This table illustrates how a comparison of regional and national trends might look, using trends for the non-carbon energy sector in Kern County, California.

Most of the training and workforce development professionals we spoke to grouped evolving green skills into two primary categories: “new” skills and “crossover” skills. New skills are those that have emerged with the introduction of new green technologies. Crossover skills are skills traditionally associated with other lines of work that have experienced an uptick in demand in the green economy, often with a focus on improving efficiency.

Source: Lightcast, “Industry Snapshots for Kern County, California: Wind Electric Power Generation, Nuclear Electric Power Generation, Solar Electric Power Generation, Battery Manufacturing, Electrical Contractors and other Wiring Installation Contractors,” March 2024.

The individuals we spoke to also noted the importance of both durable skills (also often called “soft,” “professional,” or “employability” skills) and technical skills—expertise related to specific tools and disciplines that are now considered green-adjacent because they are increasingly being listed as required or preferred skills in job postings for green occupations. Here are some examples:

Source: Lightcast, “Industry Snapshots for Kern County, California: Wind Electric Power Generation, Nuclear Electric Power Generation, Solar Electric Power Generation, Battery Manufacturing, Electrical Contractors and other Wiring Installation Contractors,” March 2024.

To provide a point-in-time analysis, we identified 53 green or green-adjacent credentials (see appendix for full list) and looked at how often they appeared in national job postings and worker profiles.³ 

We first examined mentions of the 53 credentials using Lightcast’s database of 35.7 million unique job postings from 907,952 employers for roles in the United States between January and October 2024.⁴ Here’s what we found:  

• Only eight of the 53 credentials (15%) were named in job postings.⁵  
• Three credentials—Certified Power Quality Professional, North American Technician Excellence, and Certified Energy Manager certifications—made up 98% of those mentions. 

Looking at that same time period and using Lightcast’s database of roughly 331 million jobseeker profiles, we also looked to see how often workers actively shared that they had earned those same green credentials.⁶ Here’s what we found:  

• Only nine of the 53 credentials (17%) were named in the online profiles and resumes.  
• Two credentials—Certified Power Quality Professional and Certified Energy Manager certifications—made up 92% of those mentions. 

These low rates were surprising, so we expanded our analysis to see how often job postings and jobseeker profiles mentioned associations that offer certifications rather than the credentials themselves (for example, the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners, the Association of Energy Engineers, the Electronics Technicians Association, the Building Performance Institute, or the Residential Energy Services Network).  

Our analysis revealed that credentialing organizations were 585% more likely to be named in job postings and 715% more likely to be named in jobseeker profiles than the names of specific credentials. In our view, the fact that both employers and jobseekers name professional organizations much more often than they cite technical certifications is, at least in part, evidence that professional social capital continues to play a critical role in career navigation and career advancement, even—and perhaps especially—in emerging industries. 

• To learn about skills needed for various green occupations, go to the Employment and Training Administration’s O*Net website. 
• To learn which industries are growing fastest in your county and state, go to Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), which is published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 
• To learn more about sector or industry partnerships and how they can support efforts to work with employers to coordinate training approaches and workforce strategies, explore the toolkits offered by these organizations: the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, Next Generation Sector Partnerships, and the National Skills Coalition. 

1. What data is available to help us assess an opportunity to better align our programs to labor market trends? What resources or tools might we need to access and analyze this data? 
2. Which data or sources will we prioritize in our decision-making processes? 
3. What internal guidance might we create to inform decisions about launching or adapting programs to focus on one set of skills versus another? 
4. What credentials are in demand among employers? What credentials do local workers currently hold? 
5. Even if we have annual data, how can employers help us better understand hiring cycles and the factors that drive interim hiring increases or slowdowns? (This data will help you size our training cohorts appropriately.) 
6. Do we want to create a single centralized position in our organization for collecting labor market information, or should we share that responsibility across multiple roles? If we do the latter, how will employees share information with each other? 

1. How can we synthesize the information we collect from various sources—including trade associations, certifying bodies, job postings, and employers—to make sure our program will teach students the skills most aligned to employers’ needs? 
2. How often should we meet with employer partners to discuss strategy and validate the data we are receiving from other sources? (Monthly? Quarterly? Annually?)  
3. What is our process for assessing the long-term relevance of various credentials for graduates of our programs? 
4. If we are seeing trends that will necessitate the acquisition of new equipment or technology to keep our training programs up to date, how might we partner with other organizations to test the new systems before investing? 
5. Which of our employees “own” our various employer relationships, and how can we ensure that these relationships are sustained regardless of staff changes?