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.

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

April 2024 Layoffs

• 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 layoffs 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 Layoffs

• Rivian layoffs will impact 10% of salaried jobs, the EV (electric vehicle) automaker disclosed.
• Plug Power announced layoffs 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 Layoffs

• Albemarle layoffs will impact roughly 300 employees or approximately 4% of staff amid falling lithium prices.
• Duke Energy confirmed "limited" layoffs amid the company's clean energy transition.
• SolarEdge layoffs will impact 16% of staff at the solar technology company.
• SunPower apparently will have layoffs 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.

December 2023 Layoffs

• Palmetto layoffs involved an undisclosed number of staff cuts at the solar energy software company.
• Enphase Energy layoffs will impact 10% of its global workforce, CEO Badri Kothandaraman disclosed in a letter to employees at the solar energy technology company.
• Cruise layoffs will impact 24% of staff or roughly 900 employees at the General Motors (GM) self-driving car business unit.
• Rivian Automotive layoffs impacted roughly 20 employees working on long-range battery cells, The Information reported.

November 2023 Layoffs

The job cut announcements included...

• Our Next Energy (ONE) layoffs involved 25% staff cuts at the electric vehicle (EV) battery maker and energy storage company.
• Origin Materials layoffs involved 30% staff cuts, the carbon negative materials company disclosed.
• LG Energy Solution layoffs will impact roughly 170 employees between December 2023 and January 2024, The Holland Sentinel of Michigan reported. The business develops EV (electric vehicle) batteries for U.S. automakers. Key customers include Volvo, Stellantis, Ford and General Motors.
• Tritium DCFC is planning layoffs and an Australia factory closure. The goal: Achieve a path to profitability in 2024, the fast-growing but money-losing electric vehicle (EV) charging technology company said.

October 2023 Layoffs

The job cut announcements included...

• Bloom Energy layoffs will impact roughly 100 employees in Fremont and Sunnyvale, California, according to Silicon Valley Business Journal. Bloom Energy's flagship product -- known as an Energy Server -- is a distributed power generation platform. The fuel cell technology converts natural gas, biogas, or hydrogen into electricity without combustion, resulting in low or no CO2 emission, the journal's report said.
• Shell layoffs will impact about 15% of the energy company's Low Carbon Solutions (LCS) employees, Reuters reported.
• Navigator CO2 layoffs arrived amid pushback to the proposed Heartland Greenway project -- which involves a carbon capture pipeline and greenhouse gas (GHG) storage system.
• Flexport layoffs impacted 20% of staff at the supply chain software and logistics startup. The layoffs surfaced one month after numerous executive suite changes at the company.
• Maxeon Solar Technologies layoffs impacted roughly 15% of the solar company's global workforce.

September 2023 Layoffs

The job cut announcements included...

• Morningstar Sustainalytics layoffs impacted roughly 10% to 12% of employees at the ESG (environmental, social, governance) data, research and ratings firm.
• ChargePoint layoffs hit 10% of its staff and reorganized operations amid weaker-than-expected quarterly revenue guidance from the electric vehicle (EV) charging station network company.

What did we miss? Send me details about a green IT and sustainable technology layoffs (Joe@MentoreVentures.com), and we'll potentially update the timeline above.

Sustainability and Green Technology Jobs: Climate Tech Training Programs

Despite those anecdotal job cuts, demand for green jobs in the United States has grown roughly 50% since 2019, according to Lightcast.

In response, companies such as Accenture, EY, Goodwill and Microsoft have launched green jobs training programs.