Green economy skills in high demand as SGP 2030 advances

ESG is the most transferable skill and is required by more than 500 job roles in 2022.

Climate change and sustainability will increasingly be the top agenda for both public and private sectors in line with the Singapore Green Plan (SGP) 2030, a report by SkillsFuture Singapore revealed.

The Green Economy has seen rapid developments in the sustainability space, including Green Mark certification for energy-efficient and sustainable buildings, rapid solar energy systems deployment and floating solar farms to enable clean energy transition, and adoption of electric vehicles and charging stations for private owners and public transport fleets. Mandatory climate-related disclosure requirements for listed firms will begin in 2025.

Further efforts include the Sustainable Sentosa Framework, alternative fuel bunkering for the maritime sector, and sustainable aviation fuel and carbon offsetting in the aviation sector. 

Government agencies are also focusing on climate change, such as coastal protection and improved flood responses through technology, and digitised climate modelling to predict long-term weather and sea-level patterns impacting Singapore.

These efforts aim to meet the SGP 2030 goals and beyond, but the report said the local workforce must be equipped with sector- and function-specific green skills needed in emerging sectors, and transferable green skills applicable across sectors and job roles.

Cross-sector and cross-functional skills continue to see high transferability with moderate to high demand growth from 2019 to 2022. These skills, such as Environment and Social Governance, Carbon Footprint Management, and Energy Management and Audit, are consistently sought after by employers across job roles and sectors.

Skills in emerging areas such as agrifood, sustainable finance and carbon management experienced high demand growth in the past two years, said the report. The emergence created a demand for professionals with the skills needed in green financial structuring, carbon management and carbon services. 

Furthermore, efforts are ongoing to build up a technology-enabled agrifood sector and workforce to meet Singapore’s 30-by-30 food security target.

Green skills supporting the urban green environment show moderate demand growth and transferability across sectors. Examples of these skills include Green Building Strategy Implementation and Green Facilities Management. 

Since the inception of the Building and Construction Authority’s (BCA) Green Mark Scheme in 2005, the built environment sector has pushed for better sustainability outcomes through smart building technologies, resource conservation, enhancing buildings’ resilience to climate change and healthier urban environments. 

Three highly transferable green skills across sectors and job roles are seeing high growth momentum, including ESG, Carbon Footprint Management, and Sustainable Manufacturing.

ESG is the most transferable skill and is required by more than 500 job roles in 2022. Job roles that need this skill include internal auditors, business valuation managers, and product managers.

Meanwhile, Carbon Footprint Management and Sustainable Manufacturing skills include job roles such as energy engineers, compliance advisory managers, operations and maintenance managers and engineering procurement managers.