Analysis of Climate Adaptation Jobs

The escalating impacts of climate change, touching all levels of society and across sectors, create a demand for adaptation. Studies highlight the need to adapt to climate change because the losses and damages would otherwise be too overwhelming. This is evident in the news and reports when extreme natural disasters strike, such as wildfires, floods, cyclones, or tornadoes. The destruction is always costly.

The 2024 study, “The jobs of climate adaptation,” published in the journal Buildings & Cities, examines climate adaptation roles advertised in Australia and interviews hiring managers. This process has led to research uncovering three main biases in these jobs. First, climate adaptation roles are primarily in well-resourced urban areas. Second, these roles are focused on professional services. Lastly, these roles emphasise a climate risk management approach.

The study notes that climate adaptation-paid jobs are emerging to provide services to industry and government to meet client demands or needs and as consulting roles that give input to decisions and strategies. Their connections to industry and governments indicate the notable influence of these roles.

The study cites related research that describes the dynamics that shape climate adaptation work. For instance, engineers and architects work together in the Danish City of Meilvant to create a green infrastructure and city. Experts from various sectors, including urban planners, engineers, and health professionals, address the heat problem differently. Their views sometimes conflict, but they demonstrate a willingness to cooperate.

In the Global South, experts from international organisations usually dominate adaptation work.

The examples above demonstrate that those paid for adaptation jobs shape and reinforce the existing power structure. Hence, it is essential to understand how climate adaptation roles serve the interests of governments and businesses because they can shape policies that protect existing power and interests.

This paper examines nearly 300 adaptation jobs in Australia from early 2022 based on job advertisements from employment service providers SEEK, LinkedIn, JobActive, NRM jobs, Ethical Jobs, and Enviro Jobs. The analysis includes job ads with the phrases ‘climate change adaptation’, ‘climate resilience’, ‘climate risk’, ‘climate adaptation’, and ‘climate change risk’.

Examining these job descriptions and interviews of more than 20 hiring managers revealed how these organisations define and understand these roles and the skills and knowledge required. While the findings suggest that adaptation work could reinforce existing inequalities, they also point to possible opportunities to make changes.

Climate adaptation definition

The study defines adaptation as “the adjustment and reconfiguration of systems and materials to climate change, which includes both proactive and reactive, and planned and autonomous actions.”  By definition, adaptation heavily relies on work. Much of it involves existing tasks, like building defence systems like sea walls and levies, installing shade or trees on playgrounds or parks, or improving heating and air-conditioning systems.

It also includes providing human services that address the impacts on health and well-being. Thus, climate adaptation involves care and repair.

Some jobs that help with climate adaptation, such as technical or healthcare work, although not directly labelled as climate adaptation, also encompass climate adaptation work. Even the shift to greener economies can be a part of climate adaptation, but the focus is narrowly on reducing GHG emissions.

Findings of the study

The data shows three clear trends in paid adaptation jobs:

First, these jobs tend to be in well-funded, city-based organisations. Within the sample, 259 of the 296 jobs were based in Australia’s major cities, while the few jobs in regional areas were mainly in the public sector. Only three private sector jobs were in regional areas. All the consulting, banking, finance, and insurance jobs were in major cities, which shows how these industries are concentrated in larger urban centres.

The data suggest that climate change adaptation jobs are more concentrated in metropolitan areas and organisations with more resources. While there are some public and private sector jobs for adaptation outside of cities, most public sector ads are still focused on major cities, except local government. However, larger metropolitan organisations may also provide services to regional areas.

The graph from the study shows the proportion of climate change adaptation jobs by sector and location:

Second, climate adaptation roles are often found in professional service industries. Consulting and financial services make up 55% of the private sector jobs in the sample. Of the 164 private sector jobs, 105 were in consulting firms, with 40% in just five large firms: Deloitte, Energetics, Mott MacDonald, Aurecon, and GHD.

People working in business advisory and engineering firms mentioned that more and more consultants are being hired for climate change adaptation. This growth in adaptation consulting shows that many public and private organisations are outsourcing this work, giving consultants a lot of influence in shaping and carrying out adaptation strategies.

Interviewees from engineering, infrastructure, and business advisory consultancies reported difficulties finding appropriately qualified and experienced staff due to the industry’s rapid growth. One trigger for the sudden client interest in adaptation is new requirements and social expectations around climate risk reporting, including within European Union trade regulations. 

The study’s graph shows the Industry Sectors, Frames, and Service Provisions in which climate adaptation roles are found.

Lastly, the trend is towards framing climate change adaptation as risk management. The data from the graph below shows job ads from different sectors categorised by how they frame adaptation: resilience, risk-, hazards-, vulnerability reductions, and general adaptation.

The graph from the study shows job advertisements by the main sectors and the framing of adaptation services.

The graph shows that 49% of job ads used a risk frame, and 32% used a resilience frame. The risk was prevalent in the private sector, with almost all banking, finance, and insurance jobs mentioning it and two-thirds of consulting jobs doing the same.

On the other hand, in the public sector, 39% of job ads mentioned resilience, and about a quarter mentioned risk. The next largest category, making up 18% of ads, was “generic adaptation,” meaning jobs that didn’t fit into specific frames. This suggests that “adaptation” might be used more as a buzzword than a clearly defined task.

Interestingly, only 1% of ads (just three) mentioned vulnerability, all from NGOs, and 8 ads mentioned natural hazards, mostly from government and consulting roles. NGOs are less likely to hire adaptation specialists, likely due to limited resources.

Risk framing is dominant in the private sector and linked to jobs requiring environmental, sustainability, or numerical analysis expertise. The most common job ads in the sample (139) requested environment or sustainability knowledge, with 75 ads asking for numerical skills or expertise. This focuses on applying abstract knowledge to solve problems rather than just understanding adaptation issues.

The authors emphasise that the focus on climate adaptation roles has primarily been in consulting firms and larger cities. This concentration and the limited number of jobs targeting vulnerability highlight the need for government investment and intervention to address these issues to prevent exacerbating socio-economic disparities caused by biases in climate adaptation efforts.