Britain is racing to keep up in the global green jobs boom–but new data suggests the nation is dangerously short on skills
Demand for green expertise is outpacing Britain’s ability to train workers—leaving sectors with stalled net-zero plans and thousands of roles they can’t fill
The 2025 LinkedIn Green Skills Report reveals that as the world finally shifts from lofty climate pledges to real-world action, employers can’t hire green talent fast enough.
Worldwide, companies are snapping up workers with green expertise at breakneck speed—hiring them 46.6% faster than average—but the supply of skilled workers simply isn’t keeping up.
And the situation in the UK is even more stark.
UK green skills in demand
Between 2021 and 2025, Britain saw a 7.8% yearly surge in green hiring—a clear sign that demand is booming. Yet the growth in actual green talent crawled along at just 3.4%, leaving a yawning skills gap.
Nowhere is this more pronounced than in the City: the financial sector posted an astonishing 15.3% jump in green hiring last year, fuelled by climate-finance rules and EU regulations, but the rise in green-skilled workers was a meagre 4.1%.
Sustainable growth, greenhouse gas protocol knowledge, and net zero emissions chops are among the hottest skills in the country, as both government and industry scramble to meet climate targets.
Climate adaptation roles are booming in the public sector, while Britain’s push towards a circular economy means nearly one in four green jobs in 2023 came from waste and recycling. Supply chain scrutiny is intensifying too, with responsible sourcing rocketing by a staggering 118.2% year-on-year.
All eyes on the energy sector
But nowhere is the crisis more urgent than in the energy transition. Ministers have warned that a crippling shortage of engineers threatens Britain’s green ambitions.
Heat pumps—central to the push to clean up home heating—require an army of skilled installers, and according to Octopus Energy Services, the UK will need 100,000 heat-pump engineers within the coming years. It remains to be seen whether Rachel Reeves’ recent announcement to scale back subsidies for heat pumps impacts such expectations.
The firm is scrambling to plug the gap with apprenticeships and two-to-three-week retraining programmes for plumbers and boiler engineers. Many recruits say they’re driven by the promise of well-paid, future-proof careers and the chance to help fix the climate.
Meanwhile, the government is pouring billions into energy infrastructure, including a colossal $19 billion UK-US investment in next-generation nuclear reactors.
Will the skills gap be plugged?
Whitehall is rolling out new initiatives like the Green Accelerator Skills Programme (GRASP) to funnel workers into clean energy, construction and agriculture, while the newly created Office of Clean Energy Jobs is meant to coordinate Britain’s response to the booming green economy.
Yet despite such flurries of activity and bold investment, the message of the report is unmistakable: Britain must dramatically speed up its green skills revolution, or risk falling behind in the race for the jobs of Our Fair Future.