Over 21% of jobs in Germany are “green-driven”, 5% emission-intensive – OECD

More than one in five jobs in Germany are related to “green activities”, while less than one in 20 are in emission-intensive industries, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an association of mostly wealthy countries. “In Germany, 21.1 percent of the workforce is employed in green-driven occupations,” which include jobs that “do not directly contribute to emission reduction but are likely to be in demand because they support green activities,” the OECD said in its 2024 Employment Outlook. Eastern German state Sachsen-Anhalt has the highest share of jobs related to environmental activities, the organisation said. Across the OECD, 20 percent of the workforce is employed in green-driven occupations, and about seven percent in emission-intensive occupations.

“At the same time, 4.8 percent of employment is in emission-intensive jobs, with the highest concentration in [the eastern state of] Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,” the OECD said. “In Germany, like in the OECD, men are more likely to work in both green-driven and [greenhouse gas]-intensive jobs than women, while older workers are more prevalent in GHG-intensive occupations.” As emission-intensive occupations decline because of the push towards climate neutrality, policies that support incomes and facilitate job transitions are essential to ensure support for the net-zero transition, the organisation said. But compared to most other OECD countries, earnings losses following job displacement in high-emission industries are relatively lower in Germany, averaging 29 percent over six years, compared to an OECD average of 36 percent. “The relatively low level of earnings losses following job displacement compared to those in other OECD countries may be a result of specific policies that effectively support workers and job transitions,” such as job search assistance, skill training, and income loss compensation, the organisation said.

A shortage of at least 300,000 skilled workers by 2030 looms over the country as demand for jobs in Germany's renewable energy industry sector rises, according to the German Economic Institute (IW). Hundreds of thousands of skilled workers are needed in the solar and wind power sectors before the end of the decade to achieve Germany's renewable expansion targets. According to data by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), companies in the German manufacturing and service sectors generated 107.5 billion euros in revenue from output that protected the environment in 2022, a 16.9 percent increase from the previous year.