Coming soon
The Green Edge, skilling up for Net Zero.
In October 2021, the UK Government released its much-anticipated ‘Net Zero Strategy: Build Back Greener’. In the section called ‘Green Jobs, Skills and Industries’ we find these key commitments:
Reform the skills system so that training providers, employers and learners are incentivised and equipped to play their part in delivering the transition to net zero – including by legislating for skills required for jobs that support action on climate change and other environmental goals to be considered in the development of new local skills improvement plans.
Deliver a Lifetime Skills Guarantee and grow key post-16 training programmes (such as apprenticeships, Skills Bootcamps and T levels) in line with the needs of employers in the green economy, helping individuals get the training they need for a job in the green economy, either at the start of their careers or when retraining or upskilling once already in the workforce.
Introduce a sustainability and climate change strategy for education and children’s services which will include a focus on equipping children and young people with the knowledge and skills they need to contribute to the green economy.
Inevitably, much is being made in the media and elsewhere about the lack of – and urgent need for – detail on how the UK’s Net Zero strategy will be executed. While the Green Jobs Taskforce, launched by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department of Education in November 2020, describes the need ‘beyond STEM’ for cross-cutting skills in digital and data, project management, communication, change management and leadership1, many of the ‘whiches, wheres, whys, whens, whos and hows’ remain vague. So much so, in fact, that the most recent report from the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee (@CommonsEAC)2 begins with:
‘The Government is aiming for 2 million green jobs by 2030; the level of Government ambition and the work carried out by the Green Jobs Taskforce provides a good foundation for delivering this green workforce. What is needed now is a detailed plan for how these ambitions will be delivered.’
The Green Edge is an artefact-focused newsletter containing postings and discussions about the detailed skills required for net zero. We invite contributions from actors in the field of net zero skills discovery and posts may range from problem statements to descriptions of – or, at least, pointers to – solutions. At all times, The Green Edge focuses on the details of skills required, their application, their development and their relevance.
The Green Edge is aimed at end users who are involved in technical and vocational education development and who need feedback from the leading edges of net zero skills discovery.
To quote again from the aforementioned @CommonsEAC report:
‘The green skills pipeline will determine both the number and types of UK green jobs which can be produced. We need to ensure we are training our current and future workforce now for the careers and demands of the future economy, and make climate and environmental literacy a priority across all education and training. Environmental sustainability should be embedded across all National Curriculum and A Level courses, and a module on sustainability included in every apprenticeship and T Level course.’
We look forward to meeting you on The Green Edge.
Green Jobs Taskforce Report to Government, Industry and the Skills Sector, July 2021.
House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, HC 75, 25 October 2021.