Human resources and green competencies in combating climate change: A study in the energy sector

The increasing impacts of climate change necessitate profound transformations in organizations, not only in their environmental practices but also in their managerial and cultural structures. In this process, Human Resource Management (HRM) plays a critical role in implementing sustainability goals at the institutional level. This study aims to reveal how HRM is positioned around the concept of green competencies in the adaptation process to climate change by examining the 2024 sustainability reports of large-scale enterprises operating in Türkiye’s energy sector. Designed in a qualitative research design, the study analyzes the 2024 sustainability reports of the ten largest energy production companies in Türkiye, as listed in the MW100 (2025) report, through document analysis. The data were evaluated using thematic content analysis with the MAXQDA 20 software, identifying three main themes: “green competency development,” “workforce transformation,” and “organizational learning and leadership.” The findings indicate that environmental sustainability strategies in the energy sector are increasingly integrated with HR processes, yet green competencies remain largely at a symbolic level in many organizations. Bringing together the Green Human Resource Management (GHRM), resource-based view, and learning organization approaches, the study provides a theoretical perspective on organizational transformation in the energy sector