A large number of businesses are witnessing a lack of green skills among their employees. This will reportedly see slow to low progress in transitioning to a low carbon economy, reveals a report that’s collaborated with Spanish renewable energy giant Iberdrola.
Greener industries are seeing a hurdle of workers not being aware of the skills or knowledge to move to a fully sustainable setting.
“The green transition is threatened by business leaders’ failure to develop and source green skills,” the Green Skills Outlook report by Economist Impact and Iberdrola says.
The report defines green skills as “the knowledge, competencies, values and attributes needed to develop and support a sustainable, low-carbon and resource-efficient society.”
These skills can range from specific technical expertise, such as installing solar panels, to more general practices like corporate sustainability reporting.
Although a significant majority of business leaders, who were surveyed, view skills as the primary catalyst for the green transition, only 55% of them have implemented or intend to implement programs for their employees to acquire these skills.
“This leaves a large fraction of the workforce without crucial skills training, which risks obstructing progress in the green transition,” said the report.
62% of respondents expect that such technical delays will lead to a slower transition to a green economy.