Challenges to a just transition

- Green skills intensity in new jobs will be critical measures of success in the green economy. But ensuring everyone can participate equally, regardless of who they are or where they come from, may be the ultimate prize. We call this a just transition. Like any seismic shift, the move will not be without tricky challenges. The good news is our green skills data can help identify barriers early on and how to overcome them. Today, our green skills data shows that we have inequities across three key areas: income, gender, and education. Let's take a closer look at these three. We can see the green skills trends vary across income levels in countries. And those income levels closely correlate with the overall rate of greening. Between 2015 and 2021, green talent grew by 39% in high-income countries versus just 18% in low-income countries. This impacts economic opportunity because we know the importance of green skilling to both augment existing roles and create new jobs. Looking at last year alone, we've seen that high and upper middle-income countries maintained a steady rate of green hiring while lower income countries saw deceleration. We can also see there is a gender gap. For every 10 men considered green talent, there are just six women. A number that has remained static since 2015. And in that time, we've seen men transitioning into greener jobs faster than women. The encouraging news is that half of the countries examined have narrowed the gender gap as female talent is rising faster than male green talent. What role does education play? While green talent has grown among workers of all levels of education, it is growing faster among those holding a bachelor's degree or above. We already know that green skills are crucial in creating jobs and innovating existing ones, so wider availability of skills education becomes an imperative. So too does better skills transfer across different ages. Globally, millennials represent the leading demographic in green talent growth in the last five years. Facilitating knowledge and skills transfers could help accelerate the growth in older cohorts and to ensure that everyone can fully participate in the green economy.