India’s green jobs are growing but are colleges ready to supply the talent?

• India needs a lot of governance specialists, renewable energy, EV tech experts and more.
• Most of these jobs require strong foundational STEM skills; engineers are most in demand.
• Certifications and industry upskilling programmes are helping fill the gap in talent shortage.
  

India’s green jobs market has exploded, thanks to its net zero commitments, thrust for electric vehicles (EVs) and accelerated push for renewable energy. By the end of 2023, there are expected to be as many as 18.5 million of such jobs across industries and this will almost double by 2047, says Teamlease. Here is the catch – while universities and colleges are catching up, it’s not as fast as the demand growth.

The growth in green job postings is around 15% in the last one year, says LinkedIn. Naukri pegs it as high as 27% with the EV sector being the star.

“According to the Global Green Skills Report 2023 by LinkedIn, India has seen a 140% jump in auto industry workers with Electric Vehicle(EV) skills from 2018-23. This is the highest growth rate globally,” said Hari Krishnan Nair, Co-founder, Great Learning.

Jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs

Green jobs are expected to almost double by 2047, i.e. touch 35 million. Apart from electrification of vehicles, greening the entire supply chain through green procurement, electrification of fleets, reduction of waste, packaging and optimization of inventory — is also expected to produce more jobs.

“The jobs are at all levels — from entry, mid and senior level. While entry level jobs are on creating and implementing green technology and supporting consulting practices and R&D. The mid and senior levels are mostly around R&D, supervisory and project ownership roles and more strategic in nature,” said Sumit Kumar, chief business officer, TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship.

Green job roles are being created around sustainability, environmental, social and governance (ESG). “Governance specialists, renewable energy experts, being hired across sectors where there is an immense focus on sustainability and ESG,” said Parag Ghatpande, director - assessment solutions at Aon India.

Source: TeamLease EdTech

Show me the skills

As expected, the scaling up of skills while it has started, is yet to match up to the speed in job postings. Krishnan says that the rapid industrial expansion outpaces curriculum updates in colleges, resulting in a shortage of skilled talent.

Most of the expertise that’s needed to drive India’s green transformation requires strong foundational STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) skills.

“Currently, the key qualifications needed for such (green) roles would be an engineering degree with 5-10 years’ experience within the sustainability sector and experience of sustainability certification schemes,” says Ghatpande.

In fact, most of the jobs require engineering degrees — both standalone or specialised to environment science.

“The common degrees are Environmental Science or Engineering for roles in environmental conservation and management. Renewable Energy Engineering or Sustainable Energy Studies for careers in the renewable energy sector. Agricultural Science or Sustainable Agriculture for those interested in sustainable farming practices,” says Jaideep P Kewalramani, head of employability business and COO, TeamLease EdTech.

Green certifications in vogue

On top of the basic degrees, there are certifications as well. Green Building Certifications such as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for sustainable construction and architecture. Certifications in Environmental Management like ISO 14001, for professionals focusing on sustainability within organisations.

For now, organisations which quickly need a lot of employees with green skills are developing talent by upskilling and reskilling the existing workforce on green technologies. “Also there is an active collaboration with academia in curating programs to create talent pipelines,” says Kumar.

Added to that several online learning platforms offer tailored certificate courses and modules to help professionals kickstart their careers in the EV industry. “These courses often feature industry-relevant curricula, real-world projects, live mentorship by experts, and expert-led masterclasses,” says Krishnan.

India is steadfast in its commitment to go green. As such jobs explode, it’s up to the professionals and young aspirants to build their green skills to move towards a sustainable career ahead.

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