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Amanda Williams
The construction industry in the Arabian Gulf faces a significant challenge on its path to sustainability: a green skills gap. Addressing this pressing issue is essential for achieving the region’s ambitious environmental goals.
At this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, I had the privilege of advocating for the construction sector to take center stage in conversations about sustainable development. In tandem with this, the #GreenSkillsAtCop campaign, launched by the UK-based Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA), brought global attention to the shortage of green skills in construction.
Ahead of the conference, the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) had pledged support to the campaign, an initiative which highlights the critical lack of green skills across the industry and encourages governments around the world to put more focus on this key issue.
As the world’s leading professional body for construction management and leadership, CIOB’s members worldwide are advocating for a more sustainable built environment, but there are significant challenges.
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An AI-generated vision of sustainability-focused construction in the Arabian Gulf. |
Across many parts of the world, for example, there is a pressing need to close a green skills gap in construction, and the Arabian Gulf is far from immune to this need to rapidly develop green labour skills.
To put the shortage into context, a World Energy Employment report from the International Energy Agency claims the Middle East lags significantly behind almost all other regions in clean energy employment, and this despite a recent boom in green jobs.
This gap is particularly concerning for top carbon-emitting countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which are expected to face a significant portion of the estimated global shortage of seven million so-called green workers by 2030.
A study by the Emirates Green Building Council (EGBC) indicates the demand for skilled workers in solar energy installation, sustainable water management, energy efficiency, and green building technologies is growing rapidly in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, where a 50 per cent increase in population is also expected by 2050.
Naturally, this population growth – an additional 22 million people across the GCC countries – will require a significant investment in sustainable infrastructure and buildings to support the expansion of cities across the region. This does provide an opportunity to construct to high standards of sustainably from the start, delivering a net zero carbon, healthy, and resilient built environment.
But to meet that aspiration, a skilled workforce will be needed with capabilities in green technologies and materials, circular economy principles and practices, green engineering and construction methods, and climate risk mitigation as well as transferable skills like stakeholder management and systems thinking.
Worryingly, as a report from the MENA Business Council reveals, a shortage of green-skilled professionals is already significantly hindering the region’s progress toward a green transition with demand outstripping supply, and LinkedIn data’s Global Climate Talent Stocktake estimates the talent pool for green skills in critical industries, such as construction, will need to double to meet future demand.
For the GCC, this means significant investment in green skills development through a large-scale programme of retraining to prevent the skills gap from stalling projects. Numerous stakeholders will need to play their part – from governments to professional bodies and academic institutions.
The region has already begun responding to this need, with initiatives like the Saudi Green Jobs Programme, a joint effort by the Saudi Ministry of Labour and Social Development and the World Bank, or the Qatar Green Building Council’s green building professional certification scheme.
Robust low carbon transition policies are a key driver for skills development, and there is a need to promote green building standards across the region’s construction sector. One emerging example is the launch in July of a comprehensive national green certificate program by the UAE’s Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure which included three key areas - green buildings, renewable energy projects, and sustainable practices - and aims to dramatically accelerate progress.
The skills gap is a huge challenge, but it offers an opportunity for the construction industry to play its part in a so-called ‘just transition’ by providing retraining and new jobs for those currently working in carbon-intensive industries such as the oil and gas industry, the built environment can become a key recipient of talent, as these workers already possess many transferable core skills, making them ideal candidates for green jobs.
A global and regional shortfall of trained workers with a wide range of green skills has the potential to be a major barrier to achieving sustainable construction. Governments in the Middle East, especially within the GCC, are recognising the severity of the issue but must increase funding for the necessary training programmes and work with training providers to ensure capacity can be scaled up quickly enough. This will be crucial to meet sustainability objectives as the demand for green buildings and infrastructure expands.
CIOB offers a variety of training courses related to sustainability, including our free mass open online course1, covering the basics of sustainable construction and development. It also offers a comprehensive Guide to Sustainability in the Built Environment2 and e-learning on Strategy Development for Sustainable Construction3.
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