Heatwaves, Floods, and Droughts Are Becoming a New Normal. Are We Seeing an Uptick in Climate Related Roles?

• The demand for jobs mentioning climate response or extreme weather has tripled between 2018 and now, with the sharpest increase happening in 2021.

• The industries that are ramping up hiring of climate-related positions the most are those severely affected by climate change, such as Accommodation and Food Services, Agriculture, Healthcare, and Retail Trade.

• Climate-related positions in many industries are concerned with inventory management and supply chain disruptions. We’re now able to classify common activities and tasks associated with these roles, thanks to our new activities model.

Floods, droughts, wildfires, and storms have been occurring at increasing rates around the world, even in areas not usually prone to extreme weather disasters. Without drastic policy intervention and global cooperation, the warming atmosphere caused by fossil fuel emissions will continue to lead to more severe and more frequent extreme climate events.

The economic response to climate change is building. In online job postings around the world, roles with mentions of extreme weather, climate response, and weather-related catastrophe management have tripled between 2018 and 2024. The sharpest increase in demand for these roles happened during 2021 - the year following a natural disaster-ridden 2020.

Which industries are driving these increases? Looking at our extensive global HR database, we can see industries that are being severely affected by climate change have had the sharpest increases in hiring for climate roles, such as Accommodation and Food Services, Agriculture, Healthcare, and Retail Trade.

The impact of climate change on the Accommodation and Food Service industry, along with Agriculture, is immediate, as extreme weather events pose a direct threat to the viability of their business models. Bad weather leads to poor crops, which impact the price of food served in the restaurant industry. The demand for experts dealing with climate risk mitigation and research, therefore, does not come as a surprise. Climate roles in Healthcare relate to both the research and provision of medical care in response to extreme weather emergencies.

Retail Trade and Manufacturing can also be highly susceptible to operational outages caused by extreme weather. At the same time, these industries are major culprits of climate change due to their high carbon emissions. This often requires careful PR and marketing strategies to offset unfavorable public opinions.

These industries are hiring the talent needed to make them more resilient to climate change. Using the brand new Revelio Labs activities model, we are able to understand the tasks and activities a job typically entails. Relative to other climate managers, climate related roles in Agriculture, Accomodation and Food as well as Retail Trade are especially concerned with inventory management - presumably in case of supply chain disruptions caused by extreme weather events. In Accomodation and Food, in addition to inventory management, managers are also dealing with customer experiences. For Pharma and Healthcare on the other hand, climate related roles are more directly involved in providing patient solutions and care.

Given the uncertainty related to climate change, industries are preparing as best they can. They are hiring talent in areas crucial to maintaining smooth business operations as the world warms.