As mandatory climate reporting kicks in from 2025 and climate impacts begin to reshape every sector of the economy, both organisations and individuals will need to adapt. Green skills are emerging as one of the most in-demand capabilities across the workforce, not just to manage risk, but to unlock opportunity, build resilience, and drive innovation.
Join us for a live online masterclass delivered by Rhiannon Yetsenga and Katherine Wannan from Deloitte, unpacking the key findings from our latest research report, Towards a Green-Skilled Workforce. Whether you're leading a team, managing organisational change, or planning your next career move, this session will equip you with essential insights into the skills that matter in a climate-shaped future.
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:28:14
Speaker 2
I am going to get us officially started. So hello and welcome to another RMIT online masterclass. We are thrilled that you could be joining us for what promises to be another fantastic, insightful session. My name is Oscar Santos. I have the fabulous job of looking after industry partnerships for RMIT online. And before we get dive straight in, I think it's important for us to acknowledge the people of the Woo Wurung and Boon Warung language groups.
00:00:28:16 - 00:01:03:09
Speaker 2
Of the eastern Kulin nations whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the university. And I respectfully acknowledge their ancestors and elders and past and present. So if you're new to RMIT online, I think it's important to know we are, as it says, in the name, the online part of the business. And for the last eight years now, we've worked with leading organizations to build a fantastic portfolio of both short courses and accredited programs, for people who are looking to upskill, reskill, or pivot their career.
00:01:03:11 - 00:01:27:10
Speaker 2
And we also run these fantastic webinars that, we can facilitate these conversations on important topics on interesting topics. And, and today is a perfect example of that. Deloitte, in fact, has been a long term partner of ours. And for the last probably seven years, we've built some of those fantastic courses together, both short and accredited.
00:01:27:12 - 00:01:55:15
Speaker 2
And another important thing that we do is each year our, our white paper that is supported by Deloitte Access Economics. And so today, we have our friends from Deloitte who are going to be unpacking, the second phase of the 2025 White Paper report titled Towards a Green Skilled Workforce. And we're going to be covering some really interesting topics understanding how climate change itself is driving workforce transformation across a range of different industries.
00:01:55:17 - 00:02:19:02
Speaker 2
And learn what are the green skills that are in demand and the biggest opportunities alongside some other fantastic points of conversation. So I'm thrilled and lucky to be joined today with Katherine Wannan, partner of Climate and Sustainability over at Deloitte, and Rhiannon Yestenga the associate director of Deloitte Access Economics, who are going to be driving and leading this conversation.
00:02:19:08 - 00:02:42:17
Speaker 2
Now before I handover, I would like to remind everyone on this call, please make this interactive use the chat function. We want to get to questions at the end. And so please populate those into the chat and we will endeavor to get to them towards the end. So without further ado, I would love to hand over to, Deloitte to start the presentation.
00:02:42:19 - 00:02:44:04
Speaker 2
Thank you.
00:02:44:06 - 00:03:04:20
Speaker 3
Thanks so much, Oscar. And, yeah, so great to have the opportunity to present, to you all today. I've seen in the chat a few people from overseas, I think we had someone from Hawaii and Philippines. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to listen to us talk about the research. It's really lovely to be able to share it with you.
00:03:04:22 - 00:03:33:09
Speaker 3
So as Oscar mentioned, my name is Rhiannon and I'm joined by Katherine, both from both from Deloitte. And we'll be sharing with you some of the insights from our latest research with RMIT online. Now. Climate change is one of, if not the biggest challenge of our generation. It is disrupting the economy, it's harming health. It's damaging ecosystems, and it's really fundamentally changing the way that businesses operate.
00:03:33:11 - 00:04:14:23
Speaker 3
The Australian government's latest intergenerational Report found that in a four degrees hotter scenario, that would mean a $423 billion reduction to Australia's output, which is obviously really, really significant. Despite this, Australian businesses are unprepared. We have 43% of businesses that lack both the skills and expertise to deal with this changing environment. And despite these reporting requirements coming into play this year, just 57% of businesses say they are adequately prepared for the mandatory climate reporting requirements.
00:04:14:23 - 00:04:46:14
Speaker 3
And that is despite penalties of up to three quarters of $1 million for noncompliance. As the impacts of climate change intensify. This creates enormous risks for Australian businesses, particularly given, you know, some of these data points we can see on the screen. Now, just an overview of the research we did with RMIT online. It was focused on Australia's medium and large businesses, and we covered three main areas.
00:04:46:14 - 00:05:08:12
Speaker 3
The first was the degree to which Australian businesses have integrated sustainability practices into their organization and and the degree to which it's considered sort of a strategic priority. The second piece is the impact on the skills landscape. You know, what is a green skill like? How how much in demand are they? What is the willingness to pay for green skills?
00:05:08:12 - 00:05:28:13
Speaker 3
So this second piece is all about skills. And then the third part was really to provide some recommendations for businesses in terms of what they can do to better prepare for the future. We drew on a range of different data sources to inform the work. Did a desktop review, we drew on some ABS data and other publicly available data.
00:05:28:13 - 00:05:42:16
Speaker 3
We also did a bespoke business survey of about 436 employers. Just to understand business perspectives and to help that inform the research. And then Katherine.
00:05:42:18 - 00:06:11:12
Speaker 1
Wonderful, the first thing that came out of this research, and of course, we know this, heading into the research as well, is that climate change is not only about the huge risks, that Rhi spoke about before and about the many others that we know, about outside of that. But increasingly it's posing really significant short term financial insurance litigation, compliance, etcetera risks as well.
00:06:11:14 - 00:06:39:12
Speaker 1
First one, rising insurance premiums. We know the increase number of high risk events, extreme weather events is really putting a burden on insurance companies. And of course, the premium holders in 2022, insurance premiums went up by about 23%. So that's very significant. The second one is climate litigation and the increasing exposure of organisations to that litigation.
00:06:39:14 - 00:07:12:20
Speaker 1
A couple of years ago, as it had its first greenwashing case against Mercer. And the result, there was an $11.3 million penalty and significant reputational damage for Mercer in that instance. And then the final one is around compliance with sustainability reporting. Earlier this year, on the 1st of January, large Australian businesses were required for the first time to report on their sustainability outcomes in exactly the same way that they report on their financial outcomes today.
00:07:13:00 - 00:07:39:17
Speaker 1
That is a huge consequence. That means all of a sudden organizations are required to tell their investors, to tell the public about the risks, about their actions, about the opportunities, but about the real impact of climate, and sustainability onto their business. So there are these really significant issues, challenges, opportunities that are coming to life with climate change.
00:07:39:17 - 00:07:53:21
Speaker 1
That is no longer just about climate change, but it's about other factors as well. And we think that's important because it is all the more reason for organizations to take action.
00:07:53:23 - 00:08:19:23
Speaker 1
Moving on from there, when we looked across businesses, we found that 56 and more than half of businesses are concerned about the impact of climate change, and particularly concerned that climate risk will present significant risk to them as a business over the next ten years. So over the, you know, in the scheme of things, over the relatively, short to medium term.
00:08:20:00 - 00:09:11:17
Speaker 1
However, despite that, when you look over at this graph on the right hand side, you can say that climate and sustainability action is not falling into the very short number as top priorities for those organizations. Other things increasing customer satisfaction, improving financial performance, etc., are rising to the top, of that priority list. And that's why that point from before we think is so important, which is when climate and sustainability has other implications as well, when it's really important to your customers, when there is a financial risk that comes off the back of that, we actually we we see that as a really important opportunity for businesses to therefore lift, the prioritization of sustainability
00:09:11:17 - 00:09:40:24
Speaker 1
and climate actions. And we see organizations do that. So Qantas as an example, who you would all know at launch to fly carbon neutral program. And through that they collect a whole lot of data on their flight operations, their fuel consumption and carbon emissions. And by analyzing this data, they can find ways to minimize the weight of aircraft, to optimize routes, to use different fuels or use fuels in more effective ways.
00:09:41:01 - 00:10:12:02
Speaker 1
And it's quite this wonderful benefit for them. On the one hand, it increases their carbon neutral goals, but there are cost implications of that too. Flying less, heavier aircraft, flying down optimized routes, flying with less fuel. There's cost savings for that. With that organization as well. So we see lots of examples of where organizations are really be able to progress climate and sustainability goals, especially when it is coupled with something else as well.
00:10:12:04 - 00:10:30:05
Speaker 3
Thanks, Catherine. I also just I can see a few questions coming in through the chat, and I know Oscar will have time for Q&A at the end, but but just to say that this is you're absolutely right. Like sustainability and climate action, it's not mutually exclusive with those other sort of business objectives that are listed on the right hand side.
00:10:30:05 - 00:10:55:15
Speaker 3
I'm really what we want businesses to be doing is to be thinking about these things more holistically. So exactly what some of the comments have been said have been popped in the chat. Like risk management and climate. They are inherently linked. And so I think that that's where really we would like to see businesses heading. But probably what came through in the research is it's not really as integrated as it should be at this stage.
00:10:55:17 - 00:11:25:11
Speaker 3
So I just want to dive into these skills landscape now and how the climate transition is going to impact skills needs in the next decade. Just to start, what are green skills? So green skills are these skills and knowledge related to sustainability and climate change. Quite a broad spectrum. It covers a range of different things, including sort of those more technical specialist skills through to those more lateral or soft skills which can be transferred across occupations.
00:11:25:13 - 00:11:48:18
Speaker 3
When we look at growing demand for green skills, we see this coming through in three different areas. The first is a growing need for workers with green skills and expertise. This is probably your typical green skilled worker. You know this is your friend with like an environmental science degree. It's someone working recycling. It's someone in renewable energy. Like it's your typical green skilled worker.
00:11:48:20 - 00:12:22:15
Speaker 3
The second piece is workers in existing roles that will require significant changes to responsibilities. A good example of this. My brother's actually an accountant. With the new sustainability reporting requirements coming in. He's had to take that on within his organization and is leading it. And so now has quite a different remit alongside his sort of previous responsibilities. Another good example is, for example, a lawyer who might have to deal with like climate clauses within insurance contracts, things like that.
00:12:22:20 - 00:12:42:10
Speaker 3
I've really, what that second bucket is representing. And I think what we're trying to get to here is that, you know, in the future, we do think that all jobs will be a green job in some way, shape or form. The third piece of the puzzle is the emergence of new roles that currently may not even exist.
00:12:42:10 - 00:12:56:15
Speaker 3
So a couple of examples here. Like an, an EB technician or a sustainability consultant, really like growing roles which are, growing in demand as a result of the green transition.
00:12:56:17 - 00:13:26:21
Speaker 3
Now, I mentioned the growing demand for green skills. The LinkedIn Global Skills report actually estimated that demand for green skills was going to double by 2050. When we look more locally, drawing on insights from our research, we find that currently businesses say that about 25% of their workforce has green skills, but that they will need 36% of their workforce to have green skills by 2030 to keep pace with existing demand.
00:13:26:23 - 00:13:44:12
Speaker 3
What this means is there is a shortfall of over a million workers in new and existing roles that are needed to keep pace with that demand for green skills.
00:13:44:14 - 00:14:13:16
Speaker 1
And Ray, there's a question in the chat that says do you find green skills are getting increasingly siloed into ESG teams rather than embedded into business functions. And I thought your point before where you said yes, and it's also within business functions as well. Your example, of the lawyer, we've done some work recently with procurement functions in large mining organizations who, of course, control a lot of the scope three emissions.
00:14:13:18 - 00:14:46:13
Speaker 1
So those, organizations and how to upskill those procurement functions, on emissions reduction, other green and sustainability topics to make sure that as they go out and negotiate with their suppliers that they're doing that, with those, those green goals in mind. The other piece is, you know, if I go over to a different industry in banking, Westpac earlier this week just launched their Pathways to Sustainability Learning program, which is aimed at their business bankers.
00:14:46:13 - 00:15:11:07
Speaker 1
It tells all these wonderful stories about, bankers and what they do have. They have great conversations with their customers on all things climate and sustainable. And that sort of the the flip of the mining example for banks. It's really those bankers, that hold the key to being able to reduce the larger emissions profile. So that organization.
00:15:11:07 - 00:15:19:08
Speaker 1
So you can see a very different approach. Over at Westpac, to the one that the, the mining, company took.
00:15:19:10 - 00:15:37:21
Speaker 3
Yeah. Thanks, Katherine. I think that's exactly right. Like more and more, we want to be seeing businesses actually integrating climate across different occupations, not just keeping it as a siloed thing. Like obviously, for it to have a really big impact, it should actually be embedded in the process every step of the way, and not just have someone thinking about this in a really siloed way.
00:15:37:21 - 00:16:02:15
Speaker 3
That's going to sort of lessen the material impact, within those organizations. So I spoke earlier about just the increasing demand for green skills. One of the things that is quite surprising, despite the fact that we have this, you know, really clear demand for more workers with green skills, just one third of businesses that we surveyed are actually investing in green skills training for their employees.
00:16:02:15 - 00:16:35:08
Speaker 3
Obviously, this is an issue because if all businesses arn’t building that workforce capability and sort of trying to get green skills through hiring, it's not sustainable across the entire Australian workforce. So it's very concerning that more businesses aren't looking to build that capability internally some of the barriers that businesses mentioned included just costs of training. That was 61% of businesses alongside just not having enough time to undertake training or upskilling.
00:16:35:08 - 00:17:13:17
Speaker 3
And that was identified by about 55% of businesses in terms of where the biggest gaps were in terms of green skills, knowledge or capability. The top gap was in engineering, science and technical skills. So those are probably your classic green skilled workers that I mentioned before, alongside the climate and sustainability related soft skills. So those skills including like stakeholder management or risk management or capability building, which can kind of exist laterally across a range of occupations and sectors.
00:17:13:19 - 00:17:41:24
Speaker 3
The good news for everyone on this call, interested in learning a bit more about green skills is that because of the growing demand, there is actually a real dividend for employees with green skills. In our survey, we found that employers were willing to pay about 13% more, which is equivalent to $13,000 for a manager or a leader with green skills.
00:17:42:01 - 00:18:01:22
Speaker 3
Just to put this into perspective, I thought these were some fun stats. This would pay for an entire grocery bill over the course of a year for the average Australian household. It would also pay for two week long international holidays for the average Australian traveler. So I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty good to me.
00:18:01:22 - 00:18:22:24
Speaker 3
I'd like that. In my bank account. My, I mentioned my brother before who was an accountant, took charge of sustainability reporting. He actually got a promotion through the process now has a direct report. So it was quite funny. I had sort of a limited sample of that, pay rise being realized in the process of doing the research.
00:18:23:01 - 00:18:48:05
Speaker 3
Collectively, when we look across the entire sort of workforce, this represents a 1.7 billion opportunity by 2030 for those workers with green skills. So I suppose if you're on the call, you're interested in this area. And you'd like to learn more about it. It is certainly something that's in demand and something where, we might say that you might see that come through your remuneration as well.
00:18:51:20 - 00:19:25:00
Speaker 1
Wonderful. And so with that, we see a couple of key things that we would really love organizations to do to prepare their workforce and really help build, the capability that we think is needed. And this, as Rhiannon mentioned, that is in some cases dedicated green or ESG roles and in many, many other cases connected to roles that individuals already have an accountant with green skills, a lawyer with green skills, a procurement lead with green skills.
00:19:25:02 - 00:19:45:21
Speaker 1
So four things that we say, the first thing is to prioritize sustainability and climate change. Obviously, an organization that does not have sustainability or climate change at the top of its strategy list is not going to prioritize, building the workforce around those things. So that's well and truly thing number one, thing number two is to conduct workforce mapping.
00:19:45:21 - 00:20:12:09
Speaker 1
And what we mean by that is that there is no such thing as a green skill. Like it's not one thing. It's many different things. It looks very different for Rhiannon brother than it does for the lawyer that it does from the for the procurement individual to really be clear about which parts of the organization need, what skill and in what way, and of course, what skills to those does that team already have the gap may only be really small.
00:20:12:11 - 00:20:43:21
Speaker 1
The third thing is, and based on that, to go and upskill and reskill the workforce, whether that is programs that you might launch, like the one that I just mentioned with Westpac, things that you might do externally through RMIT online and others. A whole lot of different ways of building capability, in the workforce. And then the final thing, okay, the mandatory climate reporting, I feel like mandatory climate reporting has just got the worst title ever because it just sounds so boring.
00:20:43:23 - 00:21:10:21
Speaker 1
But, you know, so those that are not really close to this, really what it means is you've got to tell the public what you are doing internally. You're telling them about the climate decisions you're making, about the goals that you've got, about the risks that you see, And so it is so fundamentally, important and critical. for the way that especially large organizations that are in scope at the moment, are thinking about these, say, 4 key initiatives.
00:21:10:23 - 00:21:40:16
Speaker 1
An example Transgrid, I think has got some wonderful learning that sort of fits within the second and third one. They're at the moment, they've got an initiative called the legacy 100 initiative, which is a training program program aimed at upskilling the power transmission sector, in regional New South Wales. And through this initiative, they will train up to 100 candidates on their transmission line, construction and really support them in building the qualifications and expertise that are needed.
00:21:40:20 - 00:21:59:19
Speaker 1
For the $1.8 billion Energy Connect project that's being built, through Wagga at the moment. So a really great example of transgrid, who are really lean, leaning in on climate related skills that are needed in this case, for the energy transition. And there are many other examples, as well.
00:21:59:23 - 00:22:12:04
Speaker 1
Oscar, that is that brings us to the conclusion of the report summary. We might pass over to you to, to take us through Q&A.
00:22:12:06 - 00:22:34:00
Speaker 2
Certainly, Katherine and Rhi, Thank you so much. And no surprises here. We've been bombarded with questions. So, obviously very engaged, group here. And it's, it's wonderful to see that type of interaction happening and obviously sparking really interesting conversation. Let me jump to a couple of these questions that I can see have come through to me here.
00:22:34:02 - 00:22:45:04
Speaker 2
If you could invest in one green skill area for impact or, and ROI, what would it be and why?
00:22:45:06 - 00:23:12:06
Speaker 1
That's a bloody good question. So for me, I'm a consultant. I work in financial services. A lot so for me, understanding how to best support customers. And by customers I mean retail banking customers, small to medium enterprises. Understanding how to help them make different decisions about the homes that they might buy around those small business choices that they might take.
00:23:12:10 - 00:23:19:20
Speaker 1
For me, that's the green skill that's most important. But Rhi that might look totally different. That's.
00:23:19:20 - 00:23:48:06
Speaker 3
A great that's a great one. I think, I would honestly, and this is going to sound quite, quite basic, but it's not. I just think like climate literacy, I think so many people overlook how or I kind of fail to understand the possible impacts of climate on their business. And we saw that earlier when Katherine was talking to sort of how far down the list climate and sustainability was when within businesses, listed priorities.
00:23:48:06 - 00:24:12:04
Speaker 3
I think, as a few of you alluded to in the chat, if you understand climate, well, you understand that it doesn't sit separate to those other things. And actually it's as important, if not more important than like risk management because it's a central part of risk in your business or it's a central part of attracting customers, like Catherine said, or it's a central part of your compliance activities.
00:24:12:04 - 00:24:39:00
Speaker 3
It just has such, interwoven impacts. So I think generally understanding and having an awareness of the potential impact of climate change on your business just through climate literacy. I think that would be my number one, my number one item. Of course, if any of you are in specific sectors, I it will vary across sectors. So you might have another skill that you know is more relevant.
00:24:39:00 - 00:24:52:17
Speaker 3
Like if you're an accountant I would say yes, definitely learn sustainability reporting and try and try and, you know, manage that function within your business. But I think at that higher executive level, just climate literacy would be my answer.
00:24:52:19 - 00:25:05:04
Speaker 2
Fabulous. I there's an interesting one here. There is a comment that consulting is a very broad, broad term. What aspects of sustainability do you see, see consulting skills need to be.
00:25:05:07 - 00:25:06:14
Speaker 3
Do you want to take that Katherine?
00:25:06:16 - 00:25:13:19
Speaker 1
Absolutley thats a wonderful point because It basically means supporting anyone anywhere, When we like.
00:25:13:19 - 00:25:17:13
Speaker 3
Asking us to respond what is a consultant it's running joke.
00:25:17:14 - 00:25:40:24
Speaker 1
So a lot of things. Yeah. When we talk about this in that context, we're talking about a banner or things that wrap to that, like influencing negotiation, the the ability to deeply understand, an individual or business's problem and come up with different ways solving for that. So when we talk about consulting skills in that context, it's sort of under that banner.
00:25:41:04 - 00:25:56:07
Speaker 1
You could of course, go down a very technical path with that and say these consulting into the agriculture technology, you know, industry or whichever other industry as well. But we use that, that broad term to, to talk about consulting skills.
00:25:56:09 - 00:26:07:04
Speaker 2
It's an interesting one here. How do you weigh up the importance of green skills versus all, versus all the other skills that are critical for an organization to invest in.
00:26:07:06 - 00:26:15:05
Speaker 1
Saying the $64,000 question or actually, that might be the $423 billion. Yeah, yeah.
00:26:15:07 - 00:26:43:06
Speaker 3
I mean, I think, I'm happy to take this one. And just for context, everyone on the call, the earlier piece of work we do with we did with RMIT online this year, was more focused on sort of tech and digital skills. So I can completely understand for businesses, just how do you how do you balance, you know, workforce capability and make decisions about that within your organization, noting that as much as you would love all your employees to have all of the skills, that's probably not realistic.
00:26:43:08 - 00:27:16:20
Speaker 3
One of the recommendations that Katherine spoke to in the report was workforce mapping. So I think this is going to look very different for every business. But I think having an understanding of where is your workforce going? Like where are the key skills gaps that are emerging and probably targeting them in the first instance. So, I'm not going to give you, you know, I think it's going to vary by business, but I think just having a bit of a sense of where those gaps are across different skills, functions, you know, across technical skills or soft skills or climate skills and then just trying to balance.
00:27:17:00 - 00:27:56:08
Speaker 3
Yeah. How you invest in capability building across some. I would also say though, that, it's not just the employers responsibility like the employers role in sort of upskilling can only go so far. You heard us talk about the individual benefit and the dividend to employees from having these climate and sustainability related, sustainability related skills. And I kind of feel like there's no excuse for people if you want to if you want to learn a skill now, like training materials are more accessible than ever before, whether that's through, you know, online micro-credentials or short courses or even something like YouTube, like the information out there is just so available.
00:27:56:08 - 00:28:07:07
Speaker 3
So I think that, there's also probably a bit of individual responsibility for all of us to make sure that we're up to date with whatever skills we want to have, in our workforce.
00:28:07:09 - 00:28:31:07
Speaker 2
Really interesting, Rhiannon that you mention that because there's another kind of question that folds into that, that we've received. It's around like getting some more examples of all of those green skills, but specifically around what are the kind of maybe existing soft skills or transferable skills that people may already have that would be that they could kind of either go a little bit deeper on or not even know that this would be a really nice way to pivot into something like.
00:28:31:09 - 00:28:51:15
Speaker 3
Yeah, something. And Katherine, feel free to jump jump in as well. But something that I think, is really relevant is like stakeholder management. So if your business is thinking about investing in, you know, something in some sort of sustainable practice area, just actually being able to make the case to stakeholders like why this matters and why it's why it's important.
00:28:51:15 - 00:29:15:14
Speaker 3
So I think that comes down to relationship building. You know, your communication skills, like all of this could be provided, could be sort of taken and used in a more climate specific context. The other thing that I think is really important is like if we just consider project planning. So if you're if you're just planning for general projects, like how are you considering climate risks within that and how are you managing that?
00:29:15:14 - 00:29:34:01
Speaker 3
I don't know, you might be building you might be building a house, you might be building a hospital. Like, how are you thinking about the potential impacts of climate change on the risks and potential costs that you know, you would incur in the process of developing that project? So, that's just that's just a couple of a couple of suggestions.
00:29:34:01 - 00:29:58:00
Speaker 3
The other thing that we talk about in the research, we didn't mention this in the slides, but this idea of, regenerative practices. And so, the idea of regenerative practices or regenerative thinking is that you're not just thinking about actually limiting harm within your business, but you're actually thinking about making a net positive impact on the environment.
00:29:58:00 - 00:30:18:16
Speaker 3
So it's kind of that systems thinking approach to dealing with things. And I think that that applies across a range of different things. We've heard that term before when it comes to social impact. But I think we can take this a similar concept and think about it in terms of the environment. And there's some really cool businesses who are doing some really amazing things, like, you know, who gives a crap?
00:30:18:16 - 00:30:39:01
Speaker 3
Like, I buy my toilet paper from them. That's probably an example of like a more regenerative business. Yeah. I get my I get my groceries delivered from funky food. This is not promoted in any way. Basically they take, you know, the, fruit and veg offcuts. Supermarkets don't want one and the boxes are recyclable and just things like that.
00:30:39:01 - 00:30:44:08
Speaker 3
I think those are some really great tangible examples of sort of that, that more systems thinking approach.
00:30:44:10 - 00:31:04:21
Speaker 1
Yeah. I would also say on that, that we really think that every job is a climate job. So it doesn't matter whether you think you're in a climate field or not, or you think you're in a climate job or not, you are certainly having an impact on the climate in some way, shape or form. So every decision you make, every decision your organization makes impacts the climate in some way.
00:31:04:21 - 00:31:19:01
Speaker 1
So part of the message of this is to say find out how your organization can lean in more on those decisions. Find out how you can lean in more, on those decisions, as well.
00:31:19:03 - 00:31:47:10
Speaker 2
Katherine, it's a dovetails really nicely into this question that's come through. And it's about, how important is storytelling or taking all employees through a sustainability or climate journey? And it is, I guess. Is there a is there a kind of, a message or a call to action, if you will, that you could encourage people or, or distill with people if they're wanting to make that kind of broader conversation within an organization.
00:31:47:12 - 00:32:10:00
Speaker 1
100% and Rhi spoke before about the real need for influencing skills and the ability to be able to, appreciate where someone's coming from and then get them on board with how they can consider climate differently in the decision that they're making in in the thing that you're talking with them about. I think storytelling is such an important part.
00:32:10:00 - 00:32:22:01
Speaker 1
And organizations that have climate and sustainability as part of their strategy in some way, obviously make so much more, headway, than those that do not.
00:32:22:03 - 00:32:41:00
Speaker 3
Yeah. And I think also just in terms of that storytelling piece, I would sort of provide two, pointers for that and that is that all jobs will be green jobs. I think, in the same way we used to think of digital workers, you know, that was a novel concept when when computers came out. And now we're all digital workers to some degree.
00:32:41:02 - 00:32:56:14
Speaker 3
We're seeing something similar happen with climate and sustainability. And the other thing is, whether you like it or not, climate will impact your business. So you need to stop preparing for like, we can't keep putting our head in the sand so there is an urgency. I think just demonstrating the breadth of impact and the urgency of it is going to help.
00:32:56:14 - 00:33:02:18
Speaker 3
When you're trying to convince stakeholders internally to sort of take action on this.
00:33:02:20 - 00:33:34:14
Speaker 2
That's really that's really interesting. And I think that there is there's a couple of there's a couple of chats here going on and I can say I'm one of the, a call out that someone's made is like, with these at the moment, maybe this is one for you, Rhi, Like that in your investigations, when you're pulling together of what is there a particular industry or sector that is becoming more prevalent, where these jobs will be a higher in demand and where people should keep an eye out if they were looking for, you know, I guess diving into this type of, taking advantage of the opportunity.
00:33:34:14 - 00:33:35:19
Speaker 2
Really?
00:33:35:21 - 00:33:59:10
Speaker 3
Yes. So what we say it's I think it's quite intuitive, but generally the biggest skills gaps are in those sort of traditional industries, which also tend to be the ones most impacted in the, in the first instance by climate effects. So things like, you know, mining, manufacturing, agriculture. I saw a comment in the chat earlier about, how sort of sustainable farming is transforming the, the agricultural sector.
00:33:59:10 - 00:34:16:20
Speaker 3
And I just. Yeah, I couldn't agree more. It's a really interesting space. I'm actually watching muster dogs at the moment. I don't know if anyone's seen that, but it's all about the use of cattle in cattle dogs and herding cattle and how that's really, like, regenerative for the land. In lieu of using machinery. It's a really nice Aussie story.
00:34:16:20 - 00:34:43:10
Speaker 3
So shameless plug for the ABC series. But but certainly those traditional industries are the ones that, most impacted and where there's probably the biggest opportunity, the biggest immediate opportunity to make change. Going down from that, we saw professional services was sort of the second grouping. And then the ones where maybe this wasn't too much of an immediate issue was in kind of government services.
00:34:43:10 - 00:34:59:04
Speaker 3
So like health or education. And that's not to say it's not a policy priority like it's being discussed at the reform roundtables next week and things like that, but more within those specific delivery of services which are managed by government. That's what that last group represents.
00:34:59:06 - 00:35:25:13
Speaker 2
Interesting. um a question that's come through as well is in relation to like the international landscape for something like this, like how are other countries, are there particular, places that are kind of adopting these changes and have the, I guess, the, the requirements around reporting and what have you that we see here? As your research or understanding uncovered things like that that you can share.
00:35:25:15 - 00:35:58:00
Speaker 3
Yeah. It wasn't something we directly touched on in the research from broader work I've done, I certainly don't think Australia is, you know, leading the charge with this, this sort of thing. Like I think they’re other countries where we could certainly draw inspiration from in terms of how they're, tackling these sorts of issues, like if we think more broadly, just, just even to things like recycling, like in some countries, for example, you actually need to pay for your rubbish, and that just immediately creates an incentive not to produce as much waste.
00:35:58:02 - 00:36:12:21
Speaker 3
So I think that, yeah, it wasn't something we explicitly, looked at in this research, but certainly it would be a good exercise to go through to sort of look to other countries and, and look at best practices and see what can be integrated in Australia.
00:36:12:23 - 00:36:24:24
Speaker 2
Interesting. There's this lot of this question that's come through. Okay. You ready for given how damaging AI is the environment, how do you foresee the future?
00:36:25:01 - 00:36:52:16
Speaker 1
Oh, it's such a great question. Why don't I take a stab, Rhi And then you jump in. And so I think, yes, of course, AI, put a huge energy burden into our grid, into, energy systems more broadly. So we have to figure that out and how to deal with that. There was a perspective that came through at choose pattern submissions into the round tables that we talked about for next week.
00:36:52:18 - 00:37:30:00
Speaker 1
That said, actually, I just put all the more, it gives all the more need for us to transition quickly into more renewable energy sources and go through the energy transition that we, of course, are already. So I, I really liked that very optimistic view, of the way forward. You can also see some private organizations in the US, taking energy into their own hands where they have incredible data centers and things like that, and thinking about investing really heavily into renewable practices there as well.
00:37:30:00 - 00:37:51:09
Speaker 1
There are of course, examples where they're doing, the reverse of that too. So look, I completely agree that it is, a huge issue. I'm hopeful that this just gives all the more wind to the energy transition that we're currently going through at the moment. But yes, it's definitely a risk.
00:37:51:11 - 00:38:11:02
Speaker 3
Yeah. And I think just to add to that, I would say technology, certainly it's it's part of the problem, but hopefully it can also be part of the solution. So I think that if we can just use AI to, you know, actually help us come up with some innovative ways to deal with this issue, and also deal with, yeah, the energy use that comes with using AI.
00:38:11:04 - 00:38:19:12
Speaker 3
Yeah. Hopefully it's we can lean into it more as a solution than it. And moving forward.
00:38:19:14 - 00:38:40:11
Speaker 2
Well thank you. Well, I think that almost takes us to time. Thank you, everyone on the call for joining. And of course, a big thank you to Katherine, Rihannon for taking us through some of those powerful insights and driving this conversation. If you want to deep dive a little bit further into the report I absolutely encourage you to do, you can find it on our website.
00:38:40:11 - 00:39:05:20
Speaker 2
I think it's actually been popped into the chat as well. But RMIT online.edu UK, UK slash insights. I believe you will find it out. So please go in there and have a look if you want to, get a little bit more detail and an understanding of what we've covered today. Also of course, on a lot of the questions were popping up around like, how do we get more skills in this area?
00:39:05:20 - 00:39:31:22
Speaker 2
And of course, we have plenty of options at RMIT online. If you're interested in doing sustainability, social impact, importantly, climate reporting, we've done a range of courses in collaboration with Deloitte that you can access through our website as well. And I encourage you to have a look there. That will be us wrapping up. Thank you all for joining and have a fabulous rest of the week, and we look forward to reconnecting with you all again when we do another masterclass.
00:39:32:03 - 00:39:36:23
Speaker 2
So for now, goodbye and have a great afternoon.
As mandatory climate reporting kicks in from 2025 and climate impacts begin to reshape every sector of the economy, both organisations and individuals will need to adapt. Green skills are emerging as one of the most in-demand capabilities across the workforce, not just to manage risk, but to unlock opportunity, build resilience, and drive innovation.
Join us for a live online masterclass delivered by Rhiannon Yetsenga and Katherine Wannan from Deloitte, unpacking the key findings from our latest research report, Towards a Green-Skilled Workforce. Whether you're leading a team, managing organisational change, or planning your next career move, this session will equip you with essential insights into the skills that matter in a climate-shaped future.
Why Attend:
Understand how climate change is driving workforce transformation across all industries
Learn which green skills are in demand - and where the biggest opportunities lie
Get practical guidance on closing capability gaps, building climate resilience, and meeting new reporting obligations
Discover how green skills can accelerate your career and boost earning potential, with managers already commanding up to 13% more
As global expectations for corporate responsibility rise, businesses are under increasing pressure to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability.
With the rise of new and wildly popular image generators like Midjourney, Craiyon, and Nightcafe, not to mention platforms like Getty Images and Adobe launching their own tools, graphic designers are understandably feeling the pressure.
The world of work is constantly maturing - and so are the job roles. Professions, even industries, that didn’t exist a decade ago are quickly become highly sought after, leaving professionals scrambling to update their skillset.
In an increasingly digital world, cyber threats are evolving at an unprecedented pace.
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.
More information
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business.
More information
