The global demand for green skills is rising fast, yet a significant gap remains between what employers expect and what the workforce can deliver. Emerging’s latest data shows 74.2% of recruiters believe universities should take the lead in preparing graduates for sustainability roles. Expectations differ by region where some countries have sustainability embedded in education, while others are still building that foundation. As the definition of green skills broadens to include systems thinking, policy literacy, and collaboration, understanding these regional nuances is key to helping academic institutions adapt their programs effectively.

In Emerging’s second installment of the three-part series on the future of sustainability in education and employment, the focus shifts from workforce demand to macroeconomic alignment. While the first article examined the widening gap between recruiter expectations and university readiness through the GEURS 2025 survey, this analysis layers in new insights from the OECD Green Indicators Report, updated in January 2025.

Benchmarking Emerging’s recruiter profiles against OECD sustainability data reveals deeper, region-specific patterns. This dual-data approach further reveals how national economic and environmental contexts shape employer priorities, enabling academic institutions to design more responsive and localized green skills training. While many findings remain exclusive to Emerging’s clients, this analysis highlights select insights to support institutions in navigating the complex intersection of education, employment, and sustainability.

Aligning university curricula with what recruiters really want in a green economy

You can find a complete article to learn more about the 4 recruiter profiles when it comes to green skills here.

Economic and environmental indicators: contextualizing recruiter expectations

To deepen the understanding of the four recruiter mindsets, each profile was compared across key economic and environmental indicators. This analysis not only supports the survey findings but also sheds light on the underlying structural factors shaping recruiters’ attitudes toward green skills development and university collaboration.

Inside the mindset of specialized sustainability seekers: precision over proliferation

This group includes countries such as Germany, Japan, and Switzerland, where sustainability is deeply embedded in national systems through robust environmental regulation, advanced R&D capacity, and mature innovation ecosystems. While GDP levels vary across this group, all demonstrate consistently high investment in research and development. This profile records the highest average R&D expenditure, reflecting a strong preference for PhD-level expertise and advanced research collaborations. These economies are also leaders in green technology innovation and maintain relatively low exposure to air pollution. However, progress on renewable energy adoption is slower, possibly due to legacy energy infrastructure or cautious policy transitions. In this context, recruiters place particular value on candidates with strong communication and advocacy skills, capable of navigating complex systems and influencing sustainability outcomes from within.

In business-first economies, academic institutions must prove their market value

Countries such as the United States, Canada, and Singapore shape this profile. These economies combine strong GDP performance with high renewable energy integration. Yet they also produce some of the highest levels of greenhouse gas emissions, indicating that fossil fuels remain deeply integrated into their energy mixes. R&D investment is robust, but green tech innovation registers only slightly above average, suggesting a focus on incremental optimization over transformative sustainability breakthroughs. Recruiters in this group value academic partnerships when they serve direct business interests. Universities are expected to support entrepreneurship, policy literacy, regulatory compliance, and innovation programs that align with corporate growth strategies. Green skills are viewed less as technical capabilities and more as strategic tools for managing sustainability-related risks and obligations.

Partnership-driven modernizers rely on universities to build adaptable workforces

This profile is anchored by rapidly developing economies such as India and South Africa. These countries face structural constraints including low GDP, limited R&D capacity, and high levels of pollution exposure. Yet, despite these challenges, they report encouraging signs in renewable energy adoption, reflecting active efforts to transition away from fossil fuels. In these contexts, academic institutions are seen as essential drivers of green workforce development. Recruiters expect institutions to embed sustainability across curricula, support industry modernization, and help build national resilience. Collaboration must be ongoing and practical, with a strong emphasis on adaptability and continuous learning to meet both environmental goals and economic demands.

Sustainability success for green innovation collaborators depends on visibility and academic leadership

Spanning diverse regions including parts of Latin America and the Gulf, this group reflects a blend of mid-level economic development and persistent sustainability challenges. Countries like Brazil and the United Arab Emirates exemplify the variation within this profile. While some possess high economic capacity, overall R&D investment remains low, and green technology innovation is underdeveloped. Pollution exposure is high and renewable energy integration remains limited. In this context, the GEURS report shows recruiters place strong emphasis on the public role of institutions. They are expected to lead visible, community-driven sustainability initiatives, foster ecological innovation, and support the creation of green startup ecosystems. Rather than focusing solely on technical training, this profile calls for academic leadership that is both socially engaged and technologically forward-facing.

You can’t meet global green goals without understanding local pressures

The alignment of recruiter mindsets with OECD economic and environmental indicators does more than validate survey insights. It reveals the structural forces behind employer expectations while also shaping more targeted, region-specific recommendations for academic institutions.

While the GEURS survey offered behavioral data of what recruiters want, layering in OECD data adds both context and direction. It helps institutions not only understand where expectations come from, but also how to design green skills programs that reflect local economic conditions, innovation ecosystems, and environmental pressures.

With the foundation of regional analysis now in place, the final article in this series will shift focus from geography to sector, exploring how green skills expectations differ across industries and what that means for the future of education-to-employment pathways in a sustainability-driven economy.

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‍For institutions seeking deeper analysis, customized benchmarking, or strategic collaboration, Emerging offers access to the full GEURS 2025 dataset and tailored advisory support. To do so, please contact us.