Sustainability Layoffs: Who Is Cutting Green IT and Climate Technology Jobs?

The overall sustainability job market remains strong -- as businesses seek employees to fill green IT, renewable energy, and energy transition jobs. Still, the rising tide of green jobs will not lift all boats. In fact, some climate tech, renewable energy and sustainability-focused businesses have issued layoffs.

The anecdotal evidence: Sustainability-oriented companies and green energy business units announcing staff cuts in 2024 (so far) and 2023 have included...

November 2024 Layoffs

• Siemens layoffs may impact roughly 5,000 employees amid an automation business slowdown, CEO Roland Busch said, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, Siemens also plans to spin off its EV charging business, which includes various managed services and cloud services for EV charging networks.
  

October 2024 Layoffs

• Northvolt, launched by former Tesla executives in 2015, recently had layoffs, and is facing multiple business question marks, The Wall Street Journal reports.
  

September 2024 Layoffs

• Origin Materials layoffs will impact 28% of staff. The company is striving to reduce its cash burn rate. Origin's mission is to "enable the world’s transition to sustainable materials." The company had a $19.5 million net loss in Q2 of 2024, compared to a $6.5 million net loss in Q2 of 2023. Still, Origin reaffirmed a "pathway to profitability requiring no additional equity capital."
• GE Vernova layoffs will impact roughly 900 employees worldwide, Reuters reported. Although GE Verona's overall business is performing well, the company's offshore wind operation has suffered from certain project delays and turbine blade failures, the report noted.
• Blink Charging layoffs will impact 14% of employees, resulting in annualized savings of approximately $9 million, the EV charging company said. The layoffs will "begin immediately and be completed in the first quarter of 2025," Blink Charging said. The job cuts arrive ahead of a planned CEO transition. Blink Charging Chief Operating Officer Mike Battaglia will succeed President and CEO Brendan Jones on February 1, 2025, the EV charging company announced in August 2029.
• Meyer Burger layoffs will impact nearly 20% of its global workforce, and CEO Gunter Erfurt has exited the business, Reuters reported. The Swiss solar panel is battling cheaper imports from China, the report noted.
• IBM laid off a substantial number of employees in mid-September 2024, The Register reported. We don't know if the job cuts involved IBM's sustainability and ESG software teams. The tech company expects to exit 2024 with headcount figures that are roughly equal to 2023, the report said.
• Swedish battery maker Northvolt will lay off some employees amid slowing growth in the EV market. The actual job cut figure is still pending.
• ChargePoint layoffs will impact 15% of company staff at the electric vehicle (EV) charging company, according to an SEC filing. Revenue was $108.5 million in Q2 of fiscal 2025, down 28% from $150.5 million in Q2 of fiscal 2024. This ChargePoint's second round of layoffs in 2024; the earlier job cuts were in January.
• Lyft layoffs will impact 1% of employees, and the company expects charges between $34 million to $46 million tied to the layoffs, The Wall Street Journal reported. Also, Lyft is discontinuing dockless scooters in Washington, D.C., and exploring alternatives in Denver, the report said.
• Germany’s Volkswagen says auto industry headwinds mean it can’t rule out plant closings in its home country - and must drop a longstanding job protection pledge in force since 1994 that would have barred layoffs through 2029, the Associated Press reported. Separately, Volkswagen in 2023 hatched a layoff plan within the company's Cariad software unit. The software setbacks reinforced VW's struggle to develop next-generation software for multiple automobile brands -- including VW's Porsche, Audi, SEAT, Škoda, CUPRA, Lamborghini and Bentley lineups.

August 2024 Layoffs

• GM layoffs will impact more than 1,000 salaried software and services employees, many of whom work at GM's tech campus near Detroit, CNBC reported.
• The SunPower bankruptcy also involves layoffs, SiliconValley.com reported.

July 2024 Layoffs

• Moxion Power, a mobile battery startup funded by Amazon and Microsoft, has essentially shut down and laid off all of its employees, according to a media report.
• First Mode, a Seattle-based company that’s concentrating on reducing carbon emissions in mining and other heavy industries, will have layoffs in August 2024, GeekWire reported.
• Microsoft cut two employees from its diversity and inclusion team, GeekWire reported. Some media outlets erroneously said Microsoft laid off that entire time.
• SolarEdge Technologies plans to lay off 400 employees, of which 200 are in Israel, as it works to restore profitability and ensure financial stability, Reuters reported. This is the second round of SolarEdge Layoffs in 2024.

June 2024 Layoffs

• Microsoft layoffs will impact hundreds of Azure cloud services employees, Business Insider reported. We don't know if the job cuts involve Microsoft's SaaS-based sustainability software applications. The job cuts surfaced within days of job cuts at rival Google Cloud.
• Google Cloud made sweeping job cuts, Business Insider reported. We don't know if the job cuts involve Google's sustainability software applications.

May 2024 Job Cuts

• Siemens Energy wind turbine division -- known as Siemens Gamesa -- plans to cut 4,100 jobs, or around 15% of its workforce, the unit's Chief Executive Jochen Eickholt said in an internal letter to staff, Reuters reported.
• EV maker Fisker had more job cuts this week, according to an Electric Vehicles report.
• EV maker Great Wall Motor is laying off 100 or so GWM employees in Europe, multiple reports said. GWM, based in China, is struggling on the international front amid heavy tariffs in Europe and the United States.
• Shell will cut staff from its offshore wind business as CEO Wael Sawan moves the company away from the capital-intensive renewable energy sector, Bloomberg reported.
• Barclays cut some employees from a team of more than 100 bankers focused on energy transition, Bloomberg reported. The cuts, which are part of broader job cuts at the company, included staffers with expertise in climate technologies, such as carbon capture and hydrogen, the report said.

April 2024 Staff Cuts

• SunPower layoffs will impact 1,000 employees, and the solar energy company will end direct sales to focus on channel partner engagements.
• Lion Electric Company staff cuts impacted roughly 120 employees, or roughly 9% of workers at the electric vehicle (EV) truck and school bus maker.
• Rivian cut about 1% of its workforce - the second round of job cuts in 2024, Reuters reported.
• Tesla layoffs will impact more than 10% of employees.
• Greentown Labs, a climate technology incubator, cut 30% of its staff.

March 2024 Layoffs

• Longi Green Technology Energy Co., the world’s largest solar manufacturer, is cutting almost one-third of its staff.

February 2024 Job Cuts

• Rivian layoffs will impact 10% of salaried jobs, the EV (electric vehicle) automaker disclosed.
• Plug Power announced job cuts as part of a "strategic expense reduction plan" that's designed to save the hydrogen energy company more than $75 million annually. The company did not say how many employees will lose their jobs.

January 2024 Staff Cuts

• Albemarle layoffs will impact roughly 300 employees or approximately 4% of staff amid falling lithium prices.
• Duke Energy confirmed "limited" staff cuts amid the company's clean energy transition.
• SolarEdge layoffs will impact 16% of staff at the solar technology company.
• SunPower apparently will have job cuts as part of a restructuring plan designed to cut the solar energy company's operating costs.
• ChargePoint layoffs will impact 12% of its workforce, the electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure company announced. ChargePoint changed CEOs in November 2023, and announced an earlier round of layoffs in September 2023.
• NuScale Power layoffs will involve roughly 28% of staff at the modular nuclear reactor company. The staff cuts come at a key time for both NuScale and the broader energy market -- where the United States is racing to compete against Russia and China on multiple nuclear and energy transition fronts.

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