The money in Environment & Sustainability: first pay and growth

Key facts

• Your first pay depends on the role, the employer, the location and your qualification, and the figures here are what other new graduates reported, not a promise. Across all fields in 2025, 36.0% of new degree graduates earned more than RM3,000 a month, against 7.6% of diploma and 7.3% of certificate graduates.^[1]
• New natural sciences degree graduates most often earned RM2,001-RM2,500 a month in 2025 (25.3%), and 26.6% earned more than RM3,000.^[1]
• New agriculture graduates tended to earn less than science graduates: the most common band was RM1,501-RM2,000 for degree (26.7%), diploma (49.5%) and certificate (58.6%) graduates.^[1]
• There is no official pay figure for "green jobs". Across all ages, the 2025 median was RM3,727 in electricity and gas but RM2,466 in water, sewerage and waste.^[2]

Environment & Sustainability covers green jobs in energy, water and waste, agriculture and the built environment. The pay depends a lot on which industry the job sits in.

People in this area often start as a sustainability analyst, an environmental scientist or an agritech specialist. Job titles vary between employers, so read what the job involves, not only its name.

What decides your first pay

A first salary depends on four things: the role, the employer, the location and your qualification. The same job title can pay differently from one company or town to the next, so always read the advert itself.

The figures below come from KPT (Kementerian Pendidikan Tinggi, the Ministry of Higher Education). Its Graduate Tracer Study asks graduates about their work around the time they graduate. The newest report covers graduates who finished in 2025 and was published in October 2026. It includes citizens from local universities, colleges and public skills institutes, from SKM (Sijil Kemahiran Malaysia, the Malaysian Skills Certificate) level 2 up to PhD, and its pay tables leave out people working unpaid for their family.^[1] The numbers describe what other people reported. They are not a promise of what you will earn.

What new graduates in these fields earned

The tracer study groups people by field of study, not by our career areas. For Environment & Sustainability we use two fields: natural sciences, mathematics and statistics (the closest to environmental science), and agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary. The two right-hand columns are our own sums of the published pay bands.^[1]

Natural sciences, mathematics and statistics

Agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary

The natural sciences diploma and agriculture certificate rows come from a few hundred graduates each, so treat them as rougher than the rest. The report's certificate row for natural sciences has only three graduates, so we leave it out.^[1] Your take-home pay will be lower than your salary once EPF (KWSP, your retirement savings) and SOCSO (PERKESO, cover for work injuries) are deducted.

If your green route goes through engineering, for example solar or energy systems, read money-engineering-trades too.

Green jobs and official data

There is no official pay figure for green jobs as a group in Malaysia. They are spread across energy, water and waste, agriculture, construction and consulting. DOSM (the Department of Statistics Malaysia) surveys everyone in work, at every age, so its medians are not first salaries. In 2025 the median was RM2,466 in water supply, sewerage and waste management, RM3,727 in electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, RM1,813 in agriculture and RM3,873 in professional, scientific and technical activities.^[2]

In water, sewerage and waste the median fell between 2024 and 2025, from RM2,490 to RM2,466, while electricity and gas rose from RM3,450 to RM3,727.^[2] So the industry you work in matters as much as the green label.

Pay later on

Across all jobs, the 2025 median was RM1,931 at ages 20-24 and RM2,884 at 30-34.^[2] Those are different people at different ages, so treat this as a general pattern, not a forecast of your pay.

There is no tracer figure for people who start work straight after SPM. Across all ages, employees whose highest qualification was SPM or below had a 2025 median of RM2,203, against RM3,779 for diploma holders and RM5,276 for degree holders.^[2]

How this compares with the minimum wage

The national minimum wage is RM1,700 a month, under the Minimum Wages Order 2024, in force since 1 February 2025.^[3] Budget 2027 announced a rise to RM2,000 from June 2027, with micro, small and medium businesses (MSMEs) with annual sales below RM50 million exempted.^[4] It also announced RM2,500 a month for semi-skilled workers and graduates as a starting point, with no start date.^[4]

Both are announcements. Until a new Minimum Wages Order is gazetted, RM1,700 is the legal floor, so check the date on any article that quotes a higher figure.

Questions to ask about a job

• Which industry is the employer actually in: energy, consulting, agriculture or manufacturing?
• Is the role permanent, or tied to a project or a grant?
• Does the advert say the employer contributes to EPF and SOCSO?

What this means for you

• A science degree gave a better chance of earning more than RM3,000 than a science diploma (26.6% against 3.9%), but it takes longer and costs more before you earn.
• In agriculture, most new diploma and certificate graduates earned RM2,000 or less, and so did 44.2% of degree graduates. If you love the land, go in knowing that, and look at which part of the industry pays more.
• The same green skills pay differently in energy, water, farming or consulting. When you read an advert, check the employer's industry first.
• These figures are what other graduates reported in 2025. Your own first offer could be higher or lower.

Your next step

1. Find two real entry-level job adverts for one role in this area, such as environmental officer or agritech assistant, from employers in two different industries. Write down the pay, the location, and whether EPF and SOCSO are mentioned.
2. Take that figure to the Day 3 first-salary simulation, where you live a practice month on a starting salary. first-salary-simulation-explained shows how gross pay becomes take-home pay and a first-month budget.

For each deduction on a payslip, see payslip-basics-epf-socso-eis-minimum-wage. For every career area side by side, see first-salaries-by-career-area.

Scope and current-policy check (24 October 2026)

All graduate bands refer to citizens graduating from the institutions covered by KPT in 2025, grouped by field of study. They are not salaries for all SPM leavers or for a particular job title. DOSM medians cover different people across ages and roles; they do not establish a pay trajectory, causal qualification premium, job security or Malaysian vacancy growth. A tech startup is an employer type, not a separately measured salary population in these sources. Do not invent a startup premium.

RM1,700 is the reference in the published Minimum Wages Order 2024.^[3] Budget 2027 announced RM2,000 from June 2027 with an MSME sales exemption; treat that as an announcement until a new instrument and implementing guidance establish the applicable scope and effective date.^[4] Check the official 2027 updates guide before accepting an offer.

Ask whether pay is basic or includes overtime, whether shifts and probation apply, who pays licence and safety costs, and when progression is reviewed.