The Green Talent Gap in India: Why ESG Hiring Fails and What Works Instead

India’s green talent crisis demands a fundamental shift from traditional hiring to strategic talent development approaches that actually work.

Key Takeaways

Stop chasing unicorn candidates- Build internal ESG capability through upskilling existing employees rather than seeking impossible combinations of skills that don’t exist in the market.

Hire for transferable skills, train on ESG- Finance, HR, and data professionals already possess core competencies needed for sustainability roles; ESG-specific knowledge can be taught.

Create apprenticeships and rotation programs- Partner with specialized institutes and develop cross-functional teams to build sustainable talent pipelines from the ground up.

Measure impact over credentials- Focus on practical implementation ability and real business outcomes rather than certifications that don’t guarantee job readiness.

Redesign existing roles instead of new hires- Integrate ESG responsibilities into current positions and form green teams as communities of practice to maximize existing talent.

The companies winning the ESG talent race aren’t finding perfect candidates. They’re creating them through strategic internal development and practical skill-building initiatives.

The green talent gap is accelerating at an alarming rate. Green workers see a hiring rate 59.7% higher than the overall workforce, yet green talent concentration grew only 4.3% in 2025.

India shows strong 6.2% year-on-year growth in green talent, but supply continues trailing what companies just need for sustainability hiring and ESG hiring initiatives.

We’ve analyzed why traditional green talent acquisition India strategies fail and what works instead.

This article gets into the real scale of the sustainability talent gap and unpacks why ESG hiring India approaches miss the mark. It reveals practical strategies that leading companies use to bridge this critical shortage.

Green Talent Gap

The reality of India’s Green Talent Gap

Green hiring just need vs. talent supply in 2025

Job postings requiring green skills grew at 22.4% between 2022 and 2023, while green talent in the workforce increased by only 12.3%. This supply mismatch reveals a critical flaw in how we approach sustainability hiring.

The five-year annualized growth rate between 2018-2023 confirms requirements outpacing supply by nearly two times, with job postings growing at 9.2% versus talent growth at 5.4%.

India’s green talent concentration stands at 14.4%, among the lowest numbers worldwide, despite posting a 6.2% year-on-year growth rate. The sustainability talent gap becomes concerning because of the speed at which it’s expanding.

LinkedIn’s data shows that at the time overall hiring slowed worldwide, green collar workers bucked the trend and demonstrated higher resistance against market slumps.

The employment outlook paints an ambitious picture. India just needs to create 7.29 million green jobs by FY28. By 2047, this number balloons to 35 million positions.

Current green employment sits at 18.52 million, which means we just need to nearly double the workforce in just over two decades.

Industries facing the biggest ESG talent shortages

Many industries that are expanding sustainability hiring are facing the biggest green and ESG talent shortages.

Renewable energy faces the most acute shortage. The sector lacks 1.2 million skilled workers, a deficit projected to reach 1.7 million by 2027. This isn’t about skilled professionals alone. Manufacturing units and renewable energy plants require thousands of helpers, technicians, and power plant cleaners, yet positions remain unfilled for months.

Contractual roles in renewable energy saw exit rates of 33.5% in FY24. High attrition stems from the paucity of trained people, raising costs in an industry facing intense competition worldwide. Green professionals now command salary premiums of up to 40% over workers in carbon-intensive roles.

Requirements for ESG analytics, climate data analysis, and green technology roles are growing at 20-30% each year. Despite this, 67% of Indian business leaders report that shortage of skilled workers limits their growth. There’s another reason: 68% struggle to find candidates with necessary technical skills.

Tech Mahindra’s chief sustainability officer interviewed about 100 candidates but shortlisted only one. Many mention sustainability on resumes, but surface-level questioning reveals they lack practical knowledge.

Posting ESG-related jobs on LinkedIn doesn’t solve the problem either, as only a few candidates from massive applicant pools make the cut.

Why is the green talent gap widening faster than expected

Educational infrastructure hasn’t been scaled to match industry requirements. Of the 1.5 million engineering graduates India produces each year, very few leave with job-ready skills in renewable energy or other green domains. Traditional colleges aren’t equipped to teach these subjects because sustainability remains on the academic fringe.

A structural mismatch between education systems and job markets drives this widening gap. Educational curricula require 5-7 years to catch up with industry changes, creating a persistent lag not just here but worldwide. The government’s current training budget of Rs 5-6 billion just needs a tenfold increase to bridge the skill gap.

Women account for just 11-12% of green jobs here, due to unequal access to technical education, cultural constraints, and workplace safety challenges. This gender disparity further constrains the available talent pool.

Forward-looking organizations investing in women-focused skill development initiatives expect parity to improve by only 12-15% over the next 5-6 years.

ESG job postings saw 223% growth between April 2019 and April 2023. Despite this, postings declined 22% in 2022, showing market stabilization after original pandemic-driven growth.

Job searches for sustainability roles increased 31% between April 2022 and 2023, showing candidate interest outstrips available positions.

Why ESG Hiring fails in India?

ESG hiring stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance hiring.

It refers to the recruitment of professionals who help organizations meet their environmental sustainability goals, social responsibility commitments, and governance compliance requirements- including emerging green job roles and other roles in carbon accounting, ESG reporting, climate risk, sustainable finance, supply chain compliance, diversity & inclusion, and regulatory disclosures.

ESG hiring fails in India primarily because companies misunderstand what true sustainability expertise requires.

Many organizations mistake CSR experience for ESG capability, draft unrealistic job descriptions that combine multiple specialist roles into one and operate without standardized ESG competency frameworks.

There’s also heavy over-reliance on certifications without assessing practical skills in carbon accounting, regulatory compliance, or sustainability reporting.

As a result, ESG hiring decisions often prioritize credentials over real-world impact capability, widening the green talent gap instead of closing it.

Let’s explore the reasons in detail-

Companies mistake CSR experience for ESG expertise

Boardrooms in India still think ESG is CSR. This fundamental confusion drives one of the biggest failures in sustainability hiring.

Companies resort to a workaround and assign ESG responsibilities to their CSR departments, but this doesn’t serve the purpose.

• CSR focuses on philanthropic activities and community programs.
• ESG requires understanding material risks, disclosure frameworks, and how environmental and governance factors affect business performance.

The misunderstanding runs deep. Many boards confuse ESG committees with CSR committees and create overlaps with other committees like Corporate Governance and Risk.

Individual directors either lack training in ESG or people with relevant experience aren’t inducted into boards. Leadership conflates these distinct disciplines and hires professionals with the wrong skill sets. They expect CSR managers to handle carbon accounting or social impact measurement.

Unrealistic job descriptions that don’t match real-world reality

ESG is a wide field covering environmental, social, and regulatory issues, making hiring exceptionally complex. The environment part alone covers climate, pollution, and waste management themes.

Companies post job descriptions demanding expertise in any of the three pillars, practical implementation experience, compliance knowledge, and strategic thinking.

The person also has to be someone who has experienced practical challenges. ESG experts who go beyond compliance are very hard to find. Firms want candidates who can guide through regulatory requirements while driving operational sustainability changes.

Such professionals barely exist in the market, yet job postings make these superhuman expectations standard requirements.

Lack of standardized competency frameworks

A general lack of awareness about ESG standards and compliance underpins hiring failures. People tend to get lost in the jargon.

Each organization defines ESG roles differently without standardized competency frameworks. One company’s “ESG Manager” might focus entirely on reporting, while another expects the same title to drive decarbonization strategy.

The gap in understanding is huge. C-suites and board members keep saying they need training, from the chairman down to the watchman. Leadership itself lacks clarity on required competencies and creating accurate job descriptions becomes nearly impossible.

Companies can’t assess candidates because they haven’t defined what good looks like in their specific context.

Over-reliance on certifications without practical skills assessment

Organizations that don’t have sufficient technical expertise are jumping in the fray because of the huge chance in the sector. Organizations with only a partial understanding enter the field and it can be damaging because some of their recommendations might be adopted in policies and implementations. This creates a market flooded with certified professionals who lack hands-on experience.

Certifications provide theoretical knowledge but don’t guarantee implementation ability. Companies check for credentials without assessing whether candidates can collect verifiable data, establish material issue identification processes, or link ESG strategy to business outcomes. The result? 87% of companies can’t find qualified ESG talent, even when certified candidates apply in large numbers.

The Green Talent Gap: Why Skills and Hiring Expectations Don’t Align

The green talent gap is widening as companies accelerate ESG commitments but struggle to find candidates with the right mix of technical, regulatory, and business skills.

Employers often seek hybrid expertise in carbon accounting, sustainability reporting, and compliance, while many candidates bring either academic knowledge or narrow experience.

This disconnect between hiring expectations and available capabilities is one of the biggest barriers to effective sustainability hiring in 2026.

Technical ESG skills that are actually in short supply

Companies need professionals who can handle ESG data analytics using tools like Power BI and Python to visualize sustainability metrics. Mastery of major frameworks including GRI, SASB, and TCFD plays a key role in accurate reporting.

Carbon accounting principles and emissions calculations represent another critical shortage, along with familiarity with ESG databases such as Bloomberg ESG and MSCI.

Skills in data analysis and tracking are needed most, as data in itself is meaningless unless it informs decisions and demonstrates improvements.

The sustainability talent gap is pronounced especially in areas such as sustainability reporting, impact measurement, and stakeholder engagement.

Many firms need to invest a lot in their data governance models to handle the growing number of ESG-related data requests. Current systems struggle with complex data from various operational units that use different measurement units.

Financial professionals have a natural synergy with sustainability reporting because they’re accustomed to meeting tight reporting deadlines and following structured processes.

So, companies are redeploying staff from Finance departments to their sustainability teams. Even controllers and reporters who are used to strict financial close and familiar with reporting deadlines are struggling. Non-financial departments don’t see or feel the need yet for monthly data flows, requiring a mindset change.

The gap between compliance knowledge and implementation knowing how to

ESG roles are moving from mere reporting and disclosure to actual transformation and creating impact. Companies are under pressure not just to set goals and targets but to achieve them.

Professionals need practical skills including collecting and reporting ESG data accurately, understanding how daily activities contribute to broader sustainability goals, and identifying and mitigating ESG risks before they escalate.

Companies with detailed ESG training programs have 40% greater success in meeting ESG targets compared to their peers.

Effective implementation requires translating ESG aspirations into actionable plans, ensuring initiatives are implemented and line up with business objectives.

Accurate and transparent reporting is at the heart of ESG, requiring skilled experts to collect, analyze, and interpret data.

Why sustainability passion doesn’t equal job readiness

Less than half of youth think they have the green skills needed to be successful in the workforce. Young people are most knowledgeable about recycling and waste reduction, energy conservation and water conservation, but least knowledgeable about climate technologies, data analysis, and sustainable design.

As a match for this, 80% of businesses acknowledge they lack the skills needed. Beyond specific qualifications, ESG requires transferable skills such as data analysis, communication, and collaboration.

Qualifications related to sustainability showcase passion, self-motivation, and care for the planet. The main challenges include lack of understanding about the purpose or importance of roles. According to a survey conducted by the CFA Institute, only 11% of respondents think about themselves as informed adequately in this field.

Top Strategies to Close the Green Talent Gap

Closing the green talent gap requires a shift from reactive hiring to long-term capability building. Companies must adopt skill-based hiring, invest in sustainability upskilling, tap adjacent talent pools, and create clear ESG competency frameworks.

Prioritizing practical experience over certifications and partnering with specialized hiring experts can significantly improve outcomes. Organizations that align workforce planning with their ESG roadmap will close the green talent gap faster and more sustainably.

Building internal talent through upskilling programs

Upskilling existing employees solves the green talent gap faster than external hiring. Already, 51% of organizations plan to improve their current workforce, while 13% will add ESG responsibilities to existing roles.

This approach makes sense because internal employees understand business operations, company culture, and stakeholder dynamics that external hires take months to learn.

KPMG’s Sustainability Academy in India demonstrates how structured upskilling works. Their framework combines learning, adoption, integration, and action through role-based curriculum customizable to industry context.

The program has eLearning modules, expert-led masterclasses, and action learning projects. Participants complete capstone projects with guidance from ESG Champion networks.

ESG initiatives must be embedded in the organization’s DNA to create meaningful effect, influencing culture and daily decisions of every employee.

Hiring for transferable skills and training on ESG

Many ESG roles require skills professionals already possess from other domains. Finance professionals, to cite an instance, can track ESG investments. HR teams support workplace diversity initiatives.

Data analysis, stakeholder participation, project management, policy knowledge, and strategic thinking transfer to sustainability and green jobs roles.

Companies that hire for these foundational competencies and train on ESG-specific frameworks fill positions faster.

Creating apprenticeship and rotation programs

Apprenticeships build green talent pipelines from scratch. The National Skill Development Corporation partners with establishments seeking skilled workforces. Skill Council for Green Jobs expanded this model, signing agreements with Tata Power to scale green hydrogen training nationwide. Their solar technician graduates land jobs within two months of course completion.

Internal rotation programs work well too. Cross-functional teams provide education, experience, and exposure by bringing together multi-functional talent. Workers can be reallocated to different business areas or helped to move into new roles.

Partnering with specialized training institutes

Specialized institutes bridge the sustainability talent gap through targeted programs. IGMPI partners with organizations and provides placement assistance, maintaining links with Big 4 firms, TCS, TERI, WWF, and pharmaceutical companies.

NSE Academy offers ESG-focused tracks in association with Grant Thornton and AICPA & CIMA, covering reporting standards in Indian and international contexts. IICA’s Certified ESG Professional program runs as a six-month course with self-paced modules and live masterclasses from international experts.

Collaborating with educational institutions to introduce ESG-focused courses creates sustainable talent pipelines.

How Leading Companies are Solving the ESG Talent Gap

Leading companies are solving the ESG talent gap by treating sustainability hiring as a strategic workforce priority rather than a compliance function.

They are investing in internal upskilling, building cross-functional ESG teams, defining clear competency frameworks, and aligning hiring plans with long-term net-zero and regulatory goals. Instead of chasing scarce “unicorn” candidates, they focus on skill adjacency, structured assessments, and proactive talent pipeline creation.

Many leading organizations are leveraging specialized RPO partners to map niche green talent markets, benchmark ESG salaries, refine hybrid role definitions, and build scalable hiring pipelines. In a competitive market, RPOs help convert ESG hiring from reactive recruitment into a structured, long-term talent strategy.

Building ESG academies and capability development internally

TCS and Mahindra stand out as Indian companies investing in ESG talent development. These firms recognize that external hiring alone won’t solve the sustainability talent gap. P&G took a methodical approach and identified core roles that had marketing, R&D, product teams, and supply chain personnel, then developed role-based learning solutions for each function. This targeted training builds common language and understanding operations of all types.

The three-component strategy that works has role-based training, nurturing emerging green team behaviors, and embedding sustainability into talent competency models. Simple awareness building helps people learn sustainability concepts and how they apply to business operations. This creates a foundation that promotes deeper involvement.

Cross-functional role redesign instead of new hires

Green teams emerge as self-forming communities of practice inspired by shared passion around sustainability. eBay and Autodesk realigned their green team initiatives to be more strategic and better supported, resulting in much greater participation and upscaled results. These teams contribute new ideas, pilot products or services, and find ways to reduce costs while becoming a competitive differentiator that attracts talent.

Using consulting firms as talent development partners

PwC trained more than 2,000 professionals to manage finances and report transparently. Their partnership with IIM Ahmedabad creates a forum that promotes meaningful conversations and authority to build alliance ecosystems. EY’s sustainability teams help organizations transform ESG strategy through scenario planning, value creation, and business model reinvention that spans more than 120 countries.

Measuring evidence over credentials

Organizations that measure and assess continuously promote widespread adoption and improve behavior change at every level. Recognition and rewards for sustainability contributions matter more than certificates. This makes ESG initiatives part of annual business plans and career progression goals.

Leveraging RPO partnerships

Leading companies are solving the ESG talent gap by treating sustainability hiring as a strategic workforce priority rather than a compliance function.

They invest in internal upskilling, build cross-functional ESG teams, define clear competency frameworks, and align hiring plans with long-term net-zero and regulatory goals. Instead of searching for rare “unicorn” profiles, they prioritize skill adjacency and structured capability building.

The Role of RPO Partnerships: Specialized RPOs like Taggd are increasingly becoming a competitive advantage in ESG hiring. RPOs bring market intelligence, salary benchmarking, certification awareness, and access to niche green talent pools that internal teams often lack.

More importantly, they help organizations design scalable hiring frameworks, reduce time-to-hire, and build long-term sustainability talent pipelines- turning ESG recruitment into a strategic growth enabler rather than a reactive challenge.

Wrapping Up

The green talent shortage won’t fix itself through traditional hiring alone. Organizations must then move their approach from seeking unicorn candidates to building internal capability through upskilling programs and cross-functional training.

Companies succeeding in ESG hiring focus on transferable skills rather than perfect credentials. They invest in apprenticeships, partner with specialized institutes, and redesign existing roles instead of creating unrealistic job descriptions.

You can bridge this gap as long as you’re willing to develop talent internally and measure effect over certifications. Organizations that act now will secure competitive advantage while others continue searching for candidates who don’t exist.

FAQs

At Taggd, we help CHROs move beyond transactional hiring to strategic sustainability workforce design. From green role architecture and ESG talent mapping to salary benchmarking and pipeline building, we enable organizations to hire faster, smarter, and with long-term impact.

If your ESG roadmap is ambitious, your hiring strategy needs to be equally bold.

Contact us to build the green capabilities that will power your organization’s future.

Let’s design your sustainability hiring strategy for 2026.