Singapore launched the Singapore Green Plan 2030 in Feb 2021, as part of the commitment to fight climate change and in alignment with the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Findings from a joint study with Arup and Oxford Economics estimated about 170,000 green-related jobs across various sectors by 2025. By 2050, the Green Economy would contribute from 6% to 10.2% of the GDP with green jobs accounting around 9-13% of the total jobs in Singapore[1].

With the increasing global focus on sustainability, and more companies adopting sustainability-related practices, existing jobs will gradually be redesigned into “green roles”, while new roles will be created in areas such as carbon management, as part of the transformation. This will result in a growing need to reskill new hires and existing workers to take on “green roles” and support the company’s sustainability transformation.

The Career Conversion Programme (CCP) for Sustainability Professionals supports the reskilling of workers to take on business functions such as carbon management, sustainability reporting and implementation and development of carbon projects, as well as the creation of new job roles such as Sustainability Officers and Carbon Analysts and enhances current scope of work in areas such as finance, procurement, human resource, logistics and operations.

Administered by the Republic Polytechnic (RP), the CCP operates under the following modalities:

1. Place-and-Train [New Hires]: Reskill new hires in their new roles to support the business growth.
2. Job Redesign (JR) Reskilling [Existing Employees]: Targeted at companies that are undergoing business transformation[2], and where their existing employees are in vulnerable jobs due to the transformation. These employees will be reskilled to take on new job roles or redesigned job roles that are of higher value-add within the same company.

Under the CCP for Sustainability Professionals, participants will be required to take 1 sustainability-related course, mentorship (optional) and undergo structured On-the-Job Training (OJT) at the company. Upon successful completion of the CCP, participants would be equipped with the necessary competencies and skills to take on sustainability related job roles within their companies.

For more information on the CCP, please click here for the factsheet, Archetype (Generic) and OJT reference materials.

[1] Using a scenario-based approach.

[2] Including transformation in sustainability.

Individuals

Locals who meet the following criteria may apply for the programme:

• Singapore Citizen or Singapore Permanent Resident.
• Minimum 21 years old.
• [For New Hires] Graduated or completed National Service at least 2 years[3] prior at the point of application. New job role trained for under the CCP should be substantially different from the previous job role, hence require reskilling for a career switch.
• [For Existing Hires] Employee to be reskilled must have had at least 1 year of working experience with company at the point of application.
• Meet employer selection criteria, where applicable.

Beyond the general eligibility criteria for the CCP, applicants should also not be:

• Shareholders[4] of the participating company or its related entities.
• Immediate ex-employees of the participating company or its related entities.
• Related to the owners[5] of the participating company.

Employers

All participating companies must fulfil the following criteria:

• Registered or incorporated in Singapore.
• Able to offer employment directly related to the job[6] which the programme is for, with remuneration that commensurate with the market rate.
• Ensure changes to the employee’s job role are for a long-term/permanent basis.
• Commit to the On-the-Job Training (OJT) arrangements for the individual whom they have selected.
• For applications for JR Reskilling mode under the CCP, companies are required to submit details of their business transformation plans to RP for evaluation.

[3] This will be counted from the date of graduation from the latest qualification, or date of completion of national service, whichever is later.

[4] Does not apply to publicly traded shares in listed companies.

[5] For non-publicly listed companies, refer to individuals with shareholding per ACRA profile.

[6] Job roles need to be permanent full-time or at least a 12-month renewable contract.

*Note

• For trainees who commence training from 1 April 2024
• For trainees who commence training before 1 April 2024, the funding is capped at $4,000 and $6,000 for Standard Rate and Enhanced Rate, respectively.