This month Acre Resources, Acona and Thomson Reuters published the first Global Carbon Salary Survey with interesting results. The Carbon Salary Survey came about as a natural follow on from the CSR Salary Survey that we have been undertaking for the past two years*. The idea behind the survey gathered pace once we realised that no research into climate change and carbon salaries on a global scale had taken place before. Obviously we needed a global media partner which is where Thompson Reuters came in. Partnering with them enabled the survey to be promoted across their Global Carbon Community which, given the nature of the survey, was an excellent way to promote and gain respondents for the study.
So 1157 respondents later we have the first Carbon Salary Survey detailing average salaries across the sector, the gender gap, job satisfaction and security as well as the distribution of talent across the globe.
The full report is downloadable from www.carbonsalarysurvey.com and the all important average salary across the climate change, renewables and carbon sector globally is $76,000 but there are some specific data sets that are of particular interest to me.
96% of participants had a first and/or second degree:
If you want to work in the sector, no matter where in the globe, you are likely to have at least a first degree if not a second. This is born out by our experience of the market, organisations looking to hire in the climate change space need people who have a strong technical understanding of the sector to be credible.
37% of the respondents in the UK were not UK citizens where as only 20% of those working in North America and Asia were expats:
This is an interesting difference between the markets. Does it indicate that the UK has a need to “import” more talent to satisfy the job market or is it due to less stringent immigration rules in comparison to the USA and Asia? The indicators all point to that the USA job market is expected to grow, both in relation to Clean Energy and Carbon Trading over the coming years so next years survey will hopefully give us an indicator as to whether the envisaged vacancies are filled with home grown talent or skilled people from overseas.
Men dominated in every sector of the green job market and earned on average 23% more than women
A disappointing gender gap is borne out by the survey. However there are some rays of light, the gap between male and female salaries was narrower in marketing, PR and media, industrial and utilities and consumer wholesale with renewable technology not that far behind. As one might expect engineering and transport showed the largest disparity.
68% felt as or more secure in their position than 12 months ago and 93% would recommend a career in climate change.
These figures are particularly impressive. To have 68% of the sample feeling as or more secure during these challenging economic times is exceptional and we believe demonstrates that the sector is one that is still strong despite some negative news in the recent months. Also it appears that a career in this sector is a rewarding one!
The most satisfied respondents were in Australasia.
Is this a combination of lifestyle and work or is it driven by the changes in governmental legislation meaning that those in the sector are being given new and wider ranging responsibilities. If growth slows will satisfaction remain high?
Next time we will be looking to increase the number of respondents from Africa, South America and Australasia and hopefully will be able to give a more detailed breakdown of salary per sectors and location.
The result from next years salary will also enable us to start looking at trends too, seeing where the growth markets have been and potentially enabling us to forecast growth or contraction in relation to the climate change, renewable energy and carbon sectors.
We are constantly looking to improve the survey, so please feel free email any suggestions or feedback to beth@acre-resources.co.uk.
Andy Cartland, Managing Director and Co-founder of Acre Resources specialists in green jobs
