Environmental protection professionals
AI can help with a few sub-tasks (emails, paperwork), but the core of the job doesn't change.
Exposure is not job loss: it shows how much of the work generative AI could do today. Whether that turns into transformation, productivity gains or cuts depends on employers, regulation — and on you.
0 = today’s generative AI cannot perform any of the job’s tasks, 100 = it could do all of them fully. The pale band is the spread across tasks.
Work out your own score ↓What can you do?
🤖 Written with AIThis text was written by artificial intelligence from the data points shown; it is built on verified figures but may contain mistakes.· 13/10/2026How is it made?
Exposure is minimal at 38/100, led by conservation planning and environmental analysis. Exposure does not imply job loss; the broader EU occupation group is projected to grow 11.7% by 2035.
What changes
- Drafting and refining conservation plans
- Synthesizing field, laboratory and environmental research findings
- Documenting and coordinating environmental management systems
What stays human
- Collecting samples and validating conditions on site
- Judging project impacts amid ecological and community trade-offs
- Determining violations and proportionate remedial action
What to learn
- Learn GIS, remote sensing and environmental data analysis
- Practise verifying AI-generated assessments against field evidence
- Build expertise in environmental regulations, auditing and management systems
Task by task
The ILO scored every task of the occupation separately, as the average of two AI models (GPT-4o and Gemini). The pale band is the range between the two models' scores, the dot the ILO's final score (for a few tasks expert review placed it outside the band).
- Developing conservation plans.45
- Conducting research, performing tests, collecting samples, performing field and laboratory analysis to identify sources of environmental problems and recommending ways to prevent, control and remediate the impact of environmental problems41
- Developing and coordinating the implementation of environmental management systems to enable organizations to identify, monitor and control the impact of their activities, products and services on the environment40
- Providing technical advice and support services to organizations on how best to deal with environmental problems in order to reduce environmental damage and minimize financial loss39
- Conducting audits to evaluate environmental impact of existing activities, processes, wastes, noises and substances38
- Assessing the likely impact that potential or proposed activities, projects and developments may have on the environment, and recommending whether such developments should proceed37
- Assessing an organization's compliance with government and internal environmental regulations and guidelines, identifying violations and determining appropriate remedial action30
How much does it affect you?
Every job is different: mark which of these tasks you do and how much, and we'll compute your own, time-weighted score.
For each task: I don't do it · sometimes · most of my job.
- Developing conservation plans.(45)
- Conducting research, performing tests, collecting samples, performing field and laboratory analysis to identify sources of environmental problems and recommending ways to prevent, control and remediate the impact of environmental problems(41)
- Developing and coordinating the implementation of environmental management systems to enable organizations to identify, monitor and control the impact of their activities, products and services on the environment(40)
- Providing technical advice and support services to organizations on how best to deal with environmental problems in order to reduce environmental damage and minimize financial loss(39)
- Conducting audits to evaluate environmental impact of existing activities, processes, wastes, noises and substances(38)
- Assessing the likely impact that potential or proposed activities, projects and developments may have on the environment, and recommending whether such developments should proceed(37)
- Assessing an organization's compliance with government and internal environmental regulations and guidelines, identifying violations and determining appropriate remedial action(30)
You are exactly at the occupation average. (The occupation's score: 38.)
About 0% of your working time goes to highly exposed tasks (score ≥ 50).
- • Developing conservation plans.
- • Conducting research, performing tests, collecting samples, performing field and laboratory analysis to identify sources of environmental problems and recommending ways to prevent, control and remediate the impact of environmental problems
- • Assessing an organization's compliance with government and internal environmental regulations and guidelines, identifying violations and determining appropriate remedial action
- • Assessing the likely impact that potential or proposed activities, projects and developments may have on the environment, and recommending whether such developments should proceed
An estimate from the ILO task scores. Everything is computed in your browser — nothing is sent or stored.
How many people work in this occupational group?
Share of the Science and engineering professionals group in total employment, by country (Eurostat, ISCO 2-digit — 4-digit breakdowns are not public by country).
Table view
| Country | Science and engineering professionals |
|---|---|
| Finland | 6.3% · 163 thousand · 2025 |
| Luxembourg | 5.3% · 17 thousand · 2025 |
| Ireland | 4.8% · 135 thousand · 2025 |
| France | 4.7% · 1,380 thousand · 2025 |
| Germany | 4.5% · 1,920 thousand · 2025 |
| Slovenia | 4.5% · 45 thousand · 2025 |
| Lithuania | 4.4% · 65 thousand · 2025 |
| Netherlands | 4.3% · 428 thousand · 2025 |
| Switzerland | 4.3% · 208 thousand · 2025 |
| Sweden | 4.1% · 218 thousand · 2025 |
| Cyprus | 4.0% · 20 thousand · 2025 |
| Iceland | 3.9% · 9 thousand · 2025 |
| Portugal | 3.9% · 207 thousand · 2025 |
| Denmark | 3.9% · 121 thousand · 2025 |
| Greece | 3.9% · 169 thousand · 2025 |
| Belgium | 3.9% · 199 thousand · 2025 |
| Romania | 3.6% · 277 thousand · 2025 |
| United Kingdom | 3.5% · 1,203 thousand · 2025 |
| Hungary | 3.5% · 163 thousand · 2025 |
| Poland | 3.5% · 598 thousand · 2025 |
| Spain | 3.4% · 757 thousand · 2025 |
| Czechia | 3.4% · 176 thousand · 2025 |
| Croatia | 3.3% · 56 thousand · 2025 |
| Austria | 3.2% · 142 thousand · 2025 |
| Norway | 3.1% · 91 thousand · 2025 |
| Malta | 3.1% · 10 thousand · 2025 |
| Estonia | 3.0% · 21 thousand · 2025 |
| Slovakia | 3.0% · 78 thousand · 2025 |
| Latvia | 2.9% · 25 thousand · 2025 |
| Bulgaria | 2.8% · 81 thousand · 2025 |
| Italy | 2.7% · 659 thousand · 2025 |
What do they earn?
Mean gross monthly earnings in the major occupational group (Professionals). Eurostat's earnings survey only publishes pay by occupation at 1 digit, so this is the job's broader group. Enterprises with 10+ employees, 2022.
By country, at purchasing power parity (PPS/month), so countries with different price levels can be compared.
- Switzerland6,389
- Luxembourg5,274
- Ireland4,873
- Germany4,807
- Belgium4,799
- Denmark4,446
- Norway4,237
- Austria4,099
- Netherlands4,031
- Iceland3,875
- EU273,850
- France3,791
- Finland3,769
- Romania3,559
- Sweden3,416
- Spain3,413
- Slovenia3,326
- Italy3,305
- Cyprus3,271
- Lithuania3,221
- Croatia2,890
- Czechia2,871
- Malta2,825
- Poland2,783
- Hungary2,777
- Portugal2,755
- Latvia2,671
- Estonia2,599
- Bulgaria2,359
- Slovakia2,345
- Greece2,321
Source: Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey (earn_ses22_21), every four years. The United Kingdom is not covered by the survey.
Outlook to 2035
Employment in the Science and engineering professionals group according to Cedefop's 2026 forecast.
thousand · Cedefop Skills Forecast 2026 · 2026–2035: projection
Replacement demand is the jobs left by people retiring or changing careers — even a shrinking occupation can have many openings.
Related occupations
Sources: ILO WP140 (2025) · Eurostat lfsa_egai2d · Cedefop Skills Forecast 2026 · WEF Future of Jobs 2025 · ESCO. The exposure score measures how much of an occupation's tasks generative AI could perform — not whether the job disappears. For information only, not career advice. How do we calculate this?