Northern Ireland sees proportion of advertised green jobs almost double

The proportion of green jobs advertised in Northern Ireland has almost doubled, research has found.

The volume of green job adverts as a proportion of all job adverts increased year on year from 2.4% to 4%, the second highest share of green job adverts in the UK, behind Scotland (5.6%,) and higher than the UK average of 3.3%.

This is according to PwC’s Green Jobs Barometer.

It also found that the number of green jobs advertised in Northern Ireland has seen a 25.6% increase year on year bringing the total number to just under 2,800.

These jobs were in the mining and quarrying (41%), electricity (9.2%) and construction (6.9%) sectors.

This growth was partially offset however by modest reductions in sectors including manufacturing (minus 0.5%), transport & storage (minus 0.4%) and accommodation and food services (minus 0.3%)

PwC’s Green Jobs Barometer, now in its fourth year, tracks the movement in green jobs creation, job loss, carbon intensity of employment, and worker sentiment across regions and sectors.

Jason Calvert, director and economist at PwC Northern Ireland, said it is clear there are opportunities for further growth.

“It’s encouraging to see that green job creation in Northern Ireland continues to show resilience,” he said.

“It is clear that there are opportunities for further growth here – while our green jobs market is small and needs to be scaled up, there is a lot we can do.

“The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs’ Green Growth Strategy, which includes developing a workforce that supports climate action, is a further step in driving us toward creating meaningful solutions for businesses here to benefit from the opportunities of the net zero transition.

“Ultimately, in order for Northern Ireland to thrive in a net zero world, we need a skilled workforce, and so we must make a concerted effort to create new low carbon jobs, and adopt a co-ordinated approach to upskill and reskill the existing workforce.

“Policymakers also need to incentivise higher education in fields that will support the green economy, creating better conditions to retain new graduates in the region, ensuring that we are harnessing young people’s passion for the environment and creating the skills NI will need to thrive in a net zero world.”

Across the UK, London leads the regions in the total number of green job adverts, with more than 58,500.

This marks a 30% increase of more than 13,300 roles advertised in the past year, representing a green jobs market 3.4 times bigger than first recorded in 2021.

Meanwhile Scotland leads with the highest proportion of job adverts considered green, at 5.6%, totalling approximately 28,700 roles, triple the size of the Scottish green jobs market that was first recorded by the barometer in 2021.