GETI 2025: Future of energy
The industry is growing quickly, with rising salaries and high optimism. However, with fewer professionals interested in relocating and career progression a top priority, more are now seeking opportunities to advance their careers closer to home. Equally, with an ever- increasing demand for skills, employers will want to be mindful of how to utilise expertise from all backgrounds.
Demographics
Over the past five years, gender demographics have remained static, with men making up 77 per cent of the workforce, women making up 22 per cent and 1 per cent preferring not to say.
This year, there has been a dramatic fall in respondents under the age of 35, while the over 45s category has increased from 23 per cent in 2024 to 34 per cent in 2025.
Leanne Halliday, Global Head of Energy and Renewables and Hydrogen Subject Matter Expert at LRQA, said: “It could be that we’re seeing a reversal of ‘the great retirement’, but there’s also a growing need and openness to bringing in consultants from outside of the sector who can apply their capability, credibility and experience in areas such as standards and regulations.”
Pay trends
Underlining a flourishing clean energy sector that is awash with opportunities, salary increases have steadily risen since 2021, only falling slightly this year. Forty-eight per cent of professionals report a pay rise in 2025, compared to 35 per cent five years ago. A fifth (21 per cent) say pay has risen by more than five per cent. Only four per cent report a pay decrease.
Janette Marx, CEO of Airswift, says: “Oil and gas companies tend to compensate their top talent well. As more of these companies invest in renewable energy, salaries in the sector are increasing to match that investment. Concurrently, attractive salaries are a tool to secure and retain STEM talent within the sector.”
Hiring managers report a similar trend, with 61 per cent saying pay has increased on average every year since 2023. That said, those reporting that pay has risen by more than five per cent fell slightly this year, to 32 per cent, down from 34 per cent in 2024.
Optimism for salary progression has remained high since 2023, with 73 per cent of professionals anticipating a raise this year. Forty per cent foresee pay increasing by more than five per cent. This optimism is shared by hiring managers, with around three-quarters projecting pay to rise every year post-COVID.This year, 76 per cent expect pay to rise, 42 per cent by more than five per cent.
Global mobility
As renewables projects become ubiquitous, the need for – and interest in – relocation is shifting. While the percentage of employers offering cross-regional transfers has risen from 48 per cent in 2022 to 58 per cent in 2025, the percentage of professionals who would consider relocating has fallen sharply. Now, only 73 per cent would consider relocating, a decrease of 12 per cent since 2021.
Halliday explains: “The prevalence of solar and wind projects is uncoupling us from the need to work in specific locations like we once did to exploit fossil fuel deposits. With renewables growing at pace in most regions, professionals will no longer feel so compelled to look abroad for career development opportunities.”
Europe remains the world’s hub for renewables, offering exciting project opportunities in hydrogen, solar, and offshore wind. However, interest in relocating to the region has dropped to 33 per cent this year, down from its peak of 39 per cent in 2023. Meanwhile, interest in North America has steadily risen from 16 per cent in 2021 to 22 per cent this year, while interest in Australasia has also climbed.
Marx observes: “These shifts could be an early sign that relocation interests will change in the mid-to-long-term as countries across the Americas and Australasia begin to build on their renewable energy potential. However, uncertainties around political direction could still influence professionals’ attraction.”
As for reasons for relocation, career progression has remained the single most important factor year on year since 2021. Although it peaked at 58 per cent in 2023, it remains high in 2025 at 51 per cent. Lifestyle and low cost of living have remained in the top three, typically in second place and averaging 11 per cent.
In 2021 and 2022, culture was a top three reason for relocation. From 2023 onwards, however, professionals have been drawn to opportunities offering better technology or access to innovative tools and ways of working, such as AI.
For the minority not wanting to move, proximity to family has always been the top concern, although notably this has fallen, from 51 per cent in 2022, to 37 per cent this year. In second place, respondents cite a lack of relocation opportunities, with 18 per cent on average highlighting this year on year since 2023.
Attracting and retaining talent
Since 2023, there has been a slight increase in professionals interested in transitioning to roles outside of energy. At the same time, there has been a slight decrease in interest in moving to roles within their own, or other, energy sectors. This year, 37 per cent would switch to another energy sector, down from 41 per cent in 2023.
Halliday comments: “The innovative and evolving nature of the industry means that some professionals become trapped in a cycle of working on projects that never reach final investment decision – and they begin to miss the satisfaction of seeing a project through to completion. Hiring managers can get ahead of this by being forthcoming about the projects a candidate may work on and move employees around to ensure job satisfaction.”
Since 2021, power has been the most attractive sector for renewables professionals considering a switch, except in 2023 when interest in oil and gas peaked. Technology has held the top spot for the non-energy sector, reaching a new high of 31 per cent this year. While interest in transport, logistics and infrastructure peaked last year at 21 per cent it has since slipped to 16 per cent, marginally above manufacturing.
Opportunities for career progression have remained the number one reason for switching roles over the past five years, hovering between 28 per cent and 34 per cent. Interest in the wider sector, the second most popular reason, has been static since 2022. Conversely, while ESG was a factor for many in 2022 and 2023, it has since declined, while interest in remuneration and benefits has increased.
The number of approaches that renewables professionals are experiencing for positions outside of their current company is increasing year on year, indicating intensifying competition for talent. This year, professionals received 5.90 approaches on average, up from 5.58 in 2023 and 5.76 in 2024. Around a third (36 per cent) of these approaches came from outside the industry – a figure that has remained steady since 2023 (37 per cent).
Marx comments: “The number of roles in the renewables sector is growing exponentially, and the demand for talent intensifies accordingly. However, key engineering principles are the same no matter what industry you work in, and in a lot of cases, the final 20 per cent of a role can be learned on the job through shadowing and mentoring. By creating flexibility around how role criteria are met, we can unlock many more candidates for positions and more job opportunities for professionals.”
Job satisfaction
When it comes to job satisfaction, two-thirds (65 per cent) of renewables professionals say they are satisfied in their role, a sentiment that has remained relatively unchanged since 2023 (67 per cent). Nearly half of professionals point to the ability to work flexibly (46 per cent) as a contributor to their satisfaction.
While the percentage of respondents that identified the feeling that their work contributes to society has fallen from 49 per cent in 2023 to 43 per cent in 2025, it remains high. Working on exciting projects has increased from 37 per cent to 41 per cent.
Halliday offers: “This decline may be related to the changes in demographics in this year’s GETI. The younger generation enters renewables because they want to make a difference, but the sector is increasingly attracting more mid-career, non-energy professionals with transferable skills to fill senior positions. For them, remuneration, benefits and flexible working are typically more important.”
Finally, professionals hold their relationships with colleagues in high regard, with 42 per cent now identifying them as a factor in their job satisfaction compared to 32 per cent in 2023.
For those who feel unfulfilled, nearly two-thirds (58 per cent) point to a lack of a clearly defined career path; this has increased significantly since 2023, when it was 47 per cent. A further third (33 per cent) identify a lack of exciting projects to work on.
Meanwhile, although respondents continue to report that remuneration and benefits play a role in job dissatisfaction, the percentages have declined significantly, in correlation with the healthy pay increases reported since 2023.
Attracting the next generation
Echoing other findings within the report, when asked what businesses could do better to attract the next generation of talent, respondents first and foremost identified providing clear pathways to help candidates understand the long-term opportunities ahead (47 per cent).
This was followed by developing accessible industry-specific training programmes to equip candidates with the necessary skills and knowledge before joining the workforce (38 per cent). A focus on entry-level positions is also highlighted by respondents, with over a third (35 per cent) saying that pay and benefits should be improved for those at the beginning of their careers.
Marx says: “The energy transition requires a massive amount of infrastructure and with it the workforce that can make it a reality. Renewables is considered a highly innovative sector, and this should be reflected in its approach to attracting and retaining talent. Hiring managers should ensure their strategies are multi-dimensional to accommodate the factors highlighted.”
Summary
Job satisfaction remains high within the renewables workforce; but as salaries have increased, career progression has come into sharper focus. With highly transferable skills, attrition to adjacent technology sectors is a risk employers can proactively manage through clear career pathways.
From the fresh-faced apprentice to the experienced consultant, employees are eager to make a difference in the world around them, and it is on hiring managers to create an open and flexible work environment where everyone can contribute their best.
