A Pivotal Moment
Quality Jobs. Green Future.
We stand at a pivotal moment — an inflection point where environmental urgency and the need for equitable economic advancement converge. The climate crisis presents a profound opportunity to reimagine and reshape our society for the better.
As the Climate-Resilient Employees for a Sustainable Tomorrow initiative marks its third anniversary, Ares Charitable Foundation president Michelle Armstrong looks at the pathway forward to creating quality jobs as we address climate-resiliency.
Climate change is causing shifts in the economy across all industries, requiring workers with new skills and capabilities. Nevertheless, there is a gap between the demand for a skilled workforce for green jobs and the number of people ready for these roles.
According to the World Economic Forum, the transition to a green, decarbonized economy presents annual business opportunities worth $10 trillion that could create 395 million jobs by 2030. Despite these data, a 2024 LinkedIn report states the need to double the climate talent pool by 2050 if we wish to attain global sustainability goals.
In 2021, our Ares Charitable Foundation team saw little attention paid to readying individuals with the skills needed for the expanding number of green-sector jobs. From our perspective, building an inclusive, resilient economy would necessitate preparing and reskilling individuals with the green skills increasingly in demand.
Furthermore, we understood that a strong climate economy would require actively engaging and supporting people of color, women, individuals who are financially less advantaged and other frequently overlooked populations.
This is why we launched Climate-Resilient Employees for a Sustainable Tomorrow ("CREST") on Earth Day 2022.
A five-year, $25 million initiative in partnership with Jobs for the Future ("JFF"), World Resources Institute ("WRI") and WRI India, CREST aims to help individuals achieve economic mobility through quality green jobs that allow them to take care of themselves, their families and their communities while concurrently helping safeguard the environment.
Thanks to our partners, we are making significant strides. In the U.S., CREST is poised to prepare at least 25,000 people to enter quality green jobs and reach a minimum of 100,000 individuals through exposure or training.
In India, CREST is underway to reskill at least 1,000 micro, small and medium enterprise ("MSME") workers and has already exceeded delivering training to a target 100 MSMEs by 100%. CREST is also now generating evidence-based guidance for more equitable global supply chains to protect workers’ jobs through training and education, including to mitigate supply chain disruptions.
As Earth Day 2025 marks the three-year anniversary of CREST, we reflect on what we have learned on the journey thus far, including the need to:
· Establish deep relationships through stakeholder engagement because it is important to understand local needs and build trust. Customizing engagement strategies by tailoring channels to stakeholder groups and objectives is critical to success.
· Undertake climate workforce research to identify best practices, challenges and innovations. Our partners’ research has fostered a clearer vision of what it means for employers and the workforce ecosystem to support a just transition and pointed out the importance of both elevating the perspectives of underserved communities and addressing systemic barriers.
· Take action to initiate stakeholder influence, including among private sector stakeholders by raising awareness of inequities in global supply chains and building MSMEs' focus on reskilling. We believe – and are beginning to see evidence of how – this helps reshape the dialogue on green jobs and encourages more green jobs funding.
CREST brings leading nonprofit innovation and research organizations together to advance our mission, which is to help people chart pathways to self-sufficiency and financial well-being. Our commitment to equitable – and equal – economic opportunity is central to our work and the driving motivation behind CREST.
As we move into Year 4, we are confident that the outcomes and, ultimately, the impact, we strive to make through CREST will be easily recognized and appreciated, especially by those whose lives are changed for the better as a result.
This edition of the magazine, produced by our partner WorkingNation, highlights the efforts being made on the ground — where the green economy is no longer just an idea but a reality.
We are excited to share these stories with you and hope they inspire you to join us in this journey toward a future where economic advancement and sustainability go hand in hand.
Michelle Armstrong President, Ares Charitable Foundation Managing Director, Ares Management Company
"They know their communities. They know their climate risks. They know the job opportunities."
CREST approaches green jobs creation on a local level. Jobs for the Future is working closely with six regional partners in climate-impacted communities to help support all stages of job development and training.
Jobs for the Future director Sara Vander Zanden takes a deeper look at those communities and the work being done in this new Work in Progress podcast from WorkingNation.