According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), 24 million new "green jobs" will be created globally by 2030. Finding and training the people to fill those jobs is a multipronged task that involves recruiting and engaging a new pipeline of talent. The Biden administration’s American Climate Corps and Green Skills Passport, a free program from EY and Microsoft, are two examples of programs designed to engage younger people, providing them with training to develop sustainability skills. And earning a bachelor’s degree in sustainability is possible at 421 U.S. colleges, which also helps build a pipeline.
But multiple reports, including Microsoft’s Closing the Sustainability Skills Gap: Helping businesses move from pledges to progress and LinkedIn’s Global Green Skills Report 2023, indicate focusing on youth alone will not address the need for the nearly 4,000 corporations that have committed to be net zero by 2030.
Chris Boone, a professor at the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University, said, "We're not graduating enough students in sustainability to meet the demand. We need to provide alternative pathways for people who may not have the time, resources or inclination to spend two or four years going through a regular degree program. That’s where executive education comes in: How can we change the mindsets of people who are already in these positions or moving into these positions?"
Making the investment
An increasing number of companies are recognizing that investing in sustainability education for employees, leaders, suppliers and boards is critical to achieving aggressive climate and social goals. One of the key findings in Microsoft’s report, for example, is that "virtually all workers will need basic sustainability fluency." And LinkedIn‘s research shows that between February 2022 and February 2023, its job postings requiring at least one green skill grew by a median of 15.2 percent. Investing in sustainability education will help everyone "own" sustainability at a corporation, increasing the potential for success.
An early example of a corporation educating and engaging employees comes from Walmart’s "My Sustainability Plan" (MSP) a decade ago in which employees were asked to make a single change to reflect the company’s goals — ride a bike to work, volunteer, clean a beach. The ripple effect was palpable: Walmart employees began taking more ownership of sustainability within the stores and their communities.
Today’s approach, however, is increasingly more formal. Author Andrew Winston, for example, has partnered with BCG to help develop The Climate & Sustainability Accelerator, an executive education class powered by BCG U that is "designed to cover business essentials in climate & sustainability, equipping leaders and change-makers with the know-how to take advantage of this rapidly changing world." Specific to the highest levels of an organization, Helle Bank Jorgensen runs Competent Boards, which o
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