Amid green push, professionals rush to arm themselves with ESG skills

As companies adopt stricter environmental, social and governance (ESG) regulations amid India’s push to achieve net-zero emissions by 2070, Indian professionals are making a beeline for edtech platforms to upskill themselves in green technology and sustainability.

Edtech firms like Coursera, Emeritus, UpGrad and Terra.do are seeing high enrolment rates for courses related to ESG reporting, climate technology, carbon accounting, lifecycle analyses, etc. There is also an increasing trend of engineers wanting to learn the tech stacks used in the climate tech industry, or product managers learning how to reduce emissions of their digital products.

While learners are typically early-to-mid-career professionals looking to transition to a sustainability job, a significant amount of demand is also being seen from C-suite leaders who are now required to have a strong understanding of ESG and sustainability to drive responsible decision-making and shape business strategies.


An IBM and Morning Consult survey found that 82% of Indian business leaders would seek green and sustainability tech skills by the end of 2024, underscoring that the future of work demands a blend of tech, green and multidisciplinary skills.

Emeritus has integrated ESG and sustainability in business across senior-executive programmes for C-suite leaders, and is seeing fourfold growth in its learner base.

Institutes such as IIM in Kozhikode and Lucknow and Indian School of Business consider these as must-have modules in their CEO, CTO, CHRO and CFO programmes, Emeritus CEO Ashwin Damera said. “We’re also seeing particular interest in sustainability leadership training from senior executives at large financial services companies.”

Coursera is seeing a 14% y-o-y increase in enrolments by Indians in courses related to environmental science and sustainability.

“This reflects learners’ desires to transition to in-demand careers, contribute to environmental and societal betterment, and support India’s sustainability revolution,” said Raghav Gupta, managing director - India and APAC, Coursera.

The edtech platform is seeing an especially high uptick in courses on solar energy, electric vehicles and mobility, global environmental management, and renewable energy technology, he said.

According to data shared by job site Indeed, job postings for ESG-related jobs have surged by 128% from March 2023 to March 2024.

Eyeing expansion

Edtech platforms are looking to roll out more courses on sustainability innovation, the circular economy and the environmental and social impact of business.

Climate education platform Terra.do, which has 16 courses on green skills and sustainability, is looking to double its courses in these areas by the end of the year.

“We’re seeing a lot of interest for courses in carbon accounting, software stacks in climate and decarbonising energy. We’ve seen a doubling of our learner base in six months as individuals look to upskill themselves in the emerging area of ESG,” founder Anshuman Bapna said.

According to a Microsoft and Boston Consulting Group report, two-thirds of all people working in sustainability don’t have the skills or training to do so.

ESG is among the areas UpGrad’s enterprise arm is seeing strong demand for and its leadership studio, UpGrad Harappa, equips CXOs on these key boardroom topics. The company is also exploring the interplay between ESG and technology trends, and how companies can upskill their talent across levels, said UpGrad Enterprise CEO Srikanth Iyengar.