Employees value the green transition, but leaders must balance cost, capability and impact

Employees find themselves working in a difficult world. According to ManpowerGroup Work Intelligence Lab’s 2025 Talent Barometer survey of 14,000 workers in 19 countries, nearly half of workers are experiencing moderate to high daily stress. And 77% of managers feel that their careers are at risk, primarily due to economic instability, company restructuring and AI.

On the brighter side, the Talent Barometer survey also found that 82% of employees believe their work has meaning or purpose, and nearly three quarters (74%) feel somewhat or closely aligned with their company’s vision and values. Those values often include sustainability.

This is where a tension emerges. Workers support their companies’ green transition but leaders must navigate the rising costs, uneven access to technology and growing socioeconomic pressures that determine what is achievable. Without careful management, this gap between aspiration and delivery can erode employee trust and increase anxiety about the future.

ManpowerGroup research finds that 70% of traditional “white collar” workers and 57% of “blue collar” workers are ready to embrace the green transition in their companies. However, employers face significant headwinds. A recent World Economic Forum report, Making the Green Transition Work for People and the Economy, found that 37% of executives view high energy costs as a major barrier to competitive green business models, among other factors.

Many also cite widening gaps in access to capital and financing for the green transition, both within and between countries. More than one out of five companies in lower-income economies will lack access to green technologies, and even those with substantial access may experience labour market disruptions. The result is a fragmented transition in which ambition may be high, but capacity is uneven.

On top of this is the fast-growing energy footprint of AI, which reinforces concerns over sustainability and cost. Research from the the International Energy Agency has found that AI data centres consumed roughly 415 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2024 – a figure expected to more than double by 2030, eclipsing Japan’s total consumption today. Training a single large AI model can generate around 550 tonnes of CO₂, equivalent to the annual emissions of 121 US households. Pressure on water, heating, cooling and local infrastructure is rising in parallel. For leaders, these dynamics make it harder to pursue the sustainability progress their workers want – and that companies increasingly need to remain competitive.

This is where the World Economic Forum’s aforementioned report offers valuable guidance. Rather than focusing solely on emissions pathways or sector-specific technologies, the report emphasizes a more fundamental principle: the transition must deliver tangible benefits for people and the real economy, or it risks stalling.

For companies, this implies three shifts:

Employees, consumers and communities all experience the transition differently. The report underscores the need for organizations to articulate a clear ambition that explicitly considers outcomes for core stakeholder groups, especially workers. This means embedding socioeconomic factors into transition planning, from job impacts to affordability and access to skills.

Leaders need governance mechanisms, decision-making processes and risk assessments that integrate climate, economic and workforce considerations. Doing so helps ensure that sustainability initiatives are viable, cost-effective and aligned with employee expectations.

Companies do not transition alone. The report highlights the importance of collaborating with employees, peers, value-chain partners and governments to create enabling conditions for a just, competitive and people-centred transition.

This more holistic framing connects directly to employee sentiment: workers want sustainability, but they also want stability, opportunity and clarity about how the transition will affect their roles and livelihoods.

Delivering a people-centred transition ultimately depends on how work itself is designed. In ManpowerGroup Work Intelligence Lab’s 2024 report, Sustainability and the Rise of Green+ and Turquoise Jobs, we responded to a critical gap: more than 90% of global employers report they do not have the skilled talent needed to achieve their sustainability goals, even as employees express strong interest in adapting their roles to support the transition.

Drawing on input from both leaders and workers, we developed a new taxonomy covering 775 sustainability-related roles. This includes:

This framework modernizes conventional green jobs and expands the categorization to include complementary, interdisciplinary roles across the organization. In doing so, the taxonomy provides a practical starting point for companies seeking to redesign roles, build internal capability and give employees clearer pathways to participate in – and benefit from – the green transition.

While remaining gainfully employed in a complex business environment, workers want to believe in their organizations’ sustainability progress and reap the personal benefits of the upskilling and role creation opportunities that accompany that progress. Amidst escalating energy costs and a constantly shifting geopolitical landscape, leaders must systematically deploy sustainability strategies that take into account employee sentiment and larger socioeconomic impact.

The way forward is not to scale back sustainability ambition, but to deliver it more strategically.