Equipping Gen Z for Green Jobs in Building Operations
Date Posted: December 19, 2024
Posted In: Environment/Sustainability, Workforce,
From Triple Pundit: Building operations contribute roughly 27 percent of all global carbon emissions, and the problem is growing. By 2060, the world is expected to add 241 billion square meters of floor area to the global building stock, the largest wave of building and infrastructure growth in human history. That’s the equivalent of adding an entire New York City to the world every month for 40 years.
A significant carbon footprint isn’t the only challenge. The building industry is also facing a dire shortage of skilled workers equipped for smart building and digital technologies, which are critical for the industry to cut its carbon emissions.
Recognizing a need to recruit, train, and retain a new generation of skilled workers in the burgeoning green jobs field, the software company Autodesk partnered with the job training nonprofit Stacks and Joules to offer a training program for green building operator careers. In particular, it looks to recruit a diverse group of young people who are often overlooked in the field.
“We continue to hear from our customers that they’re having trouble finding the talent they need across the skilled trades, including building automation and operations,” Kate McElligott, future of work lead at Autodesk, told TriplePundit. “As emerging technologies become mainstream, the gap in digital skills is increasing, and they need to address it.”
According to a 2024 report from Autodesk, 77 percent of survey respondents in the industry agree that upskilling is important, but only 38 percent say their organizations have the necessary skills and resources for upskilling.
Too few workers with green skills to meet demand is a global dilemma. A LinkedIn survey of 48 countries found that job postings for green jobs are growing nearly twice as fast as the number of workers with the skills to fill them.