With the popularization of the concept of carbon neutrality, the "dual carbon" industry has broad prospects, huge market potential and doubled demand for talents. It has become a consensus.
On the one hand, the existing "dual-carbon" professional talent pool obviously cannot meet the needs of future "dual-carbon" construction, many high-paying jobs are vacant, and there is a large talent gap. Creating training traps not only damages the money of job seekers, but also overdraws social credit.
Produced by Deep Eye Studio
Written by: Intern reporter Sun Mingyuan
Our reporter Li He
Planning: Chen Yu
"There is a gap of 600,000 people in the market, and the monthly salary is as high as 20,000 to 30,000 yuan." Fang Mu (pseudonym), who has a college degree, saw such a carbon emission manager's publicity, and signed up for a training course for professionals in the field of carbon emission reduction. Examination of junior carbon emission managers.
However, what Fang Mu did not expect was that the certificate, which was obtained at a training fee of 2,500 yuan, was considered "without gold" by many employers when applying for a job.
In September 2020, my country solemnly declared to the world that China will increase its nationally determined contribution, adopt more powerful policies and measures, strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, and strive to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.
Guo Ru, a professor at the School of Environmental Science and Engineering of Tongji University, said in an interview with a reporter from Science and Technology Daily on August 24 that with the popularization of the concept of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, the "dual carbon" industry has broad prospects, huge market potential, and doubled demand for talents. become the consensus of the people.
Guo Ru also said that my country has completed the top-level design of the "dual-carbon" target. On the one hand, the existing "dual-carbon" professional talent pool obviously cannot meet the needs of future "dual-carbon" construction. Many high-paying jobs are vacant, and there are large talents. Gap. On the other hand, some institutions take advantage of job seekers' eager job-seeking mentality to create training traps, which not only damage job seekers' money, but also overdraw social credit.
"Double carbon" training chaos
Blurring the distinction between training certificates and vocational qualifications
From now on, it will take less than 10 years to reach the peak of carbon dioxide emissions before 2030. Therefore, how to control carbon dioxide emissions during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period is particularly important, which is a critical period and a window period for carbon peaking.
The comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development is steadily advancing, the demand for technical and skilled talents in various industries has increased, and the society has also emerged in the need for carbon emission training.
Li Yongliang, deputy director of the Industrial Development Department of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, said in an interview that based on the survey of companies and government departments in the compliance industry, as well as the market size estimates of future carbon consulting, carbon finance and other institutions, "the 14th Five-Year Plan" "During the period, the "double-carbon" talents that my country needs are around 550,000 to 1 million.
"550,000 to 1 million" is not only used by a petrochemical college to recruit students, but also frequently appears in the advertising slogans of some vocational training institutions.
In March 2021, "Carbon Emissions Manager" was listed as one of 18 new occupations by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.
According to public information, carbon emission administrators refer to personnel engaged in the monitoring, statistical accounting, verification, trading and consulting of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions in enterprises and institutions.
Some vocational training institutions sensed business opportunities and quickly launched training programs such as "carbon emission managers", "carbon emission consultants", "carbon emission traders" and "carbon asset managers".
Literally, there is only one word difference between "carbon emissions manager" and "carbon emissions administrator", but vocational training institutions blur the distinction between training certificates and vocational qualification certificates when conducting business.
This is one of the reasons why such training is so popular.
Some projects are divided into three levels of junior high school and senior high school, and the whole charge ranges from several hundred yuan to several thousand yuan.
These projects include a Chinese association, a talent exchange and development center of an institution, a Chinese national talent training network and other institutions with the prefix "national", as well as some "small institutions" with unknown qualifications and backgrounds.
However, if the policy orientation is true, the gap figures are true, and the enthusiasm of trainees and job seekers is true, it does not mean that the existing training system can successfully transform suitable talents.
For the "dual carbon" market, which is still "diving", it does not seem easy for job seekers to "fish" for a suitable position.
Rao Bingqing, an environmental engineer, once worked in the former Ministry of Chemical Industry Sha Design Institute, and has been working in an environmental technology company for many years.
Rao Bingqing recalled that in the second half of 2021, there will be many posts discussing and sharing the experience of "being fooled" on the Internet.
Some posters said that carbon emission-related certificates that cost hundreds of thousands of yuan to get a certificate are not helpful for job hunting and promotion. Under the guise of institutions to lure students into continuing to apply for other programs.
"Certificates issued by training courses run by some institutions with unknown qualifications and backgrounds are not professional qualification certificates like doctors and teachers. They are just proof that the trainees have participated in training, which cannot be found on the Chinese Personnel Examination Online. It was a waste of money." Rao Bingqing said bluntly.
As the "data center" of the carbon market, the work of the National Carbon Emissions Registration and Settlement System (hereinafter referred to as China Carbon Registration) includes account opening, allowance allocation, performance clearing, and transaction settlement that support the first performance cycle of the national carbon market. Wait.
Chen Zhixiang, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of CCDC, told reporters that according to the national occupational standards announced by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the requirements for carbon emission managers are mainly reflected in two aspects: carbon emission monitoring and verification, and carbon emission rights trading.
For these highly professional work content, Chen Zhixiang believes that the role of short-term training should not be overestimated.
"Participating in training and obtaining a training certificate for carbon emission management will play a positive role in popularizing 'double carbon' knowledge and familiarizing yourself with business operations. Professionals in trading.” Chen Zhixiang said that for short-term training, participants should adjust their personal expectations reasonably, use it as a window to broaden their knowledge, master the basic business process and operational framework, and combine their own accumulation in the industry to achieve The icing on the cake.
In November 2021, the "Carbon Emission Manager" training program of an institution's talent exchange and development center was suspended due to "technical reasons".
In the first half of this year, a number of media have made investigation reports on such training, pointing out that some training programs "cut leeks" have "low gold content".
On March 16, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued the "Notice on Carrying out the Special Governance of Technical Skills "Counterfeit Certificates". , occupational skill level and other names to organize training, evaluation, certificate issuance activities, arbitrary fees, indiscriminate issuance of certificates; some institutions and units make false or exaggerated publicity, and even organize training, evaluation, and certificate issuance under the name of authoritative institutions, and the society reflects this. strong."
With the promotion of special government governance and media reports, some "dual carbon" related training programs suspected of false propaganda have been rectified in the past few months.
High demand for talents and high threshold
The training model that matches the needs is far from being finalized
In the eyes of industry insiders, the society's demand for "dual-carbon" talents, especially professional compound talents, does exist.
On April 19 this year, the Ministry of Education issued a notice on printing and distributing the "Work Plan for Strengthening the Construction of a Carbon-Peak and Carbon-neutral Higher Education Talent Training System".
It is mentioned in the plan that achieving carbon peaking and carbon neutrality is an extensive and profound economic and social systemic change, which puts forward new requirements for strengthening the training of various talents in the new era.
It is necessary to strengthen green and low-carbon education, promote professional transformation and upgrading, and accelerate the training of urgently needed talents.
From the perspective of key tasks, the training objects include not only higher education professionals, but also lifelong learners who need knowledge and ability in the "double carbon" field.
Chen Zhixiang also said that with the advancement of the national "dual carbon" goal and the deepening of the construction of the national carbon market, there will be a demand for "dual carbon" talents in all walks of life in the future.
From the current point of view, verification agencies, energy companies and carbon trading agencies have a greater demand for "dual carbon" talents.
However, "larger demand" does not mean that every relevant company can now provide jobs.
"In the context of the 'double carbon' goal, many companies have the need for carbon management, but they may not necessarily set up special positions, and we provide related services. In our research institute, the main responsibilities of carbon emission management consultants are It is responsible for the technical implementation of corporate carbon management consulting services, researching international and domestic carbon market-related topics and scientific and technological projects, and compiling carbon peaking and carbon neutrality plans for governments and group companies.” Wen Juan (pseudonym), administrative director of an Energy Internet Research Institute )Say.
The reporter searched the job search website with "carbon emission manager" as the keyword and found that this kind of service consulting positions accounted for about half, and the other part of the positions were full-time personnel recruited by the company for the company.
The carbon emission management work of some enterprises is undertaken by the accounting department, and no relevant positions are specially set up.
It can be seen that the statement of "550,000 to 1 million" may not be exaggerated, but this market has not been fully opened, and the figures reflect the potential rather than the status quo.
Chen Zhixiang said that in accordance with the principle of "a mature industry, incorporating an industry, and gradually expanding the market coverage", the main consideration for expanding the coverage of the national carbon market is that the data submission and verification have been carried out, and the relevant departments have a clear support attitude. high emission industries.
In other words, although the potential scale of my country's carbon market is huge, various industries are not joined together.
With the gradual expansion and development of the carbon market, the demand for specialized talents will gradually increase, and the requirements for talents will also increase and become higher.
However, it will take time to release the demand, and the training model that matches the demand is far from being finalized.
"On the one hand, the gold content of 'certificates' is limited, and on the other hand, the industry's 'double-carbon' talent allocation is insufficient. The external demand for 'double-carbon' professionals has not been stimulated, and the internal motivation for talent training will naturally be weakened." Guo Ru summary.
Talent training needs to be adapted to local conditions
Don't blindly seek speed, quality should be improved in tandem with quantity
In Guo Ru's view, "my country has completed the top-level design of the 'dual carbon' goal. In the long run, the degree of adaptation between talent training and the industry market will gradually improve."
But she also reminded that the realization of the "dual carbon" goal has high requirements for the professionalism, innovation and practicality of talents.
Talent training is still a complex and arduous task.
"From the perspective of top-level design, the talent training model and system need to be further improved first. The realization of the 'two-carbon' goal involves the interests of multi-field and multi-industry entities. The conflict and coordination of interests requires the rigid constraints of the rule of law and administration, as well as financial Policy 'soft' incentives. Based on the existing key bottlenecks in the training of 'double-carbon' professionals, we should study and improve the incentive and restraint mechanism for 'double-carbon' professional personnel training from the aspects of legislation, administration, finance, etc. Among them, legislation is A particularly important aspect. Through legislation, the total amount and target of 'dual carbon' can be refined to various regions and industries, and the target of talent training will be clarified accordingly." Guo Ru said.
She also added that it is necessary to pay attention to the scientific nature of talent training.
"'Double carbon' professional talent training is a scientific process, and we must respect the law of talent growth. For example, talent growth requires a certain cycle, and talent can play a role also needs a specific external environment and real scenarios, and we must pay attention to the quantity and quality of talents The synchronous and rapid development of talents. The current contradiction between supply and demand of talents should be gradually resolved, and it is not allowed to blindly seek fast and lose the big because of the small.”
At present, my country has initially established a preliminary policy framework for the cultivation of "dual-carbon" professionals, and many parties, including the government, universities, and enterprises, are actively participating.
In September 2021, the "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Completely, Accurately and Comprehensively Implementing the New Development Concept and Doing a Good Job in Carbon Reaching and Carbon Neutralization" clearly requires the establishment of a carbon peak carbon neutral talent system and encourages colleges and universities to add carbon peak carbon Neutralization and related disciplines.
Since 2021, Tsinghua University, Peking University, Xi'an Jiaotong University, East China University of Science and Technology, Tongji University and other well-known domestic universities have established carbon neutral research institutes.
As early as April 2021, Tongji University led the "Eight Universities in East China" to jointly initiate the establishment of the "Yangtze River Delta Sustainable Development University Alliance", and released the "Promotion of Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutral Universities Action Initiative", advocating the strengthening of inter-school open cooperation , set up interdisciplinary teams, aim at the frontier and key fields of science and technology, and cultivate first-class dual-carbon talents.
In Chen Zhixiang's view, colleges and universities are an important part of talent training and one of the main sources of talent supply.
"Considering that colleges and universities have the characteristics of training talents with a long period of time, in the face of increased demand for talents in the short term, social vocational training and capacity building can play a good synergistic role."
Corporate-level carbon neutrality training is also in full swing.
For example, from 2021, SynTao, an independent consulting firm, has cooperated with the Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange to hold training courses for carbon neutrality experts, dedicated to cultivating corporate carbon neutrality professionals.
"Universities and enterprises are the main body of 'Double Carbon' talent training. In the future, the demand for 'Double Carbon' talents must also be multi-level and cross-field. Developed economies in Europe and the United States have gradually established government-led talent training in terms of 'Double Carbon' talent training. As a vocational training system dominated by enterprises, with the wide participation of various social organizations and training institutions, my country's 'double carbon' professional talent training model is still in the exploratory stage, and it is urgent to build a talent training model and system that adapts to local conditions." Guo Ru Summarize the results of your own research.
Talking about the next work direction of talent training, Guo Ru suggested to start with "standards".
At present, for "dual-carbon" talents, there are problems in relevant industries in my country, such as emphasizing academic qualifications over ability, emphasizing seniority over performance, emphasizing dissertation over contribution, emphasizing quantity over quality, etc., which makes practitioners easily encounter bottlenecks in career development, which in turn affects their experience and long-term confidence.
"If there are unified evaluation standards and norms, the situation of practitioners will be greatly improved. From this perspective, vocational training is not only necessary, but also has a lot of room for improvement. The current chaos should not affect We have confidence in the standardization of talent training and evaluation." Guo Ru said with expectation.
On July 29 this year, the official website of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security released the "National Occupational Skills Standards for Carbon Emission Managers" (draft for comments) to solicit public comments on the standards.
China Carbon Deng assisted in the compilation of some standards of "National Vocational Skills Standards for Carbon Emission Managers" (draft for comments).
In Chen Zhixiang's view, this means that the standardization of the "carbon emission management" industry will continue to be strengthened, and the living space of counterfeit institutions will be smaller.
Talking about the "dual carbon" talent requirements, Chen Zhixiang concluded that in addition to the professional skills in carbon monitoring and verification and carbon trading mentioned above, the professional quality of employees and the cultivation of ethics are equally important.
Carbon verifiers must ensure the authenticity and accuracy of corporate carbon emissions data; carbon traders must comply with high-standard regulatory system requirements, and strictly prevent financial risks and improper profit-making.
In Chen Zhixiang's view, three-level measures are needed to promote the cultivation of professional talents: give play to the leading role of industry associations and platform institutions; pay attention to school-enterprise cooperation, so that students can apply what they have learned, and enterprises can attract talents; pay attention to high-level expert teams The establishment of research centers and high-level think tanks and other institutions.
"Taking Tongji University as an example, as early as more than ten years ago, we began to train students in the field of 'Double Carbon', and our graduates are already engaged in 'Double Carbon' related work. Talent training requires accumulation, education system and The whole society and all walks of life should make efforts. In this process, the long-term system construction will eventually overcome the short-term 'training chaos' and provide strong support for the green and low-carbon transformation of my country's economy and society." Guo Ru concluded.