Tech Capacity in Transition: Rethinking the Role of Tech Talent in Environmental Stewardship

This white paper details insights from research led by EPIC’s Technology Team beginning in March 2025. That effort focused on one large, but increasingly urgent, question: Across governments—and amid so much policy and organizational change—how should the public sector build and empower its technical workforce to deliver for our communities and environment?

To answer it, we spent the spring and summer listening to an array of experts in a series of semi-structured, confidential interviews. We surveyed a wide cross-section of thought leaders and practitioners interested (broadly) in improving how agencies at every level source, deploy, and retain a modern technology workforce—paying special attention to the technical and mission areas that impact environmental (and adjacent) work. From current and former public servants, technologists, policy experts, and workforce leaders (across federal, state, and local settings), we heard candid takes on old challenges, uncovered connections between barriers and potential solutions, and discovered clear directions for future efforts around tech talent. We also learned that there’s tremendous potential—and work to be done—in building the environmental workforce of the future.

One overarching theme explored in the paper was especially clear in our research: tech capacity in government is not just a “hiring” or “people” challenge—it is a systems challenge; one that touches every stage of how agencies (and their partners) analyze, acquire, deploy, and support the people who make delivery possible for our ecosystems and communities.

If this work is of interest, or we weren’t able to connect previously, we want to hear from you.