‘There is a need to think beyond the obvious sectors when considering climate change’

Skillnet Ireland is working with industry partners to accelerate the transition to a clean, resilient, and environmentally sustainable economy in all sectors.

“Climate change is one of the defining issues of our time,” says Skillnet Ireland chief executive Paul Healy.

“It presents significant financial risks to business and society, but also offers opportunities for those willing to lead the transition to a sustainable, low carbon world. With a number of regulatory requirements coming down the tracks there are implications for businesses in understanding required actions and developing talent.”

He points out that the country is responding to the challenge of climate change through a range of actions including the government’s Climate Action Plan.

“The pervasive nature of the plan means that there isn’t a business or citizen that will not be impacted by it. It also has very significant talent implications. Climate action and talent are deeply linked.”

“There is a need to think beyond the obvious sectors when considering climate change,” Healy adds.

“When people think about climate action they think think about energy and so on. But more discrete ones like sustainable finance are core to meeting our climate targets. Sustainable finance is a less obvious sector. We can see wind turbines and solar farms, but we don’t see sustainable financial services in the same way as we don’t see a pension fund operating.

“But it is transformative. All roads lead back to talent and funding and resources. Skillnet Ireland brings a unique perspective to that. By working hand in glove with business we help bridge the gap between government and the finance industry.”

The organisation has made solid progress in the area of green finances working with industry players in shaping and defining standards, norms, values, and practices that will support the sector in key areas such as research and developing talent, he adds.

“We are seeing a lot of positive action,” Healy continues.

“There is a significant opportunity for Ireland to develop a leadership position in global sustainable finance. We are building on the significant international financial services sector which has grown up here over the past 40 years.”

Skillnet Ireland is playing a leadership role in understanding the talent implications of the sustainable finance revolution.

“In 2019 we produced a deep sector analysis of future sustainable finance skills and talent requirements in Ireland,” says Healy.

“We diagnosed the challenge and the analysis told us it was a growing sector which presented huge opportunities for Ireland but that there is a talent challenge to be solved at all levels. We have developed a number of programmes to address that including a Sustainability Programme for compliance managers.

Best practice

“We are now developing a roadmap to guide us on our way to bridging the gap between the talent we have now and the talent we need to develop to meet future needs,” he continues.

“It’s not just about talent development, although that is core. We also need to do horizon scanning to see the opportunities for Ireland and we are working with the industry on that.”

The means by which Ireland is addressing the skills needs of the sector through the Skillnet Ireland model has been recognised at EU level.

“It is now seen as the best practice model and has been adopted by a number of other member states,” says Healy.

The success of that model is based on partnership.

“Closeness to the industry is imperative,” he explains.

“Because we operate as a public private partnership we are very closely aligned with industry and our programmes are based on market demand with a high degree of matching to industry needs. It’s a fast--moving sector with new demands for skills all the time and that requires deep collaboration with employers in close alignment with the labour market.”