Across the energy transition, a wide range of specialized roles is rising—from photovoltaic installers and biodiversity experts to green hydrogen developers, recycling plant operators, and offshore wind engineers. In total, demand could reach up to a hundred distinct occupations as nations advance their low‑carbon agendas. Yet talent supply remains stretched in many regions, a gap that slows the pace of green projects worldwide.
Juan Luis Aguirrezábal, head of employability at Iberdrola, highlights a persistent bottleneck. Investment in green energy often stalls because the right people are not available. Iberdrola has launched the Global Green Employment platform to align education, guidance, and workforce supply with the sector’s growing needs. As a leader in renewable energy, the company views this as a social responsibility and a crucial step in its longstanding commitment to sustainable power. Twenty-five years ago, the idea of green energy seemed like sci‑fi; today it is a staple of modern industry, Aguirrezábal notes.
Twenty thousand plus green roles needed
A European Fundación Biodiversidad España report estimates that Spain will generate between 253,000 and 348,000 green jobs each year through 2030, with just over 100,000 connected to renewable energies. The study also indicates that nearly half of today’s active workers will require retraining to meet evolving job demands in a cleaner economy.
Currently, Iberdrola’s platform signals a need for 20,263 green jobs within Spain, spanning public and private sectors. Companies that have publicly announced demand include Applus+, Ingeteam, Schneider, Tecnalia, and Eiffage. The platform aims to assist a broad supplier network—approximately 23,000 entities globally—in finding qualified candidates to advance projects. Iberdrola seeks to hire thousands of staff across the enterprise and notes collaboration with engineers and industry associations alike. The emphasis is on guiding people toward opportunities and supporting training, rather than serving as a traditional job marketplace alone.
Regarding whether Global Green is a job portal, the reply is clear: it is not a frontline hiring site. The initiative respects existing professionals and focuses on orchestration, guidance, and collaboration with employment firms and recruitment specialists. A dedicated content area is planned, with the potential to expand into dedicated e‑learning resources, ensuring ongoing professional development for the green economy workforce.
Strategic focus and road map
One objective of Iberdrola’s project is to align the education and training landscape for green energy with university programs, emphasizing specialization over mere certification. The aim is to reduce misalignment where training programs yield skills with limited demand. The leadership team stresses a proactive approach to expanding meaningful, future‑proof expertise across the sector.
By year’s end, Iberdrola plans to roll out the platform in Spain with enhanced content and strategic alliances. Looking ahead to 2024, the plan is to extend to twenty-seven additional countries, addressing legal, technical, and responsible‑practice considerations. The group’s key markets include the United States via Avangrid, the United Kingdom through ScottishPower, Neonergía in Brazil, and operations in Mexico. The American market, like the rest of Europe, faces a shortage of engineers qualified to execute large green projects, underscoring the need for robust talent programs that support rapid growth.
As the global energy transition accelerates, the need for skilled professionals across design, construction, operation, and maintenance remains a top priority. The Global Green Employment initiative positions Iberdrola at the center of a collaborative ecosystem that connects industry, training institutions, and policymakers to close the skills gap and accelerate clean energy deployment across North America, Europe, and beyond. The effort reflects a broader trend toward workforce transformation that accompanies the shift to sustainable power sources, with a willingness to share knowledge and coordinate actions to build a resilient, low‑carbon economy.