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Professionals · code 2133

Environmental protection professionals

Environmental protection professionals study and assess the effects on the environment of human activity such as air, water and noise pollution, soil contamination, climate change, toxic waste and depletion and degradation of natural resources. They develop plans and solutions to protect, conserve, restore, minimize and prevent further damage to the environment. Tasks include - (a) 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 such problems; (b) assessing the likely impact that potential or proposed activities, projects and developments may have on the environment, and recommending whether such developments should proceed; (c) 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; (d) conducting audits to evaluate the environmental impact of existing activities, processes, wastes, noises and substances; (e) assessing an organization’s compliance with government and internal environmental regulations and guidelines, identifying violations and determining appropriate remedial action; (f) 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; (g) developing conservation plans. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Air pollution analyst - Conservation officer - Conservation scientist - Ecologist - Environmental adviser - Environmental auditor - Environmental consultant - Environmental research scientist - Environmental scientist - Park ranger - Water quality analyst Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Environmental engineer - 2143

A few tasks are affected, but the heart of the job isn't. It ranks 316 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • water quality analyst
  • conservation scientist
  • environmental programme coordinator
  • pipeline environmental project manager
  • environmental scientist
  • nature conservation officer
  • natural resources consultant
  • soil scientist
  • airport environment officer
  • countryside officer
  • ecologist
  • aquaculture environmental analyst

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

61.6
Holds up
against AI Minimal Exposure

AI could take on 38.4 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 38.4 = 61.6

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

37
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 7 US jobs , so treat it as rough

18.1
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 21.9 · hand skill 19 · cramped spaces 13.5 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on under 50 Less than half hands-on

Less than half of this job is hands-on. Robots still matter, but for a smaller part of the work, so we don't sort it any further.

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

What this number leaves out This job rates 37 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, but for work this far from the physical that matters less.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 44.8, while the average is 38.4. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 44.8

    Developing conservation plans.

    Low
  2. 40.5

    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

    Low
  3. 40

    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

    Low
  4. 39.3

    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

    Low
  5. 37.5

    Conducting audits to evaluate environmental impact of existing activities, processes, wastes, noises and substances

    Low
  6. 36.5

    Assessing the likely impact that potential or proposed activities, projects and developments may have on the environment, and recommending whether such developments should proceed

    Low
  7. 30.1

    Assessing an organization's compliance with government and internal environmental regulations and guidelines, identifying violations and determining appropriate remedial action

    Low

7 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

One Australian job matches, but only partly: not everyone in it does this job. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

AI helps you
72
AI does it for you
32

Helping wins by 40 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 2343

Compared with similar jobs

There are 92 jobs in the “Professionals” group, averaging 61.3. This one is above that.