The green transition is underway within firms as tasks become greener, but access to these opportunities remains uneven.
Researchers at the University of Birmingham have developed a measure of job ‘greenness’ and are exploring how to make the transition economically and socially equitable.
Article by Adam Green, freelance journalist.
In recent years, corporations have reduced their use of climate-related aspirations in a phenomenon now referred to as “green-hushing.” Yet recent geopolitical shocks and fuel-price volatility are reinforcing the urgency and complexity of the green transition. This has contributed to rising energy insecurity, prompting increased investment in renewable energy supply chains, including solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries, while higher fuel prices have pushed electric car sales to record heights.
Green innovation remains a key driver for businesses, and employment linked to environmental sustainability is growing faster than overall job creation across Europe. Estimates from the World Economic Forum show that the green transition will impact 14.4 million jobs globally by 2030, with a net gain of 9.6 million new roles despite 2.4 million being phased out. Employers are quietly preparing for this greener future by investing in talent and capabilities. In other words, firms are not disengaging from climate issues, they are simply talking about them less. This shift in communication has made the rise of green jobs harder to track.
Professor Robert Elliott, an economist at the University of Birmingham, studies the intersection of environmental change and labour markets. Using an interdisciplinary approach and high-quality survey data from countries such as the Netherlands and Japan, his work offers a more precise way to measure green jobs amid the green-hushing phenomenon. “In the case of Japan, we have an original data set because we were able to include our own green job questions in the survey, which allowed us to answer questions we couldn’t before,” Professor Elliott explains. This has enabled new insights into who can access these roles, how they are distributed across demographics, and their overall quality. Professor Elliott uses tasks to measure how “green” jobs are and to track who benefits from the transition in real terms.
The International Labour Organization defines green jobs as decent jobs that contribute to preserving or restoring the environment, whether in traditional sectors such as manufacturing and construction, or in emerging green sectors such as renewable energy and energy efficiency.
Policymakers have focused on innovation as a way of creating green jobs, but there is little research into the dynamics of the relationship between eco-innovation (the development and adoption of green technologies) and green employment. Professor Elliott’s work fills this gap in the literature. He found that companies that start using green products increase the share of green jobs by 19.7%, even when overall employment levels remain unchanged. Rather than creating or eliminating roles, firms are redesigning tasks to make them greener, embedding green work in existing sectors as they adopt green technologies – for instance, as the automotive sector moves to produce more electric vehicles.
It’s not just a dichotomy of green vs not green – we’ve developed a measure of greenness.
In this context, Professor Elliott and colleagues developed an index that can determine how green jobs are. “It’s not just a dichotomy of green vs not green – we’ve developed a measure of greenness,” he explains. Instead of green roles, the focus is on green tasks, a crucial shift in our conception of the evolving green economy. The job title may have stayed the same, but the work has become greener.
Wage
Overall, employees benefit from transitioning to green work. “The jobs are better. They are higher paid, more skilled, less routine, and cleaner,” Professor Elliott says. Previous research had found that green workers earn more than non-green workers, and Professor Elliott’s team wanted to know just how big that gap was. “In a rolling survey of 10,000 workers in Japan, we measured green jobs in terms of certain tasks – for example, pollution reduction, resource conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy – which allowed us to assess the wage premium,” he says.
The study found a clear and consistent green wage premium. On average, workers in green jobs earn 7.3% more than their non-green counterparts, a premium that increases as the level of green intensity (a measure based on time spent on green activities) within a role rises. A 10% increase in green intensity increases hourly wages by 0.8%.
Business size
Employer-level trends further illustrate how green employment is distributed across the economy. Larger firms tend to employ more green workers, although the proportion of green jobs relative to total employment is often lower than in smaller firms. There is also a strong link between green jobs and higher-paying firms, suggesting that the transition to a greener economy is closely associated with productivity, investment, and higher-value economic activity.
Age
Yet Professor Elliott’s research in Japan uncovered how not everyone benefits equally from green jobs. They are disproportionately held by older workers overall; however, roles with the highest levels of green intensity tend to be occupied by younger workers on average. This suggests that while experienced workers are well represented in the green economy, younger cohorts are increasingly moving into the most environmentally-focused roles.
Education
Education and skill level also play a significant role. Workers in green jobs are more likely to hold university degrees alongside professional qualifications, and are more commonly employed in high-skilled occupations. The green transition remains closely tied to demand for advanced skills and specialised knowledge. In Europe, skills supply is not yet meeting demand; from 2023 to 2024, green talent supply increased by only 5.6%, compared to an 11.6% increase in demand.
The UK is already facing an emerging green energy skills gap of approximately 200,000 workers. Understanding the relationship between education and green skills is the first step towards addressing this gap.
At the same time, the shift towards greener jobs raises concerns about widening inequality. These roles are typically higher skilled and more likely to require advanced education. Addressing this challenge will require a broader approach to skills development. “We need to think carefully about how to train the next generation for eco-innovation and green compliance,” says Professor Elliott. Ensuring that reskilling pathways are accessible and inclusive will be key to delivering a transition that is economically and socially equitable.
Gender
Employers should also consider the report’s insight into gender differences. While green jobs as a whole remain male-dominated, with men almost four times more likely to be employed in green jobs, higher-paying green roles, such as environmental officer positions within large corporations, are more likely to be held by women. These roles, however, are relatively scarce and do little to offset broader disparities.
Much of the gap reflects occupational sorting: men and women tend to enter different types of green work. This matters for reskilling efforts. “Someone who builds diesel cars can use the same skills to get work building electric vehicles,” says Professor Elliott. “However, these types of blue-collar jobs are also male-oriented.” Retraining and reskilling in any transition must avoid entrenching gender inequalities in the most accessible, but already male-oriented, roles.
Professor Elliott’s research in the Netherlands provided detailed evidence on how environmental policy reshapes labour markets. As environmental taxes increase, firms face higher costs for pollution-intensive inputs, prompting them to reorganise production. The findings highlight that in non-industrial sectors, a 10% rise in environmental taxes is associated with a 1.27% reduction in total employment, but a 6.5% increase in green employment.
Policymakers can adopt either a “carrot” approach, through subsidies, or a “stick” approach via regulation, but effectiveness depends on context. “Governments support green innovation, firms respond by investing, and in turn hire green workers, who are better paid and more skilled,” Professor Elliott says. More specifically, firms that voluntarily undertake eco-innovation create more green jobs, but subsidy-driven policies over stricter regulations tend to drive this increase in green employment.
Similar strategies could be applied in the UK, particularly in sectors where the country already has a competitive foothold. The automotive industry, anchored by firms such as Jaguar Land Rover and Nissan, represents a key opportunity to scale up electric vehicles and create green roles for existing workers. Measures like subsidies for battery recycling or targeted tax incentives will be crucial if the UK aims to remain competitive in green technologies.
The transition also presents an opportunity to address regional inequalities. Renewable energy infrastructure, including wind farms, is more likely to be located in Scotland and the north of England; strategic subsidisation of industry in these areas could contribute to levelling up economies in these regions and helping locals transition to green work.
“You can invest heavily in retraining and reskilling displaced workers, or you can leave adjustment more to market forces...Each approach involves trade-offs.”
More broadly, the research speaks to a longstanding debate in economics about the appropriate level of state intervention. “China’s interventionist approach has successfully fostered a globally competitive electric vehicle industry through sustained investment in skills and innovation,” Professor Elliott observes. “Western economies have relied more on market forces, and risk falling behind in certain key green technologies.”
Different policy models also shape how labour market transitions unfold. Nordic countries, for example, prioritise worker protection and retraining, smoothing adjustment but potentially slowing the pace of structural change. “You can invest heavily in retraining and reskilling displaced workers, or you can leave adjustment more to market forces,” Professor Elliott explains. “Each approach involves trade-offs."
Crucially, green jobs will not be confined to a distinct “green sector.” Professor Elliott’s work has mapped how the transition is already happening within firms, as tasks and processes, but not necessarily job titles, become greener. In many cases, it is current workers who are carrying out greener tasks. Transforming an economy from carbon-intensive to sustainable systems takes time, investment, and policy support, but the change looks increasingly certain to happen. “We want to get across the idea that the green transition is happening,” says Professor Elliott. “Green jobs are increasing, and they’re better jobs.” By identifying how green tasks are distributed across jobs and workers, this research gives employers and policymakers a clearer basis for designing targeted training, education, and industrial strategies.
“We want to get across the idea that the green transition is happening...Green jobs are increasing, and they’re better jobs.”
Taken together, the evidence shows that green jobs are growing, often pay better, and are increasingly emerging through changing tasks within existing roles—but access to these opportunities remains uneven, and policy design plays a critical role in shaping who benefits.
Learn more about Professor Elliott’s green index, which marks a crucial shift in how we understand the evolving green economy.
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Professor of Economics
Professor Elliott is an applied economist focused on international, development, environmental, and energy economics.
