Green Jobs Barometer

Our Green Jobs Barometer measures the relative performance of UK's regions, nations and industry sectors on their progress developing green jobs* over time. Now in its fourth year, the Barometer aims to support a fair transition to net zero emissions by building an evidence base of the impact on jobs and communities across the country.

The data is based upon five key pillars which can be explored below by sector and region.

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2.4%

5.6%

272,178 Green jobs advertised, 3.3% of the total job market

Resilient demand for green skills

The proportion of green job adverts to total job adverts has grown across all UK regions and nations, reaching 3.3% in 2024 (up from 2.3% in 2023, and 1.2% in 2021 when the Barometer was first launched). The enhanced demand for green skills this year has equated to a 9.2% increase in green job adverts nationwide, bringing the total to 272,178, more than double the 124,600 roles first recorded in 2021.

Given that the Barometer has recorded a 22.5% contraction in the overall job market last year, these results demonstrate considerable resilience in the demand for green skills across the UK.

Each new green job is also having a larger knock-on impact on employment than ever before. Nationally, the green employment multiplier has increased to 2.7 - meaning for every 10 new green jobs created an additional 27 jobs are created elsewhere in the economy. This is the largest year-on-year increase since the Barometer began. The Energy sector saw an even higher multiplier effect of 9.2, driven by a surge in green job adverts in regions like Scotland, which also helped the North East see the largest increase in the green employment multiplier (+0.4).

34% of UK green job ads in London and the South East

For the fourth year running, Scotland has taken the top spot for the highest proportion (5.6%) of green job adverts of any region, and enjoys the joint largest increase from last year relative to the other regions and nations, equating to 28,667 roles (an increase of 2,188), triple the size of the Scottish green jobs market that was first recorded in 2021.

The proportionate demand for green skills in London continues to grow, climbing two positions to third place in the rankings for the proportion of green jobs adverts (3.7%). Green jobs adverts in London totalled 58,585 (13,366 more than last year) more than twice that of Scotland's total and 3.4 times the number first recorded in 2021.

This year Northern Ireland achieved the second largest proportion of green job adverts as a share of total adverts (4.0%) equating to 2,792 roles. Yorkshire and the Humber saw a larger than average increase in the proportion of green job adverts this year, jumping from 2.1% to 3.4%, raising its green job creation ranking from 10th last year to joint 4th this year, along with the South West.

The North East (2.4%), Wales (2.7%) and the East of England (2.7%) were the poorest performing regions in terms of the proportion of green job adverts to total job adverts this year, but these regions have seen the proportionate demand for green skills double, or almost double, since 2021.

34% of UK green job ads are for professional, scientific, and technical businesses

Overall, the share of job adverts that are classified as green this year has increased in nearly all sectors, with the exception of the public services, hospitality and other service sectors.

Professional, scientific, and technical activities continue to lead the total number of green roles advertised, accounting for 92,250 job ads in 2024 (down 4,410 from last year), which equates to 8.3% of the total job ads for the sector (over 2.3 times larger than the 3.6% share recorded in 2021 when the Barometer first launched). The construction sector takes 2nd place with 39,898 green roles advertised, a 62.8% increase from last year (equating to an additional 15,384 roles), the largest increase of any sector and now accounting for 6.9% of all construction jobs advertised (nearly 4.3 times larger than the 1.6% share recorded in 2021). The retail sector was 3rd with 31,277 green roles advertised, a 71.8% increase from last year (equating to 13,070 additional roles) accounting for 2.2% of all retail jobs advertised (5.5 times the 0.4% share first recorded in 2021).

The energy sector, while coming in at 6th place with 11,807 green roles advertised, increased the number of green job ads by 18.2% (accounting for 1,816 additional roles) and continues to lead for the largest proportion (45.0%) of green jobs adverts, more than double the 21.1% first recorded in 2021. The Education (0.3%), Hospitality (0.4%) and Health (0.9%) sectors all have a much lower share of green job adverts than other sectors, but all these sectors have seen an increase in the proportion of green roles advertised compared to 2021.

80% of employees believe their employers will reduce emissions in line with the UK’s net zero ambitions, only 40% think by 2050.

This year employee sentiment towards the environmental friendliness of their employment saw its first ever increase since the Barometer began in 2021, jumping to an average score of 6.9 (from 6.5) out of 10. This suggests that the progress being made across the economy to transition towards net zero is beginning to be felt by employees.

There is also a strong level of optimism, across the UK, about the opportunities presented by the net zero transition. Residents in all regions believe the transition will create more jobs than are lost. Younger age groups are more optimistic about the net number of jobs created by the transition, with sentiment peaking among 25-34 year-olds. In contrast, those over 55 are more likely to view the transition as potentially job-destroying.

However, the Barometer has also highlighted concerns about the current pace of change. While over 80% of survey respondents believe their employers will reduce emissions in line with the UK’s net zero ambitions, only 40% of them think their companies will currently be able to achieve this by 2050.

Green job creation

Region	2024 Proportion of job ads considered green	2023 Proportion of job ads considered green	2024 Number of green jobs ads	2023 Number of green jobs ads	Change
Scotland	5.6%	4%	28667	26479	+2188
Northern Ireland	4%	2.4%	2792	2223	+569
London	3.7%	2.2%	58585	45219	+13366
South West	3.4%	2.7%	24693	24245	+448
Yorkshire and The Humber	3.4%	2.1%	17237	13946	+3291
North West	3.2%	2.5%	25284	25944	-660
West Midlands	3.1%	2.1%	19005	16157	+2848
East Midlands	3.1%	2.2%	13861	13057	+804
South East	2.9%	2.2%	33911	33917	-6
East of England	2.7%	1.9%	17728	17181	+547
Wales	2.7%	2.1%	6417	6059	+358
North East	2.4%	1.9%	6095	4868	+1227

Rationale: what does the pillar capture?
This pillar captures performance on creating new green jobs. We focus on green job creation as this is where we expect to first see changes in the labour market (as opposed to the stock of green jobs).

How is performance estimated?
It’s the number of green job advertisements, expressed as a proportion of total job advertisements. This captures the relative density across sectors and regions to enable comparisons.

How can this indicator change over time?
We expect the number to increase over time as the transition to a sustainable economy gathers pace. However, there will be waves of different green job creation across sectors (and regions) over time.

Full report and methodology

Rationale: what does the pillar capture?
It seeks to identify where direct green jobs are creating additional employment, helping to show the full benefits of green jobs. It means policy decisions can be based upon wider economic impacts rather than narrow green employment decisions.

How is performance estimated?
It’s based on employment multipliers. This measures how many additional jobs in the UK economy as a whole are created from one green job in a certain sector or region.

How can this indicator change over time?
Multipliers are typically higher in well-paid jobs with extensive local supply chains (typically in highly technical roles). As green activities move from highly technical and design roles into broader roles, multipliers might decrease, but this impact is likely to be minimal over the short term.

Full report and methodology

Rationale: what does the pillar capture?
It provides insight on job destruction. This is vital for designing the right set of active labour market policies - including reskilling and upskilling, and focus on social mobility - in order to ensure a green transition is also a just transition.

How is performance estimated?
By looking at the distribution of defining “sunset jobs” - ie. those jobs that will become redundant following the transition to a green economy. It doesn’t capture job reallocation where, with the right training, people may find employment in growing areas of the same sector.

How can this indicator change over time?
As these career pathways are realised, we expect the number of sunset jobs to decrease over time.

Full report and methodology

Rationale: what does the pillar capture?
It compares CO₂ emissions in different UK regions and sectors to employment in the same UK regions and sectors.

How is performance estimated?
Performance is estimated using CO₂ emissions per employee. This gives us an indication of how environmentally-friendly jobs are, as well as an indirect indication of jobs that could lose out as the green transition accelerates.

How can this indicator change over time?
We expect there will be accelerated change in carbon-intensive sectors, with diminishing returns for low-carbon sectors and regions.

Full report and methodology

Rationale: what does the pillar capture?
It tells us more about how existing jobs are changing - gathering employee sentiment to give an extra layer of insight.

How is performance estimated?
It measures how environmentally friendly employees perceive the activities conducted as part of their job to be currently, and over the next 1-2 years. It spans 8 environmental outcomes - reducing waste, reducing carbon, reducing pollution, protecting biodiversity, improving resource efficiency, reducing water use, increasing reuse and recycling, and reducing energy consumption.

How can this indicator change over time?
We expect the environmentally friendliness of jobs to increase over time.

Full report and methodology

*What do we mean by a green job?
We define green jobs as roles that seek to either produce or provide environmentally friendly products and services, or adapt work processes to become more environmentally friendly or use fewer natural resources. This definition acknowledges roles that support the green economy indirectly, such as environmental advisers or experts in environmental education.

Green Jobs Barometer

The data is based upon five key pillars which can be explored below by sector and region.