LinkedIn Research Suggests AI Can Solve Energy's Talent Gap

According to research led by Rosie Hood, Lead Data Scientist, EMEA at LinkedIn, AI could play a key role in advancing energy efficiency and help develop green skills in the wider workforce. 

When looking at AI engineering and AI literacy skills – which Rosie says are the two categories for AI skills as defined by LinkedIn – research demonstrates that they are increasing in importance in the green economy, to better enable innovation and the acceleration of new infrastructure. 

This trend is already being seen across the sector, with the fastest growing skills amongst green talent including responsible AI – up 517% year-over-year – large language models – up 219% year-over-year – and ChatGPT, which is up 171% year-over-year. 

Rosie says that this growing adoption of AI engineering and AI literacy skills is enabling workers to be more productive, efficient and innovative, with the paper calling for increasing AI adoption within utilities and the green energy sectors. 

The green skills shortage

The need for green talent to further adopt AI highlighted in the report comes as many companies face large-scale green skills shortages – with LinkedIn’s Green Skills report finding that green hiring has grown almost 8% annually, nearly doubling the 4.3% growth rate of workers with green skills.

A study from the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Employment Report in 2025, meanwhile, finds that the energy sector has added more than 1.6 million skilled trade worker jobs since 2015 – but more than half of the firms and unions surveyed reported labour shortages. 

This can largely be attributed to increases in the electricity sector, which has added 3.9 million jobs since 2020, overtaking fuel supply. 

Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, says: “Energy has been one of the strongest and most consistent engines of job creation in the global economy during a period marked by major uncertainties. 

“But this momentum cannot be taken for granted. The world’s ability to build the energy infrastructure it needs depends on having enough skilled workers in place. 

“Governments, industry and training institutions must come together to close the labour and skills gap. Left unaddressed, these shortages could slow progress, raise costs and weaken energy security.”

Many leading organisations are investing in skills development to best manage this transition – such as Jaguar Land Rover. 

Andrea Debbane, Chief Sustainability Officer at JLR, says of the company's green skills talent initiatives: "Sustainability starts with education and we’re proud to be investing in programmes that empower young people, inspire future changemakers and help build a talent pipeline that supports our transition to net zero."

Developing green and AI skills

To best manage this shift, LinkedIn’s research recommends that organisations prioritise training and standards for the utilities and green energy sectors. This, it says, can help identify and implement high-impact use cases of the technology in the sector and improve wider adoption of AI. 

By addressing the current green skills deficit through targeted AI literacy and engineering training, companies can unlock greater efficiency and innovation – which could help accelerate net-zero capabilities and ensure long-term energy security.