Industrial Ecologists
In short: today's best AI models could do about 16% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 88% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 6% of the time, stays with people.
Apply principles and processes of natural ecosystems to develop models for efficient industrial systems. Use knowledge from the physical and social sciences to maximize effective use of natural resources in the production and use of goods and services. Examine societal issues and their relationship with both technical systems and the environment.
$82,220 a year (for the broader BLS group this job sits in).
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on6 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet31 h
- Stays with people3 h
Industrial Ecologists, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 6 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 31 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 3 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Identify environmental impacts caused by products, systems, or projects (about 1 h); Identify sustainable alternatives to industrial or waste-management practices (under an hour); Identify or develop strategies or methods to minimize the environmental impact of industrial production processes (under an hour).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 94%
- 0%
- 6%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 1%. Today's estimate: 16%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, no reportable share went to this job's tasks in May 2026; 0 of its 38 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.11% to 0.061% (released February and March 2025); 0.0081% to 0.0084% (August 2025 to February 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.11% | 163 of 708 | 3 of 38 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.061% | 237 of 703 | 5 of 38 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.0081% | 477 of 655 | 1 of 38 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.014% | 431 of 672 | 3 of 38 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.0084% | 516 of 677 | 1 of 38 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 38 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 38 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 1% of this job's working time as physical work. For 0% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere. 0.00 of 3.
- Not physical 99%
- No robot shown 1%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 38 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Identify environmental impacts caused by products, systems, or projects.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 5% | 6.7 h1.7 h to 2.5 work days | 55%Half by now | |
| Identify or develop strategies or methods to minimize the environmental impact of industrial production processes.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 5% | 1.7 work days3.3 h to 1 work week | 28%Half by Apr 2027 | |
| Identify sustainable alternatives to industrial or waste-management practices.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 5% | 1.7 work days3.3 h to 4.2 work days | 31%Half by Mar 2027 | |
| Analyze changes designed to improve the environmental performance of complex systems and avoid unintended negative consequences.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 5% | 3.3 work days6.7 h to 1.7 work weeks | 10%Half by Sep 2027 | |
| Perform analyses to determine how human behavior can affect, and be affected by, changes in the environment.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 5% | 3.3 work days6.7 h to 1.7 work weeks | 10%Half by Sep 2027 | |
| Conduct environmental sustainability assessments, using material flow analysis (MFA) or substance flow analysis (SFA) techniques.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 5% | 4.2 work days6.7 h to 2.5 work weeks | 6%Half by Feb 2028 | |
| Examine local, regional, or global use and flow of materials or energy in industrial production processes.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 5% | 4.2 work days6.7 h to 2.5 work weeks | 6%Half by Feb 2028 | |
| Translate the theories of industrial ecology into eco-industrial practices.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 5% | 4.2 work days6.7 h to 2.5 work weeks | 6%Half by Feb 2028 | |
| Redesign linear, or open-loop, systems into cyclical, or closed-loop, systems so that waste products become inputs for new processes, modeling natural ecosystems.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 5% | 1.3 work weeks1.7 work days to 3.3 work weeks | 3%Half by Feb 2028 | |
| Plan or conduct field research on topics such as industrial production, industrial ecology, population ecology, and environmental production or sustainability.Done more than yearly by most who do it. Robots: no robot shown. Anthropic's rating. | 5% | 1.3 work weeks1.7 work days to 3.3 work weeks | Stays with people | |
| Create complex and dynamic mathematical models of population, community, or ecological systems.Done yearly or less by most who do it. | 5% | 1.7 work weeks1.7 work days to 4.2 work weeks | 1%Half by Jun 2028 | |
| Apply new or existing research about natural ecosystems to understand economic and industrial systems in the context of the environment.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 5% | 2.5 work days6.7 h to 1.3 work weeks | 20%Half by May 2027 |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Environmental Scientists and Specialists, Including Health21% now, 68% by 2028
- Conservation Scientists57% now, 70% by 2028
- Environmental Restoration Planners19% now, 71% by 2028
- Water Resource Specialists24% now, 93% by 2028
- Soil and Plant Scientists6% now, 23% by 2028
- Environmental Engineers31% now, 58% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Industrial Ecologists is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 16% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 88% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (60% to 94% across the three paces the site shows). Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Industrial Ecologists come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Identify environmental impacts caused by products, systems, or projects (55% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Identify sustainable alternatives to industrial or waste-management practices (31% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); and Identify or develop strategies or methods to minimize the environmental impact of industrial production processes (28% of the task's time now, 99% by the end of 2028).
- Which tasks of Industrial Ecologists stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Plan or conduct field research on topics such as industrial production, industrial ecology, population ecology, and environmental production or sustainability; Conduct scientific protection, mitigation, or restoration projects to prevent resource damage, maintain the integrity of critical habitats, and minimize the impact of human activities; and Develop or test protocols to monitor ecosystem components and ecological processes. Together such tasks are about 6% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Industrial Ecologists?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 5%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Industrial Ecologists?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 1% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 0% of the working time. Its index is 0.00 of 3. A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 38 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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