Note: These green definitions and statistics are experimental and are subject to revision.
Green Job Postings in London
Exploring the Mayor of London’s priority sectors.
May 2025
Introduction
The challenge of defining and analysing ‘green jobs’ has been well documented over recent years. In particular, traditional labour market data sources and taxonomies, such as the standard occupational (SOC) or industrial (SIC) classifications, struggle to accurately capture the changing demand for green jobs given their relatively recent emergence and evolving nature. This in turn makes it more challenging for policy-makers to assess, and effectively plan for, workforce needs.
Moreover, given the scale of the transformation required to meet both London’s and the UK’s net zero ambitions, gaining a better understanding of the green jobs and skills that will drive this transformation is of critical importance.
The data presented below seeks to at least partially fill this gap by adopting a novel approach to analysing online job postings, from Lightcast. While still very much an experimental application, the timeliness and richness of job postings data means they can offer a near real-time view of local employer demand for this emerging sector that is not typically available from other labour market sources. This analysis therefore forms part of City Hall’s wider green skills analysis and policy development, focusing in particular on technical green roles.
This report is divided into 6 core sections, each analysing a different dimension of green job postings.
- Methodology: Provides an overview of green job posting classification.
- Demand trends over time: Explores how demand for green expertise has evolved over time.
- Occupational distribution: Examines which occupations account for the most green job postings, and what roles have ‘greened’ most in the last 5 years.
- Top green skills and job titles: Shows the most sought after green skills and titles and how demand for these has changed.
- Regional demand: Compares green skill demand across UK regions.
- Priority skill areas: Examines trends in postings relating to London’s priority green skill areas.
Key points
Despite a slowing labour market more broadly, employer demand for green expertise in London continues to gradually increase, accounting for approximately 4.2% of all job adverts in the capital between May 2024 and April 2025. This is up 1.9 percentage points from the 2.3% average in 2019. In recent months the absolute number of postings seeking green expertise has also ticked up.
While green postings declined somewhat over the course of 2024 in absolute terms, their demand trends relative to other roles indicate a degree of recruitment resilience, suggestive of the growing importance of green expertise from the perspective of employers.
Employer demand for green expertise is evident across the occupational spectrum, but is particularly prevalent among specialist sustainability professionals, project managers and a range of mechanical, electrical, energy and building related engineers, as well as environment professionals.
Regionally, London is a key source of green opportunities in the UK, accounting for the highest absolute number of green job postings (52,500). The evidence also suggests that each region has its own unique mix of green expertise skill needs, with London being particularly strong for professional related roles, reflective of its unique economic profile and industry specialisms.
Section 1: Methodology
Click to expand
Building upon Lightcast’s own working definition of green skills and job titles, GLA Economics has further developed and refined these definitions drawing on extensive third-party research, as well as internal analysis of job posting descriptions. Through this process, GLA Economics have identified - within Lightcast’s skills and job title taxonomies - 425 job titles featuring green-related keywords and over 590 specific technical skills and qualifications related to the green economy, and environment more generally.
For the purpose of this analysis, any job posting that explicitly contains either a technical green skill in its job description, or has a green job title, is considered ‘Green’.Limitations: While these granular definitions can help provide insights into the demand for green jobs and skills in London, they are unlikely to offer a complete picture. Some green job titles and skills may not yet have been identified, while other jobs in the green economy will have titles which are not so clearly related to green activities (e.g. civil engineer), but where expertise in sustainable practices is growing in importance within the role, even if not explicitly stated. Moreover, there are other important caveats / limitations associated with job postings to be aware of when interpreting results (see box below).
GLA Economics’ definition of green skills and job titles remains experimental and is constantly being refined to reflect the evolving nature of the sector. As such, estimates can fluctuate with each iteration of this data release.
Note: Sector definitions
Definitions: All definitions used in this report related to the sector - including skills and job titles - are set out in the definitions and additional resources section, at the end of this report.
Note: Job postings data - Methodology and Limitations
Collection methodology: Lightcast scrapes the internet daily for unique new job advertisements, including searching 1,000+ online UK job boards and company websites. These job adverts are then deduplicated to ensure that only one posting is counted for each opening, regardless of how many places it is advertised.
The information retrieved from these unique adverts then goes through a standardisation process that classifies and tags postings according to a number of data variables including location, occupation, years of experience, advertised salary, skills sought, qualifications, and any other type of relevant information that can be extracted from the advert. More information is available here.
Limitations: There are also challenges and some important caveats to bear in mind when using job posting data, including:
Labour market comprehensiveness: Online job postings do not capture the full scope of labour market recruitment activity as not all job vacancies are advertised online. Some opportunities are only advertised internally within a business, while others are advertised by word-of-mouth or locally only (e.g., in shop windows). Where a single job posting references a number of similar vacancies (e.g., X5 retail cashiers), it is only counted as one unique posting and can underestimate the true number of vacancies.
Skewed towards higher level occupations: Job postings tend to be somewhat skewed towards professional occupations, which are more likely to be advertised online relative to more technical and elementary roles. As such, it may underrepresent some occupations in the labour market (such as those related to hospitality services, construction, and creative industries) relative to the true number of jobs, which traditionally have been advertised through other channels.
Captures job growth, churn, and failed recruitment: Recruitment activity from job postings data not only captures new job growth but also labour market churn (the refilling of existing jobs that have recently become vacant). Indications of high levels of churn may suggest a transient workforce or a sector that is struggling in terms of retaining its staff. Differing levels of churn across occupations may in part explain some of the differences observed in terms of top recruited occupations when compared to job number estimates (Section 1). Job posting numbers also capture failed recruitment – where an advertisement is posted but fails to attract a suitable candidate for the role.
Inconsistent descriptions: The content of the information listed in job posting descriptions - while often rich - can be inconsistent. For example, some employers explicitly outline the skills and education requirements for a given job role, while others may list only those essential to performing in the role, or consider them implied in the role’s job title. As such, analysis is dependent on the quality of the data/information contained in the original adverts.
Geographic location: In some cases, the location of a job posting is too high-level to be matched to a specific location, such as ‘England’. Similarly, many jobs are advertised at a ‘London’ level but cannot be assigned to a specific local authority area within the capital.
Volatility: New job posting volumes can be volatile month-to-month and are subject to seasonal trends in recruitment activity. As such, all analysis of time-series presented in this report uses a 3-month moving average to show a more stable trend over time. Backend improvements to data collection and tagging processes from the data provider may also result in some volatility and changes compared to previous iterations of this report.
Section 2: Demand trends over time
How has demand for green expertise changed over time?
Click to expand
Proportional demand for green expertise picks up: Over the course of the last 12 months (Apr 2024 – May 2025), there were 52,500 unique job postings that were classified as green (either having a green skill or job title). In terms of prevalence, green postings accounted for 4.2% of London’s total job postings in the last 12 months, with a sharp uptick to 4.6% for the first few months of 2025. Annually, this represents just over a 0.4 percentage point increase in prevalence compared to the 3.8% share for the same period a year prior (May 2023 – Apr 2024), and a 1.9 percentage point increase compared to the 2.3% share pre-pandemic in 2019.
Strong growth trend, but slowdown in absolute numbers over the course of 2023-2024: Looking at the longer-term trends, demand for green skills and job titles has grown steadily over recent years, outpacing growth in many other areas of London’s labour market. In early 2023 however, the absolute number of postings requiring green expertise began to decline, reflective of a slowing labour market more widely.
Resilient demand: In relative terms, the data suggests that employer demand for green expertise has exhibited a degree of resilience. It has remained elevated well above 2019 pre-COVID levels, even as recruitment activity in the capital’s wider labour market has steadily cooled back down to pre-pandemic levels.
Rising adoption of net zero solutions: The growing share of total online postings identified as requiring some element of green expertise overtime suggests that employers across industries are increasingly recognising the importance of both adopting and providing environmentally sustainable solutions and services in support of the transition to a net zero economy.
Note: These green definitions and statistics are experimental and are subject to revision.
Section 3: Occupational distribution
What occupations account for the largest number of green job postings and how are their green skill needs changing?
Click to expand
Job postings can be used to examine the distribution of green expertise across broader, more established occupational groups, that typically might not have a specifically green job title. Similarly, it can also give an indication of the prevalence / importance of green skills within these occupations, and how they are changing.
Specialist sustainability professionals account for the largest number of green job postings but the fastest growth in prevalence has been among engineering disciplines: For London, the data shows that a wide variety of occupations require some element of green/sustainable expertise, with specialist sustainability roles accounting for the largest number of green postings followed by project managers and a range of mechanical, electrical, and building related engineers. Naturally, sustainability, environmental and utilities professionals have the highest prevalence of green expertise in their associated job postings (87%+), but it is a host of engineers and energy specialists that have seen the biggest growth in this regard since 2019.
Skewed towards professional: It is important to note however, that job postings classified as green tend to be somewhat skewed towards professional roles as they are most likely to be advertised online on a job-by-job basis and include detailed job descriptions, compared to skilled trades or related roles. These roles however, such as electrician, plumbers, HVAC technicians and vehicle mechanices among others, are known to be integral to the net zero transition, though they may not be highlighted as part of this analysis as they are less likely to explicitly detail skill needs in their job descriptions.
Note: These green definitions and statistics are experimental and are subject to revision.
Note: Lightcast Occupational Taxonomy (LOT).
Section 4: Top green skills and job titles
What are the most sought after green skills and job titles and how has demand for these changed?
Click to expand
Top green skills: The specific green skills that featured most prevalently in London’s online job postings in the last 12 months included improving energy efficiency through building management systems and automation, knowledge of environmental social and corporate governance (ESG) standards, an understanding of net-zero principles, and renewable energy expertise. The demand for all these skill areas have increased strongly relative to 2019, as has demand for electric vehicle skills (EVs) and expertise related to energy system transition.
Top green job titles: A wide range of sustainability specialists / consultants, water hygiene engineers, renewable energy managers, carbon analysts, and environmental professionals were among the most sought after specific green job roles, in the past 12 months. Relative to pre-pandemic 2019 levels, demand for sustainability-oriented roles has grown sharply.
Specialisation in professional roles: Combined, the occupational and skills data suggests that London appears to have a particular strength in professional and strategic jobs related to the green economy.
Green skills
Note: These green definitions and statistics are experimental and are subject to revision.
Green job titles
Note: These green definitions and statistics are experimental and are subject to revision.
Section 5: Regional demand
How does demand for green expertise in London compare to elsewhere in the UK?
Click to expand
London is a key center of green employment opportunities: Comparing across UK regions, London performs well, having the most green job postings in volume terms in the last 12 months and the fourth highest share of regional job postings classified as green. Only Scotland, England’s South West and West Midlands had higher proportional levels of demand for green expertise in the UK; 5.5%, 4.5% and 4.5% respectively.
Nation-wide shift towards green: All UK regions exhibit a similar trend to that of London in terms of green job postings shares; that being rapid growth post the onset of the pandemic and especially over the course of 2022-2023. Similarly though, slowdowns were observed across the board during 2024, perhaps reflecting an increase in economic uncertainty and consequently lower investment in green job creation.
Regional labour specialisations emerging: The analysis also suggests that regions have developed different relative strengths when it comes to the green economy; something that is reflected in the unique labour and skill demands of regional employers. For example, London, consistent with its unique labour market profile, has seen strong growth in professionally oriented roles related to the green economy. In comparison, other regions such as Scotland, have a particular concentration of renewable energy and environmental protection roles reflecting its wider industrial composition and natural assets.
Note: These green definitions and statistics are experimental and are subject to revision.
Section 6: Priority skill areas
How is recruitment activity changing for the Mayor’s priority green upskilling areas?
Click to expand
In addition to facilitating and monitoring the broader transition to net zero, the Mayor is also focused on directly supporting a number of key areas, particularly in relation to up- and re-skilling opportunities. Among these are retrofit, heat pumps, battery and energy storage, electric vehicles (EVs), and renewable energy.
Given their emerging nature, the analysis below uses a slightly different methodology – based on key words searches of job posting text – to provide a more general indication of recruitment activity for these areas in London (see methodology note below).
Niche but rapidly growing recruitment post-COVID19: While recruitment of roles specifying these areas is still quite small both in absolute terms and as a share of total postings in the capital – particularly retrofit and heat pumps – they have all exhibited strong growth in proportional terms since the pandemic. For example, in the last 12 months there have been over 1,500 job postings referencing retrofit expertise, equivalent to 0.13% of all postings in London. That is a growth rate of over 400% in both prevalence and absolute number of postings, compared to its equivalent 2019 level.
Resilient: The number of postings featuring key terms related to each of these areas has declined in the last year, compared to the year prior, reflecting the slowing labour market more generally. However, the share of total postings in London accounted for by each area has generally grown or remained level, illustrative of their resilience and increasing importance to employers as part of their recruitment priorities.
Top occupations: While there is variation across each of the key skill areas, it is clear that each has relevance to a wide-range of occupational areas, including technical skilled trades, engineering professionals, management roles, specialist consultants, and sales.
Note: Key word search methodology and limitations
Given the emerging nature of many of the priority areas, they may not always correspond directly with a certain skillset or job title as tagged by Lightcast. In an effort to overcome this, the analysis shown below is conducted using a detailed ‘key word search’ of the raw text of job descriptions in each individual job posting. Therefore - unlike the earlier section of this report - this analysis includes all postings that contain any of the key terms related to a priority area, irrespective of whether or not they have been tagged as having a relevant specific green skill or title by Lightcast.
This approach is taken so as to give a more general indication of recruitment activity that refers to these areas. It is also cognisant of the limitations of Lightcast’s taxonomies and tagging consistency on more niche and emerging areas of the labour market.
While efforts have been made to ensure accuracy with this approach, it may however, capture some recruitment activity that is only tangentially related to each priority area. This analysis is experimental and therefore subject to revision, as the methodology continues to evolve.
Note: These green definitions and statistics are experimental and are subject to revision.
Note: These green definitions and statistics are experimental and are subject to revision.
Definitions and Resources
Have a question or some feedback?
Please contact Jeff Dwan-O’Reilly or Monet Durieux at GLA Economics.
