Systemiq and the World Resources Institute (WRI) published Jobs and skills for the new economy: An Action Agenda for a People-Centered Climate Transition (December 2025). This report delves into the climate transition and its impacts on people, specifically workers. It highlights the significant opportunities for people offered by the transition and provides a practical agenda for how countries and industries can strengthen their investments in human capital as a strategy for economic growth and environmental progress.
Human Level’s Take:
- Major economic megatrends are reshaping jobs and skills worldwide, including digitalisation, demographic change, geopolitics, and the climate transition
- For instance, digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI) are automating tasks and changing job requirements, while geopolitical developments - such as tariffs, trade fragmentation, and rising international volatility - are increasing uncertainty across supply chains and labour markets
- The climate transition sits at the centre of these global shifts, leading to job gains and losses and changes in existing jobs
- The climate transition has the potential to deliver a net increase in employment, with a midpoint estimate of 375 million additional jobs, particularly in energy, construction, and the nature-based economy
- This net gain will be accompanied by substantial labour market churn, affecting 255 million to 1 billion jobs (midpoint: 630 million). Workers will face displacement, reskilling, and relocation, as employment expands in sectors such as renewable energy, construction, recycling, and nature-based solutions, and contracts in fossil fuel - linked and other high-emission industries. Many existing jobs will also evolve as tasks adapt to climate objectives
- Therefore, a people-centred transition can deliver three outcomes: more resilient economies, stronger social cohesion, and faster progress on environmental goals. Without sufficient investment in workforce capabilities and transitions, the shift to the new economy risks becoming slower, more costly, and more disruptive, with rising inequality and weaker investor confidence
- So, what can companies do? The report calls on businesses - working with governments and civil society - to place jobs, skills, and social equity at the centre of transition strategies. Key actions include:
- Integrating jobs and skills into transition policies and budgets, with leadership and accountability at board and executive levels
- Establishing place-based, multistakeholder workforce transition pacts aligned with regional economic and climate strategies
- Strengthening workforce intelligence systems using real-time data and AI to anticipate job impacts and skills needs, particularly for vulnerable workers
- Designing agile, inclusive skills and transition programmes that leverage technology to widen access, including for those outside formal training systems
- Developing accreditation and job-matching platforms that recognise formal, non-formal, and informal learning through portable credentials
- Building industry-led training consortia to co-design curricula, reduce costs, and align skills development with employer needs
- Using fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to encourage business investment in skills, job creation, and inclusive employment
Some key takeaways:
- What does the transition mean for jobs and skills: There are multiple megatrends shaping the wider economy, including digitalisation, demographic shifts, geopolitics and the climate transition. This will profoundly reshape the jobs and skills people need to thrive. For instance, the rapid advancement of digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming job requirements, automating tasks, and challenging traditional notions of work and productivity. Geopolitical shifts, including tariffs, trade fragmentation and heightened international volatility, are creating uncertainty and affecting supply chains and labour markets. The climate transition sits at the centre of these global shifts, leading to job gains and losses and changes in existing jobs. Unlike other megatrends transforming the labour market, the climate transition can potentially generate a substantial net increase in employment, with a midpoint estimate of 375 million additional jobs, especially in energy, construction, and the nature-based economy. Therefore, if managed strategically with investments in jobs, skills, and social equity at the centre, the climate transition can help buffer the disruptive impact of other megatrends, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and geoeconomic fragmentation.
- What does a well-managed transition mean: While the climate transition will lead to a net job creation, this will be the result of substantial labour market churn - impacting 255 million - 1 billion jobs, with a midpoint estimate of 630 million jobs. Workers and families will face significant disruption as they navigate displacement, reskilling, and relocation. Jobs will be gained in expanding sectors (e.g., renewable energy, construction, recycling, and nature-based solutions) and lost in shrinking fossil fuel-linked and other high-emission industries. In addition, millions of existing jobs will evolve as tasks adapt to climate goals, for example, farmers adjusting planting cycles and construction workers adopting sustainable building practices. If leaders pursue a people-centred transition, they can capture a powerful triple dividend: stronger, more resilient economies; improved social cohesion; and faster progress on environmental goals. On the flip side, leaders who fail to make the required investments in the capabilities of their people and their workforce transitions will face a slower, more expensive transition to the new economy, greater social and economic disruption, weaker investor confidence, and widening inequality.
- What business leaders can do: The report calls on leaders from businesses, governments and civil society to lead a people-centred transition that places jobs, skills, and social equity at the core of decision-making. Businesses, along with other stakeholders, are a key actor in various actions, including:
- Hardwire jobs and skills strategies into national and corporate transition policy and budget planning and establish mechanisms with authority to orchestrate collective action. Larger companies can embed the worker and community dimensions into the heart of their transition analysis and strategies, informed by clear goals and regular monitoring. People-centred considerations and social outcomes can be integrated across all core business functions with support and accountability from boards and C-suites
- Establish place-based, multistakeholder workforce transition pacts to align job and skills development with regional economic and climate strategies. Pacts should be co-created with genuine participation from workers, labour institutions, training providers, employers, and civil society - ensuring shared ownership, private sector involvement, and realistic on-the-ground implementation. The content of each pact should be shaped through stakeholder engagement and local partnership and ideally underpinned by strong accountability mechanisms
- Develop stronger workforce intelligence systems to anticipate the transition’s impacts on jobs and skills, especially on vulnerable workers, including by expanding use of real-time data and AI. Stronger workforce intelligence systems can anticipate the transition’s impacts on jobs and skills, especially on vulnerable workers, including by expanding the use of real-time data and AI. Governments and businesses can collaborate on targeted investments to close skills gaps and foster labour market resilience
- Design agile, modular, and inclusive skills and workforce transition programmes that leverage technology and data: This will be critical to equip young people and workers with the broad range of skills required for the transition and it will be especially important for those excluded from formal channels. Technology in various forms can help widen access and ensure retention of groups often excluded from formal training, including informal workers and vulnerable groups
- Build smart accreditation and job-matching platforms that validate formal, non-formal, and informal learning; connect workers to employers; and issue portable certifications. This involves recognising skills acquired through non-formal and informal learning (e.g., outside formal education or on the job) to unlock the full potential of people and enable smoother workforce transitions
- Build industry-led training consortia that pool resources to codesign curricula, develop sector-specific skills, and ensure a talent pipeline responsive to employer needs: By pooling resources, companies can jointly fund accelerated training programmes in specific value chains, reducing duplication and training costs, creating clear pathways for workers, and improving job matching and workforce mobility. Industry federations and confederations have the scale, legitimacy and convening power to align training across firms and regions, set shared standards, and ensure programs are embedded within broader industrial strategies rather than fragmented at the firm level
- Incentivise business to invest in skills, job creation, and inclusive employment through tax credits, investment subsidies, and public procurement requirements. By deploying fiscal and nonfiscal incentives, especially for smaller enterprises and entrepreneurs who are typically unable to shoulder high up-front training costs, governments can catalyse private investments in skills and job creation
