we don’t have a workforce that can deliver the change we urgently need. The economic opportunity is there, and a promising skills-based pathway exists. This year is an inflection point for our planet—and for workers—as countries and companies write new climate commitments; they must include explicit investments in the green workforce,” says Sue Duke, VP of Public Policy and Economic Graph at LinkedIn.

The Chatham Group set out to determine how the “green skills gap” is impacting the manufacturing sector, a cornerstone of the global economy. Our research revealed that there is an innovation boom in industrials and manufacturing, focused on waste reduction and the recycling of previously useless byproducts. Organizations that have successfully implemented these processes have seen massive benefits to profitability, employee engagement, and sustainability ratings. Despite these promising new advancements, there is still a long way to go. Manufacturing has an important role to play in decisions about carbon emissions, circular economy models, and waste reduction. Our clients in the specialty chemical, advanced materials, and industrial gas industries are opening up new positions to help them stay ahead of the curve. Some of the key areas of need include:

• Design and Product Engineering – Designing products with reduced environmental impact throughout their lifecycle
• Energy Consumption – Optimizing energy consumption within manufacturing facilities
• Circular Economy Practices – Implementing strategies to reuse and recycle materials within production processes 
• Life Cycle Analysis – Assessing the environmental impact of products throughout their lifecycle

These four key areas represent where the “green skills gap” is most prevalent in the manufacturing space. Potential reasons for this disparity include educational gaps, limited access to specialized training, rapid technological advancements, limited opportunity for development in these career paths historically, and unclear ROI on green investments. As we point out in this month’s edition of the CREST newsletter, sustainability-focused engineering programs are becoming widely popular at top universities around the country. Unfortunately, it is going to take a while for those efforts to translate to meaningful change in the workforce. We recently spoke with the former COO of a textile-manufacturing organization that is making waves in the industry with its circular recycling process, and she cited a lack of career advancement as a reason she didn’t pursue the sustainability path sooner. While she is extremely passionate and mission-driven, she didn’t see the same opportunity for advancement in circularity or regulatory opportunities as opposed to a more traditional engineering career track. She feels that it has shifted dramatically over the last decade and now sees these areas with the greatest opportunity.  

The CREST recruiting team at The Chatham Group has done a deep dive into this phenomenon in order to devise strategies that will allow our clients to close the gap more quickly than their competitors and stay ahead of the curve. Some of those strategies include: 

• Offering specialized trainings for existing workers and promising engineers on new green technologies and sustainability practices
• Establish relationships with educational institutions that offer specialized programs in the areas in which you hope to grow
• Market to candidates with diverse backgrounds and encourage people from different industries and disciplines to enter the manufacturing sector with green skills
• Promote green leadership by encouraging C-suite level team members to prioritize process innovation and sustainability initiatives

While it can take time to implement these strategies, the impact on profitability, employee engagement, and environmental health is undeniable. The CREST group was born out of a passion to help our clients close the gap and realize each of these benefits. Charles Darwin said, “It’s not the strongest that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change.” And while we know he was most likely referring to some exotic bird species in the Galapagos, the same has proven to be true of the manufacturing sector in this era of rapid technological advancement and evolving regulations. 

Our industry leaders are available for a consultation on how to hire strategically and attract the top talent this sector has to offer: crest@mrichatham.com