Kate Buchanan
Kevin Iraheta Sousa
Upskilling workers for the green economy
The green economy is expected to create 24 million jobs by 2030 across industries, including renewable energy, finance, and transportation, as well as architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC).
Yet a skilled labor shortage threatens to slow down the global transition to a low-carbon economy. This is due in part to fragmented labor markets, employers’ reliance on résumés instead of skills, and barriers for individuals who may possess nontraditional qualifications.
The growing demand for green jobs
According to LinkedIn’s Global Green Skills 2023 report, the increasing demand for green skills—those focused on sustainability and climate solutions—is outpacing the increase in supply, raising the prospect of an imminent green skills shortage. Between 2022 and 2023, the share of green talent in the workforce rose by a median of 12.3% across 48 countries, while the share of job postings requiring at least one green skill grew at nearly twice the rate. The report found that globally only one in eight workers possesses one or more green skills, suggesting that the vast majority of workers and jobseekers have yet to attain skills that today’s employers have come to expect.
The acute lack of a skilled green workforce is partially due to broader systemic issues across a fragmented labor market. Employers are struggling to find the talent they need, while unemployed or underemployed individuals are often overlooked for roles requiring postsecondary degrees. And it’s hard to know which training or certification programs are driving the best outcomes.
The world urgently needs a skilled, inclusive, green workforce to ensure a just transition to tomorrow’s green economy.
Why Generation?
The Autodesk Foundation is excited to welcome Generation: You Employed (Generation) to its Work & Prosperity portfolio. Founded in 2015, Generation is a global nonprofit supporting adults in achieving economic mobility through employment in key industries such as technology, healthcare, customer service, skilled trades, and green jobs.
Generation’s employment programs are holistic and consistent across markets, developed in close collaboration with employers to ensure programmatic alignment with in-demand skills. The organization recruits learners based on their drive, motivation, and potential, offering training in technical, behavioral, and mindset skills. Generation aims to immediately place its graduates in good-paying jobs with employers and provides ongoing mentorship and support for graduates through its alumni community.
Generation is developing a set of green skills curricula to train learners for jobs in the built environment, which will focus on key roles such as retrofit advisors, solar panel installers, and heat pump installers.
Mona Mourshed, Generation’s founding global CEO, is an education and workforce development leader, with a deep commitment to driving impact and maintaining high quality standards. She previously led McKinsey & Company’s global education practice and was recognized in 2011 as one of Fortune’s 40 under 40.
“The green transition will not only transform our environment, it will fundamentally shift the world of work. There is an opportunity to ensure that new jobs created by the green economy are filled by a skilled, diverse workforce that includes all communities in this transformation.”
— Mona Mourshed, Founding Global CEO, Generation
Generation measures its impact across three dimensions: breadth, depth, and durability. It currently operates in 18 countries and 35 professions, with 98,000 graduates who have generated $890 million in wages. Its programs have a high success rate, with 81% of graduates securing employment within three months and 70% remaining employed 2 to 5 years later.
Generation’s employer-led approach, data-driven methodology, and focus on accessible training programs make it an invaluable organization in supporting workers’ economic mobility and addressing the global demand for green skills.
Our collaboration
By investing in Generation, we are expanding our portfolio’s impact potential in important international markets and supporting the creation of more green jobs around the world.
With the Autodesk Foundation’s support, Generation plans to develop three green jobs curricula for select markets, which will be used to train and place more than 2,000 unemployed or underemployed learners in green industries, and better understand which aspects of its curricula are transferable and relevant internationally.
Generation will leverage Autodesk resources, industry expertise, talent, and networks to accelerate its mission and scale its efforts to prepare workers and learners for the transition to a green economy.
Learn more about Generation’s approach to breaking down systemic barriers to employment and upskilling learners and workers to support the transition to a greener future globally.