Microsoft Corp. President Brad Smith is calling for companies, schools and governments to dramatically increase training workers for new and redesigned roles tackling the climate crisis.
The software giant, which has pledged to remove more carbon than it emits by 2030, says the lack of skills in areas like carbon accounting, green procurement and supply chain management is a threat to the progress needed to arrest global warming.
Speaking ahead of a report the software maker released on Wednesday, Smith said common instruction on issues like carbon accounting was too piecemeal for the roughly 3,900 companies that have vowed to cut their CO2 emissions.
“We have to move very quickly to start to bring our emissions down, and the ultimate bottleneck is the supply of skilled people,” he said.
Although Microsoft sells software for organisations to track their environmental impact, companies need more than technology to address global warming, said Smith, announcing plans to develop green education materials to be included on LinkedIn, which Microsoft owns.
A Microsoft and Boston Consulting Group study found that many corporate environmental leaders (68%) were internal hires whose team members lacked sustainability-related degrees more often than not. The findings came from interviews and surveys with Microsoft and eight other large companies in sectors such as finance and consumer goods.
It took one Microsoft employee, for instance, more than 30 years at the company, moving through customer support, procurement and other roles before a promotion to lead part of its sustainability team.
Microsoft itself has grown its sustainability headcount to around 250 employees from only 30 in the past three years. However, having the right workforce to deliver on its carbon-reduction goals remains a challenge, Smith said.
“That is in part an issue for us because it’s an issue for everybody,” he said. “Employers really need to step back and take a broader look at their investment in employee learning and training.”
Companies should bring in instructors, pay for continuing education and convene on carbon-reduction strategies, he said.
