Climate Jobs Might Be Driven By Tech Layoffs

Earlier this year, Alex Harros was fired from his sales position with a business software company. A few weeks later, he was hired by Persefoni, a carbon management and accounting platform that aids clients in tracking and reporting their emissions.

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Harros anticipates significant prospects as US regulators move to require businesses to acknowledge their impact on the environment. He claims that sustainability reporting will have an impact on every industry in the next 20 to 30 years, therefore he decided to put his experience to use in this sector.

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This is a "Refinement"

Many people might be around for Harros. Many climate companies are hiring more employees as the IT sector reduces its workforce thanks to the avalanche of venture capital funding that occurred last year. It's anticipated that thousands of tech workers would transition to green careers.

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Businesses that assist the global economy in reducing its carbon emissions and adapting to climate change are poised to grow exponentially as global warming becomes a more pressing danger. By 2030, the green economy is expected to provide 24 million new employment globally, according to the International Labor Organization.

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According to a recent report by the nonprofit Climate Power, American businesses have already created more than 100,000 clean energy jobs for electricians, mechanics, construction workers, technicians, and many other occupations since President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law last August. During the next ten years, sustainable energy projects will get $369 billion in federal subsidies thanks to the new law.

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There will be more jobs created than just skilled blue-collar jobs. There will be a rise in demand for software engineers, program managers, sales, and finance specialists as new climate technologies develop and businesses begin to commercialize their goods. These are precisely the types of employees that the tech sector is shedding.

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According to Jesse Hynes, co-founder of the company, ClimateBase, one of the largest online climate job boards, has received more than 200,000 unique web visits in the previous month, up from just 40,000 visitors in August. "This new increasing trajectory is without a doubt related to the recent layoffs," he asserts.

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According to HolonIQ, a market intelligence firm specializing in the global impact economy, investment in climate tech businesses increased by 89% last year to reach more than $70 billion. There will be 83 climate tech unicorns with a combined value of more than $180 billion by the beginning of 2023.

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Its operations span a variety of industries, including trash recycling, batteries, and plant-based food. Many are currently sitting on cash reserves, poised to expand.

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Last year, $100 million was invested in PosiGen, a residential solar startup with headquarters in New Orleans, Louisiana. PosiGen plans to add roughly 700 people this year, more than tripling its present headcount, according to Scott Leserman, the company's head of talent acquisition, who spoke to Trade Algo. He claims that the majority of the jobs will be in sales.

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We are extremely busy trying to figure out how to keep up with demand, says Nishant Mani, chief business officer at Terra.do, a climate work platform that provides networking opportunities and education programs. "The number of climate-tech start-ups being formed and the rate of job creation is pretty insane," he adds.

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Before struggling to compete with Big Tech's attractive salaries, climate companies are now welcoming a fresh influx of applicants.

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Individuals who have lost their jobs in the IT industry might now take a moment to reflect and ask themselves, "Hey, what do I do with my life? And for many of them, the climate is beginning to shine," says Mani.

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Around 80 positions are presently open at Electric Hydrogen, a start-up focused on developing electrolyzer technologies to enable clean and affordable hydrogen. Many of these positions are for non-specialized professions including project managers, data scientists, and recruiters.

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According to the company's chief people officer Renata Naoumov, "for the nontechnical roles, I'm seeing a lot of applications from the big tech businesses. I was thrilled to see the caliber of applicants that we were able to attract and how quickly we were able to hire."

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Several environmentally conscious tech workers are utilizing the layoffs to transition into a profession that aligns with their interests.

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Since the epidemic, Amy Marcus, a former program manager at the software business HubSpot (HUBS), has taken involved in climate-related activities. She recalls not feeling excessively unhappy when she lost her job a few weeks ago along with 500 others: "I remember thinking, 'Oh, if it happens to me, maybe that's the moment I actually pursue a position in climate change instead of keeping it on the side.

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I was a lifetime environmentalist, but I was very much in the idea that climate work is primarily charity and there is not a lot of money there. Melody Plan, a technical writer who was recently laid off from a major software development firm, has been volunteering in conservation for years.

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Now that She has noticed that climate tech businesses pay competitive wages, she wants to make the switch. She explains, "Now that I realize I can support myself with this, it only seems natural for me to enter the climate sector because my life was always focused on it anyhow."

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To transition into professions in the climate sector, workers from other industries don't always need to reinvent themselves or pick up a completely new set of skills. A small percentage of positions necessitate specific knowledge, such as battery management and carbon accounting.

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In the end, climate tech startups are just that—startups. According to Mani of Terra.do, "We believe that the biggest value people can provide comes from doing what they are already good at, but doing those jobs for climate companies. They are establishing a distinct set of services, but yet need all of the standard corporate tasks."

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Sales and business development, marketing and communications, software engineering, data science and analytics, operations, and design are the most frequently posted positions out of the 65,000 jobs on ClimateBase over the previous two years.

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Many in the business contend that the situations are different, despite the fact that many people may compare the current climate-tech bubble to the dot-com boom, which dramatically crashed two decades ago.

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According to Jonathan Strauss, co-founder and CEO of Climate Draft, a coalition of climate tech entrepreneurs and VCs, the majority of climate tech companies have a road to revenue, unlike many dot-com companies that were looking for a profitable business model.

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Although they are expanding quickly, according to Hynes, "I don't think it's a bubble ready to burst, since it's not driven by speculation," he adds. "There is a true market need for these solutions."

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Climate-tech businesses will be decarbonizing every sector of the economy over the next few decades as the globe moves toward a future with reduced carbon emissions, from farming and shipping to concrete and steel. The 24 million jobs anticipated by 2030 might only be the start.