Carbon salaries add color to employment space even during recession

A recent study titled The Carbon Salary Survey 2010, conducted jointly by recruitment agency Acre Resources and consulting firm Acona has thrown up some really good news for professionals working in the climate change and carbon space.

Results from the survey reveal that despite the economy struggling under a fragile recovery, the climate change job market was thriving in 2010 and overall, remunerations for professionals working in the field were significantly higher than what had been reported in 2009.

A majority of participants (85%) in the survey were in permanent employment and reported an overall average salary of $79,000 this year, marking an increase of over $3,000 on last year's results. While the range of salaries in permanent positions represented a pretty wide gap - from $15,000 to $300,000 annually - close to three-fourths reported salaries above $40,000 and 26 percent earned above $100,000.

Regionally, Australasia saw a boom in the domain in 2010, reporting the highest average salary of $115,000. North America is the only other region where participants reported earning more than $100K on average, with average annual salary of $104,000. This represents a change from 2009 when North American participants were earning the highest salaries at $100,000 and Australasian participants were the second highest earners at $93,000.

In terms of job function, the highest salaries continue to be earned by those who classified their job function as Legal Services, though the average salary in this particular function did see a drop from 2009 levels.

The study reached 944 participants - 32 percent from U.K., 20 percent from the rest of Europe, 17 percent from North America, and 8 percent from Australasia. The other respondents came from South America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. However, the report does include a disclaimer to the effect that since the 2010 survey tapped a larger number of people in senior roles in the industry than in 2009, that could have skewed the salary trends to some extent. Nevertheless, ClimateBiz quotes Andy Cartland, Managing director at Acre Resources as saying: Continuing from last year's survey there is definite proof that the mainstream economy is 'greening' as the sector continues with its positive growth.