Global Government Green Skills Survey

How is climate change impacting public servants?

In our survey, 68% of public servants said that climate change is already impacting their work in some way. We asked respondents to consider direct and indirect impacts and provide a short description. We reviewed over 500 submissions and categorised them into six themes: adaptation, mitigation, policymaking, public service delivery, sustainability, and productivity.

The graphic below shows the share of each impact in the sample of responses from public servants — adaptation (19%) and productivity (19%) were the biggest categories.

However, the graph below shows that the spread of these impacts is not uniform across government.

Our analysis finds that:

• Climate change is driving demand for public services, and that is putting pressure on public servants — particularly those working in immigration and citizenship affairs, community services, and education.

• Adaptation to climate change is one of the biggest drivers of climate work in government, particularly for those working in areas that are linked to the natural and built environments (such as agriculture, climate, community development, energy, and infrastructure and transport).

• Climate is a feature of policymaking across government, from urban development to foreign affairs and the economy. That includes adapting existing policies for a new climate reality; developing new frameworks to manage climate risks; and managing the long-term impacts of climate change on public systems, particularly health and education.

• Climate change is literally making it harder for public servants to do their jobs. Heat, floods, uncomfortable temperatures and office working conditions make it harder for public servants to work, particularly in South America and Asia, and many said it affects the productivity of their teams.

Very few public servants expect the tide to recede on climate change impacts — just 5% of all respondents thought the impact would decrease in the next five years. Nearly 75% expect the impacts to increase, either moderately (44%) or significantly (30%). Impacts related to mitigation, adaptation and policymaking had the highest ratings for significant increases.

Public servants in North America were significantly more concerned about increasing impacts than their counterparts in Europe. When analysed by area of government, we found that respondents who work more closely on climate and environmental issues (including agriculture and energy) were more likely to forecast significant

Are public servants equipped to manage these impacts?

We asked public servants how they felt about their ability to manage the impacts of climate change on their work. Nearly 60% say they do not feel confident, whereas just 7% said they feel very confident.

We also asked whether they have received any climate or environment-related training in government — 65% say they’ve never had any training. Public servants working directly on climate and the environment, or energy and foreign affairs, are the most likely to access climate training.

The data shows that public servants who have received climate training feel more confident about their ability to manage climate change impacts on their work. Those who work in leadership roles also display higher levels of confidence than more junior colleagues.

Whilst most public servants in our survey have never received any climate training, most (73%) believe that it would be beneficial for their teams. We asked why they felt this way. The most prominent selected reasons were: helping to ‘build a culture of climate awareness’ in government (22%), ‘improving their understanding of climate change’ (21%), and ‘better allocating resources for climate action’ (16%). The key topics public servants most want to learn about are: Coordinating action across government (46%), approaches and technologies to reach net zero (35%), and understanding the health impacts of climate change (35%).

How do public servants feel about their governments and climate action?

When asked, 71% of respondents said that they do not think that their government is currently doing enough to address climate change. The breakdown by region below shows that public servants in Europe, North America, and Oceania were most concerned about their government’s policies.

We asked respondents to share how they feel about climate change as public servants. These are some of the themes that emerged from their responses:

• A sense of responsibility: many public servants expressed that they felt some pressure and responsibility from the public to mitigate and acknowledge the impacts of climate change in their work

• Frustration: some public servants felt that governments, particularly at a local level, are not doing enough to tackle climate change, and there is concern about the gap between recognising the importance of climate change and the actual implementation of transformative solutions.

• Fear and anxiety: a number of public servants expressed emotions such as anxiety and nervousness around climate change issues and their impacts, particularly where they are personally affected.

The case for building climate capable governments

Public servants around the world are on the frontlines of the climate crisis. Our survey reveals how the environmental, social and economic impacts of climate change are starting to show up in their work every day.

Over the last decade, the concept of ‘green skills’ has grown in policy salience. A growing body of evidence makes it clear that without skilled people in key sectors, the world won’t move far or fast enough to take necessary action.

The public sector is too often still missing from that conversation. Providing wide-scale climate training to government officials is essential for successful climate action in this decade.

We hope this survey starts a meaningful conversation among government leaders — both political and administrative — on why building climate capable governments is no longer a potential option to explore, it’s a critical step in accelerating climate action.

With our partners, Apolitical will continue to convene and support global leaders on this essential issue through the Government Energy and Climate Campus. Click the link below to discover how you can join over 30,000 public servants motivated by their passion to learn and take climate action.