In 2020, the Singapore government estimated 55,000 new jobs will be created by the end of the decade from a growing focus on sustainable development. Demand is expected to come from sectors including finance, agriculture, food hygiene, sanitation, waste management, carbon services and climate science.
Speaking at the opening of the 14th Parliament on Aug 27, 2020, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu says Singapore has pursued economic growth in tandem with social inclusion and environmental protection. “This is the foundation for the green and liveable city that we enjoy today,” says Fu.
She adds: “However, we cannot take our success for granted. In a global landscape characterised by pandemics, climate change, and resource constraints, sustainability has become increasingly important … It has always been part of Singapore’s DNA. But we will push for it to be at the heart of our plans, policies and processes.”
Presented with such opportunities, are Singaporeans up to the task? Moreover, are locals even interested in the sector?
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) published on March 31 a list of 27 job roles employers are desperate to fill. Known as the Shortage Occupation List, the roles range from agritech to the green economy, as well as healthcare and technology.
Roles facing a supply crunch in the green economy include carbon trader, carbon verification and audit specialist, and carbon standards and methodology analyst. In the agritech sector, companies here are on the lookout for skilled talent in alternative protein food application and novel food biotechnology.
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MOM says it drew its conclusions from its 2022 Jobs Vacancies Report — released that same day — and engagements with sector agencies and tripartite partners.
To fill these roles, companies could turn to foreign talent. The list was accompanied by further details on MOM’s Complementarity Assessment Framework (COMPASS), a new, points-based system to evaluate Employment Pass (EP) candidates. COMPASS evaluates EP applications based on a “holistic set of individual and firm-related attributes”, and comes into effect from Sept 1.
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Are Singaporeans letting opportunity pass them by? A survey by Google and Economist Impact released in March claims nearly seven in 10 (69%) employees in Singapore rate digital skills — especially those related to artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud computing and the Internet of Things — as their top priority.
Meanwhile, green skills are considered relatively less valuable, with only 12% of employees in Singapore believing it is the most important skill for today’s workforce, lower than the regional average of 17.7%.
Is this a fair comparison, and is there really a dichotomy between green skills and digital skills?
Sustainability recruiter Ian Povey-Hall thinks green skills “is quite a dated term”. “I think if you asked people just on those two terms, you’re likely to get that result,” says the global head of sustainable finance and impact investing at the UK-based Acre, whose clients include HSBC and Lombard Odier.
More realistically, there is a “real, deep link” between sustainability and technology, Povey-Hall tells The Edge Singapore. He cites examples like measuring and verifying carbon offsets — especially after recent allegations against global verification bodies — and “remote sensing widgets” that sit within industrial processes. “It’s going to change for the people going around companies with clipboards … That’s why Ravi [Menon of MAS] is focusing on data analytics and innovation; the fusion of the two things is where the science is really compelling.”
See also: MAS appoints new chief sustainability officer from within its ranks
The Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Project Greenprint, for example, is a collection of initiatives that aims to harness technology and data to enable a more transparent, trusted and efficient environmental, social and governance (ESG) ecosystem to enable green and sustainable finance.
The project focuses on four digital utilities: an ESG disclosure portal with the Singapore Exchange (SGX) called ESGenome, an ESG registry of green certifications dubbed ESGpedia, a data orchestrator and a digital marketplace coming this year.
While digital skills are pervasive across industries and job roles because of enabling technologies, the momentum of green activities across industries is picking up, says Gog Soon-Joo, chief skills officer at SkillsFuture Singapore. “Eventually, all jobs will require green skills, albeit its nascent state.”
War for talent
Google and Economist Impact’s Bridging the skills gap: Fuelling careers and the economy in Asia-Pacific study surveyed 1,375 employees — of which 100 were based in Singapore.
At the moment, most green upskilling here is driven by employees’ personal interest in the topic (26%). Google and Economist Impact expect this trend to change as Singapore prioritises environmental goals and sustainability.
However, surging demand and a tight supply of skilled green labour may hurt the sustainability agenda as a whole.
“If everyone’s fighting over the same people and they all get split across [various] organisations, then it’s hard for them to really innovate and drive change,” says Acre’s Povey-Hall.
In addition, parachuting specialists into a company to solve problems specific to an organisation is akin to kicking the can down the road, he adds. “It’s an easy, quick thing to do: add some budget and we’ll go and pay someone more money. But does it fundamentally give you much additionality? Arguably not.”
See also: Singapore's largest-cap firms lay out net-zero commitments
Vinamra Srivastava, chief sustainability officer (CSO) at CapitaLand Investment (CLI) 9CI , thinks companies are “going after the same bunch of guys”. “We’re in a stage where it’s very hard to find sustainability skillsets out there in the market.”
Srivastava, who was appointed CSO last April after four years as CLI’s CEO of business parks in India, says such green skills “didn’t exist five years back”.
Speaking at Economist Impact’s Sustainability Week Asia conference in February, he calls for firms to reskill their staff for the green economy. “What is needed for an organisation is to start building sustainability skills in existing functions. So, let’s say: How can my finance and treasury teams now gain extra knowledge about recording offsets on the books? How do I gain extra skillsets on designing sustainability performance targets for my green bonds or green loans?”
Srivastava adds: “For the legal side, how do you deal with litigation on greenwashing? How do I frame the right contracts on stuff like sustainable financing? Just about every function is now adding a layer of sustainability-related skillsets, whether you’re an SME or a big corporation; if you focus on these, then you start making progress not only on reporting but on actual execution in your decarbonisation journeys.”
Some jobs that are “born green”, says Lim Sun Sun, Singapore Management University’s (SMU) vice-president of partnerships and engagement; but there are also “conventional” jobs that are taking on “a very strong salient green dimension”.
ESG “isn’t something you can graft onto the organisation”, says Lim on a separate panel at the Economist Impact conference. “It’s something that people need to grasp across different levels — what their roles involve, how their roles have become green. As a result of that, you’ve got to ensure that the skills and competencies towards ESG actually percolate throughout your organisation.”
Lim, who is also a professor of communication and technology at SMU, acknowledges that older workers may be unwilling to change their working styles or job scope. “It’s really quite instinctive if you think about it: you’ve been doing something the same way for a while, you are rather good at it and you want to just do it the same old way. But then disruption comes along and you’re uncertain, you’re insecure, you don’t have the right skillsets and you feel very unsure about how to plan your career shift.”
Thus, employers should be sensitive when introducing changes to the workplace, says Lim. “When there’s that sense of insecurity, organisations actually need to be a little more proactive about providing that support, so that you give people that sense of competency building — that sense that you’re in this together, the organisation is behind you, creating for you certain upskilling pathways.”
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Today’s skills crunch is a result of us not investing enough in sustainability competency across organisations and the education system, says Lee Hui Mien, senior director for group environment sustainability at Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel) Z74 , on the same panel as Lim.
“One of the common challenges we see is in companies that rely a lot on a strong sustainability department,” says Lee. “The challenge is: If there’s a turnover in the sustainability department, then some of the good work that the company has done over the years might just fizzle out or stay stagnant.”
It all boils down to what really matters to corporate leaders, says Lee, who joined Singtel in 2021 from Mandai Park Development and Wildlife Reserves Singapore. “Generally, my experience is [that] people don’t necessarily want to go against sustainability. No one would say no to sustainability if they don’t have other competing priorities.”
A ‘high-growth economy’
SkillsFuture published in November 2022 the second edition of the Skills Demand for the Future Economy Report, highlighting three “high-growth economies in Singapore” — the green, digital and care economies.
The Ministry of Education statutory board divides the green sector into four “emerging domains” — environmental and sustainability management; energy, resource circularity and decarbonisation; green infrastructure and mobility; and sustainable finance.
“While green infrastructure and mobility; and energy, resource circularity and decarbonisation are key skills areas that see very high demand growth, they are dwarfed by skills demand growth in the domain of sustainable finance,” reads SkillsFuture’s public report. “On the other hand, skills in the environmental and sustainability management domain enjoy high transferability.”
Demand for skills in the green infrastructure and mobility domain grew by almost 200% from 2018 to 2021, adds SkillsFuture. “This results from the growing need to imbue green building strategies into every aspect of the built environment, and the transition to cleaner energy transportation … With more buildings and transport systems being required to meet mandatory emissions goals, more jobs will require skills to develop, implement and maintain urban infrastructure while meeting low-to-zero emissions targets.”
Within these domains, SkillsFuture highlights certain priority skills, or skills Singaporeans can “prioritise to enter and thrive in emerging sectors”. These skills were derived from SkillsFuture’s National Jobs-Skills Intelligence engine and validated with expert input from industry, academia and sector agencies.
Demand growth for a given priority skill refers to the growth in employers’ demand for the skill, as reflected in job postings over the four calendar years 2018 to 2021.
For example, demand growth for green facilities management was up an eye-watering 2,300%, while demand growth for the design and implementation of climate-mitigating features in the built environment was up 279%. “Demand for skills required throughout the entire built environment value chain is observed to be growing … These skills are needed by job roles such as architect/architectural associate, engineering design engineer and facilities manager.”
As part of Singapore’s energy transition, skills under the energy, resource circularity and decarbonisation domain are in hot demand, especially those involving solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. Such skills include solar photovoltaic energy assessment (+373%), renewable energy system management and integration (+156%) and solar photovoltaic systems designs (+139%).
See also: Singapore doubles down on carbon trading at COP27
Meanwhile, skills in energy management and audit are highly transferable across job roles, says SkillsFuture. These job titles include energy systems engineer, solar photovoltaic project development engineer and facilities engineer or technician dealing with power systems.
“Specifically, environmental sustainability management-related skills are required by more than 400 job roles across business development, engineering project development, facilities management, and environmental, health and safety [departments],” reads SkillsFuture’s report.
The Institution of Engineers Singapore (IES) is drawing up an IES Green Plan 2030 to support Singapore’s sustainability agenda. Established in July 1966, IES identifies, develops and conducts skills development courses for practising engineers. It also provides feedback to the government on engineering matters and represents Singapore at international engineering associations.
There is a wide spectrum of digitalisation opportunities across the engineering industries, say IES president Dalson Chung and committee chairmen Chang Sau Sheong and Prof Seeram Ramakrishna.
Prime examples include renewables and reducing carbon emissions, or energy efficiency in the energy industry, they add. “In other industries, it could be about sustainable use of building materials or reducing food waste or recycling.”
“Just as our engineers and technicians have innovated and facilitated our nation to realise water circularity and water security over the past five decades, Singapore’s net-zero and circular economy commitments now provide the impetus for our engineers and technicians to strive and innovate in the coming years and decades,” say the IES leaders to SkillsFuture.
Emerging demand in finance, food
SkillsFuture adds that growing demand for skills in emerging areas relating to sustainable finance, urban farming, food technologies and novel food development. The financial services sector is beginning to introduce green investments, loans and financial instruments to support companies tapping green economy opportunities, says SkillsFuture.
“In particular, skills in carbon markets and decarbonisation strategies management and sustainable investment management saw the highest demand growths of 1,700% and 1,550% respectively, albeit starting at relatively low bases.”
Some examples of job roles requiring these skills include investment analyst, underwriting manager, and sales and distribution specialist or coverage officer.
Demand for skills in urban farming, food technologies and novel food development is rising in tandem with Singapore’s food security goal; the republic aims to produce 30% of its nutritional needs locally by 2030.
Global supply chain disruptions seen during the Covid-19 pandemic highlight the need to strengthen the local food industry, says SkillsFuture. Skills required by companies include urban farming implementation and management, and urban farming business development and management.
These support the growth of vertical farms within buildings’ premises and rooftops, adds SkillsFuture. “Job roles requiring these skills include business development manager, research and development engineer/executive and automation engineer.”
At the same time, the development of food technologies and novel food concepts, such as plant-based proteins and lab-grown proteins, are also gaining traction locally. “Skills in novel food development and implementation and sustainable food production design are required by job roles ranging from food technologist to chef, to quality assurance and quality control specialist,” says SkillsFuture’s report.
Graduates chime in
A green skills crunch may be gripping the industry today but are current data points ignoring tomorrow’s workforce?
In Google and Economist Impact’s survey, for example, 63.2% of respondents were millennials, or those born between 1981 and 1996, inclusive of those years; nearly 12% were Generation Z (1997–2012) while a quarter were Generation X (1965–1980).
Younger Singaporeans have become vocal advocates for sustainability, with community groups like the Singapore Youth for Climate Action and the Inter-University Environmental Coalition (IUEC) seeking to engage youth here on green issues.
Could greater interest in sustainability among the youth signal a reprieve ahead for the current skills shortage?
Sustainability has been increasingly embedded into different tertiary courses, says Teng Chu Yu, who graduated from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2022. “[However,] more can be done to highlight its value across the short, medium and long term for students and their respective fields of study.”
Teng, a global studies and geography graduate, is now a sustainability executive at the Singapore Furniture Industries Council (SFIC).
Some universities, like Nanyang Technological University (NTU), have started including sustainability as a common core curriculum across all majors, which Teng calls “a great start”. “It would be great if we have access to survey results regarding the effectiveness of such courses in preparing students for the green economy.”
NTU introduced the “Sustainability: Society, Economy & Environment” module in 2021, which joined a list of seven Interdisciplinary Collaborative Core (ICC) courses that all NTU undergraduates must complete within their first two years of study.
NTU undergraduates may also pick up a second major in sustainability or a minor in environmental sustainability through modules offered by the university’s Asian School of the Environment.
See also: What do millennials and Gen Z want?
Back at NUS, Teng was among the founders of the IUEC, which brings together the student environment groups of seven local universities. In October 2022, the IUEC organised a two-day conference at ITE College Central attended by Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State of the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment; and Tan Kiat How, Senior Minister of State for National Development; among others.
Teng highlights NUS’s Bachelor of Environmental Studies (BES) programme, launched in 2011. “My acquaintances who graduated from BES are now working in the green finance sector [and] sustainability consulting; some are working as nature guides or in government agencies like the National Parks Board (NParks).”
In 2021, NUS BES revamped its course to offer a “cross-disciplinary degree programme” (XDP) for students matriculating from that year. According to the prospectus, the programme prepares graduates to “address national, regional and global environmental challenges”, such as over-exploitation, pollution, land and water use, habitat degradation and building liveable, high-density cities.
Some modules available to their students include communications for environmental studies, water science and technology, and principles of taxonomy and systematics. “[The XDP] seeks to develop environmental leaders and advocates who are scientifically informed and capable of formulating solutions for a sustainable future,” reads NUS’s course description.
Academic structures may seem conventional and siloed with students in specific disciplines, but “all that is breaking down” in many universities, says SMU’s Lim.
She points to the College of Integrative Studies (CIS), established in 2022 as SMU’s seventh school. This August, CIS will welcome its first intake of up to 100 students, who will be allowed to defer choosing their degree until the end of their first year.
SMU says students can “individualise” their majors by opting for the university’s suite of about 1,000 modules across different schools. Lim adds: “We’ve got students who can design their own majors, and I would imagine that there will be students who are very keen to design their own majors and degrees around sustainability and green issues.”
Lim says educational institutions must “take up the mantle” to prepare students for “one of the foremost challenges” today — climate change. “Universities are always engines of social impact and social transformation. We take our remit very seriously in terms of ensuring that our research is relevant to society and ensuring that our students are well-shepherded through university so that they get the best combination of skills.”
Career professionals, too, may choose to return to school. SMU’s professional training arm — SMU Academy — offers an Advanced Certificate in Sustainability and Sustainable Businesses, a 12-day programme held over four months with programme partner UN Global Compact Network Singapore.
According to SMU Academy’s website, the course fee is $10,368 for international participants. Singaporeans aged 40 and above, however, could pay as little as $1,190.40 after various grants and company sponsorships.
As a sustainability recruiter, Povey-Hall offers up a few choice words of advice for fresh graduates and those reassessing their career trajectory in the green economy: “For anyone who’s looking at how to go about building their career, just step away from the binary of ‘green’ or ‘not green’; think about the kind of work you want to do or have enjoyed doing, where you feel there’s some kind of mission and purpose.”
Povey-Hall lists a few questions they can ask themselves: “Where do you want to sit on the spectrum: A big-impact SME or a huge global company? What is the impact you want to have? What is the lifestyle you want to have? Find the organisations that align with those, then look really deeply at their purpose, mission and vision and see how those fit with you.”
Roles are dynamic and they have evolved quite a lot, says Povey-Hall, and today’s surging demand for green skills will not last forever. “Ultimately, a lot of them get integrated into the business. So, choosing the company first and then looking at the actual role itself is a much better way to find a long-term fit than looking at loads of different jobs, because in two years, that job will be different.”
