13 - 08 - 2026

Are we sustainably green in our green jobs?

The severe shortage of qualified professionals may spike average salaries for almost all green sector jobs by up to 30%, signalling a high “green premium”

Earlier this year, Paul Polman, former Unilever CEO and a leading voice on sustainable capitalism, posed an ineluctable question to global corporates: “The vast majority of directors don’t have ESG credentials. One would never dream of running an audit committee with so few experts, so why do we accept it in this area?”

Regrettably, the world-wide data backs him; an analysis by NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business said that only 6% of the ‘Fortune 100 directors’ had any background relevant to the Environmental (“E”) and Governance (“G”) pillars while 21% had some experience in the Social (“S”) category. The problem runs the true length of the organisation — from the boardroom down to the shop floor.

With India’s green economy becoming a large-scale employer – with over 35 million jobs – across renewable energy, ESG consulting, climate finance, and sustainable agriculture, our competence gap is becoming glarer by the day. As the Head of Sustainability at Tech Mahindra, Sandeep Chandna explained, “Talent is a nerve which is always in pain. When you look at sustainability, this is the biggest challenge. I interviewed about 100 people and shortlisted one person. The problem is that people have not gone into depth about the whole issue.”

For HR leaders and talent acquisition teams, the pipeline of qualified professionals is in no way matching the demand.
The potential, quantified: India’s green sector is projected to create 7.29 million jobs by FY28, with an anticipated 1.2-1.5 million additional jobs in FY27 alone. However, the demand for green talent is increasing at an estimated rate of 15-20% per year, while the growth of the talent pipeline is only at 6-8%, resulting in a deficit of 1.5-2 million skilled professionals.

The benefits for candidates are significant as the average salaries may shoot up by 12-15% for entry-level positions, 18-22% for mid-level, and 25-30% for senior positions by 2026, indicating a distinct “green premium” emerging in the market.

Growing footprint beyond metros

Recruitment is also becoming more decentralised. Tier II and III cities such as Jaipur, Indore, Visakhapatnam, Coimbatore, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, and Ahmedabad are projected to account for 35-40% of new green jobs by FY28, thereby broadening the sourcing landscape beyond Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Delhi.

What do they need, what you must have

Most new positions do not necessitate a strictly environmental science background. Approximately 70% of green jobs require a combination of skills — a technical or functional expertise (such as engineering, finance, logistics, or data analytics) combined with knowledge of ESG. This is particularly evident in sectors like renewables and electric vehicles, finance and risk (including climate-risk analysts and ESG auditors), as well as operations and supply chain (such as emissions tracking and circular economy roles).

Consequently, re-skilling current employees — transitioning engineers into emissions management and finance teams into climate-risk analysis — is frequently more efficient and scalable than relying solely on external recruitment. However, practitioners also highlight a structural issue, aggravating this skill gap: many organisations still view ESG hiring as merely a reporting function rather than a strategic capability, leading to underinvestment in formal training.

The institutional push to expedite the scarcity

Here comes the big push. Regulatory influences — including SEBI’s BRSR framework, the Companies Act, the DPDP Act, new Labour Codes, and RBI’s climate-risk directives — render this demand deeply structural rather than cyclical. For HR departments, the successful ones will be those that shift from reactive hiring to proactive workforce planning before the gap evolves into a business risk.

By Sreevalsan M