A new economy is unfolding, one with profound implications for people’s jobs and livelihoods. Against wider trends of digitalization, demographic shifts, and geopolitics, the climate transition is an increasingly important element shaping this new economy. Yet appreciation of the impacts of the transition on people and their jobs remains limited. This hinders societal and political support for the transition but also risks missing a substantial opportunity for people moving forward. Unlike other megatrends transforming labor markets, the climate transition has clear potential to generate a substantial net increase in employment, with a midpoint estimate of 375 million additional jobs in four major sectors over the next decade. In this sense, a well-managed transition could act as a buffer against other disruptive forces, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and geoeconomic fragmentation.

To date, climate action has centered on new technologies, physical infrastructure, the finance to scale them, and on reducing risks for people through the promotion of a just transition. This report builds on those vital efforts and adds a critical missing piece by highlighting the substantial opportunities for people offered by the transition. It provides a practical agenda for how countries and industries can strengthen their investments in human capital as a strategy for economic growth and environmental progress.

If leaders pursue a people-centered transition by placing investments in jobs, skills, and social equity at the core, they stand to capture a powerful triple dividend: stronger, more resilient economies; improved social cohesion; and faster progress on environmental goals. Leaders who fail to make the required investments in the capabilities of their people and their workforce transitions will face a slower, more expensive transition to the new economy, greater social and economic disruption, weaker investor confidence, and widening inequality at a time when progress is already facing growing headwinds across all regions.

Capturing the positive synergies of a people-centered transition will require bridging communities that too often work in silos, from economics and business to climate science, education, and social policy. It will also require government and business leaders to act with clear intent to place people at the center of strategies, policies, and data; foster bold innovation in skills and workforce development programs harnessing technology; and secure sustained and diverse finance by repositioning spending on people as investment.

This report provides extensive analysis to support such a whole-of-society effort and calls on leaders to commit and contribute to a 10-point Action Agenda to secure it. The Action Agenda provides a menu of practical and ambitious actions, with the understanding that its application will differ across country and industry contexts, depending on policy readiness, institutional capacity, basic infrastructure, and access to finance. To encourage countries and industries to pursue the Action Agenda and support its application within their specific contexts, this report also calls for a major global initiative that will bring together stakeholders and platforms through shared knowledge and research, peer-to-peer learning, technical assistance, and advocacy.

Key Findings:

  1. A new economy is unfolding with transformative potential for people. If managed strategically with investments in jobs, skills, and social equity at the center, the transition to a low-carbon, resilient economy could generate net employment gains — with a midpoint of 375 million jobs over the next decade — especially in energy, construction, and the nature-based economy.
  2. Drawing on an extensive literature review, new modeling, and country case studies, the report examines the impact of the transition on jobs, skills, and social equity and identifies solutions to secure a triple dividend for people: stronger and more resilient economies, improved social cohesion, and faster progress on environmental goals.
  3. Three core challenges are identified: current transition strategies fail to integrate workforce dimensions, skills systems remain outdated, and financing for people-centered investment is short-term and insufficient.
  4. The report proposes a practical 10-point Action Agenda structured around intentionality, innovation, and investment: mainstreaming workforce strategies; scaling flexible, techenabled training systems; and mobilizing finance for human capital at scale.
  5. It calls for global collaboration to support countries and industries in implementing the Action Agenda through shared knowledge, technical assistance, financing mechanisms, and advocacy—placing people firmly at the center of the new economy.