The Green Edge Reports Roundup, March-23
Continuing with our selection of reports and other publications from this month’s reading list
It’s a huge crop again this month. So much so, that we’ve made an auxiliary reading list in a separate Green Edge post. We haven’t emailed the auxiliary post to you as we don’t like to clog up your inboxes (we hate getting too many emails ourselves), but we do recommend you take a look if you have time, because we’ve included a rather useful section on Green Sectors.
Read on for our regular Reports Roundup or click here for our auxiliary list.
Skills
Heritage and Carbon: Addressing the skills gap
Grosvenor, Peabody, The Crown Estate, Historic England and the National Trust, March 2023
Many properties don’t easily fit with the standard view of retrofit. This report is really helpful in making it very clear there is a significant difference. Two of the recommendations would help all involved in net zero skills: first, a call for a national retrofit strategy; and second, the industry standards requirements. We support the call for all of the apprenticeship funds not spent to be clearly allocated to additional skills programmes. £3.3bn of levy funds being returned to the HM Treasury during the 2019-2022 period suggests something is not working well here.
Green Collar Jobs: The skills revolution Canada needs to reach net zero
Royal Bank of Canada, February 2022
Provides a quick and informative overview of where Canada is heading at sector and occupational levels, and the degree of challenge the labour market is facing over the next 10 years in particular.
Investment Report 2022/2023. Resilience and Renewal in Europe
European Investment Bank, March 2023
We normally wouldn’t add an annual review from a bank but this one highlights the Net Zero green skills constraints quite a few times, suggesting it’s not a passing reference but a major issue. This would tie in well with the recent EU Net Zero Industry Act and the flurry of activity in Europe around migration in support of satisfying green skills shortages.
Going Green Post COVID-19: Employer perspectives on skills needs
Global Sustainability Institute, Anglian Ruskin University, Local Economy, 2023
A useful case study on the Cambridge-Peterborough area, driven in part by the establishment of a new campus in Peterborough by Anglia Ruskin University. Shows also the value of a university helping to shape skills and education thinking locally.
Skills for a New Economy: Investing in Workers and Closing the Green Skills Gap
New Economics Foundation, Feb 2023
Adds some real insight into the green skills required for net zero, and raises the point that for many people across the UK a significant green jobs training gap exists. The gap is equated in terms of training time (6-18 months) and says that this should feature in all Local Skills Improvement Plans. Makes calls for a national Net Zero skills strategy (we hear this a lot).
Levying Up: Delivering Sustainable Skills
City and Guilds, Jan 2023
Using data from a large survey of HR leaders, this report says there must be a better way to use the apprenticeship levy: £3.5bn of the levy is left unspent (just returned to the HM Treasury) and there is widespread agreement (96% of the 1000 HR leaders polled) that the levy needs to be much more flexible in its application.
Making the Switch. New Energy, New Jobs, New Era: The Future Shape of the Offshore Energy Workforce in the North East of Scotland
Robert Gordon University, May 2022
A great case study of North-East Scotland and its growing energy ecosystem (wind, hydrogen and CCUS), showing the potential for job creation. For us, the whole notion of an energy ecosystem is very important as most major green energy sectors are interdependent and require complex labour market solutions.
Training and Mobility Needs for the Green Transition
Centre for Global Development, ODI and UN IOM UK, 2022
With a cry of skill shortages being heard across the whole economy - and in particular across many green occupations - this report proposes the need for migration to play an important role. We’re not hearing too much about this right now but it is an issue that needs addressing very soon as UK demographics create an ever-increasing replacement demand for skilled people.
Green Jobs update, current and upcoming work
Office for National Statistics, March 2023
A general update on ONS’s work and one worth tracking as ONS is due to release its first experimental data on green jobs. It will be particularly interesting to see how it locates the green jobs identified by sector and by geography.
Job Creation and Local Economic Development: Bridging the Great Green Divide
OECD, 2023
A major message coming from this 30-country study is the need to closely monitor and intervene to ensure equity and equality in the labour market for Net Zero transition employment opportunities. If not, past inequalities will be repeated. This work should feed into national policy thinking and where there are active sector or industry deals in place, like renewables (wind).
Innovation
Independent Review of the UK’s Research, Development and Innovation Organisational Landscape. (The Nurse Review)
Sir Paul Nurse for Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy/Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, March 2023
The transition to Net Zero requires a healthy and active R&D community across the UK. This report describes the current status and how it can be improved. For us, this is an area to watch as it is bound up not only with the Net Zero transition, but also with the whole levelling-up agenda and UK productivity.
Science and Technology Framework – taking a systems approach to UK Science and Technology
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, March 2023
Here, we looked particularly at Section 4 on Talent and Skills, which stresses the need to manage the whole STEM skills supply system in a cross-departmental way to fuel the growth of the five priority sectors. Underpins the whole push to develop green skills, many of which are STEM-based.
A New National Purpose: Innovation Can Power the Future of Britain
Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, Feb 2023
Makes the case for greater focus on science and technology (STEM) and how this will underpin our future economy and society. Suggests future technologies should be mainstreamed within education. Further, points to ways of pooling pension funds to release additional investment in the UK. The future will only be one of opportunity and growth if we invest in it today.
UK Semiconductor Challenges and Solutions: Access to design tools and licensing, and access to skills
Institute of Physics and Royal Academy of Engineering Roundtable Report, March 2023
While not a specific green technology, the discussion caught in this report could have been about one. It highlights the shortages and offers practical ways to meet them, again raising the need for a more open approach to visas (which is very evident).
Levelling-up and Regional Development
Regular Green Edge readers will know this is something we’ve been looking at for some time, as we see the whole green agenda being an integral part of levelling-up and broader regional development. The various policies - Investment Zones, Freeports and so on - are critical to progressing the development of energy ecosystems in regions like North East Scotland and elsewhere.
The Economic Impact of the University of Cambridge
London Economics, March 2023
In particular, take a look at the regional and sector breakdowns around p82. It begs the question of how to link this type of analysis to the emerging new economy and in particular the green economy. We understand this work is in hand and being driven by another university.
ScotLIS3 – a critical tool for Scotland.
Built Environment Forum Scotland and The David Hume Institute, February 2023
All about Scotland’s land information service, what it is and why it matters.
Retrofit
Heat pumps of various types (air, ground, network etc.) are a critical net zero technology and keeping track on their development is critical. We look for new developments as regards cost and size, making them more accessible to an increasing number of properties across the UK. We would add that progress is still much too slow and needs a major boost to hit the targets contained in the current commitment to achieving Net Zero by 2050. This month, we found the following reports interesting:
Energising the heat pump market
Energy UK, March 2023
Clean heat standards: new tools for the fossil heat phaseout in Europe
Regularity Assistance Project, March 2023
LETI Unpicker. Retrofit vs rebuild: unpicking the carbon argument
London Energy Transformation Initiative, March 2023
Interim Heat Pump Performance Data Analysis Report: Electrification of Heat Demonstration Project
Energy Systems Catapult for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, 2023
Labour Market
For skills planning, it’s important to have a supply of useful data and information. Here we list a few of the recent reports covering wider developments in the labour market, regarding significant trends and changes together with new and additional sources of information.
Labour Market Information and an Assessment of its Applications: A Series of International Case Studies
Department for Education, February 2023
We note that this covers Australia, Canada, France, Finland, Germany, Scotland and Sweden
The Skills Imperative 2035: Essential skills for tomorrow’s workforce: long-run labour market and skills projections for the UK.
General Guidelines for Using the Workbooks
Institute for Employment Research, Warwick University and Cambridge Econometrics for the Department for Education, March 2023
This is a really useful development by the Unit for Future Skills at the Department for Education but it would be really helpful if at least a few aspects could be taken further: [1] the industrial classification could be split between the new economy and others showing where the changes in employment are occurring beyond general growth and replacement; [2] if capital investment could be factored in to the calculations - for example, we know some of the investment rate and level for offshore wind, and for every £1mn invested requires 12-14 jobs (split across the various stages of an offshore wind project); [3] while we run to 75 occupations in the datasets provided at multiple levels of spatial scale, it would be good to have a greater level of detail like we see in other countries. We are sure all LSIP plans will be greatly helped by these data when combined with other near-real time data.
Migration Statistics
House of Commons Library, Research Briefing, November 2022
MAC Annual Report
Migration Advisory Committee, December 2022
With the recent interest in the potential of migration to support the delivery of Net Zero, the Migration Statistics briefing together with the MAC Annual Report make for useful reading.
Education Policy
Article 12 of the Paris Climate Agreement legally bound its signatories to develop and provide climate education for all its citizens and to build it into their education and training systems. The following Parliament Bills are important in the context of Article 12.
Education (Environment and Sustainable Citizenship) Bill (HL)
House of Lords Private Members Bill, 2021-22
Climate Education Bill
House of Commons Private Members Bill, 2021-22
Net Zero Policy
Major acts have been developed for both the USA and the EU to drive growth and provide significant incentives for green investment. The UK is caught between the two great trading blocks and we should be more clear as to the UK’s position after the publication of the UK Government's response to the Skidmore Review (Mission Zero) and the updating of the Net Zero Strategy after its legal challenge six months ago which the FT taking the view: “Britain is falling short on its ambition.”
Net Zero Industry Act
European Commission, COM (2023) 161 final, March 2023
The European response to the US Inflation Reduction Act, this makes a major statement around skills: setting up of Net Zero Industry Academies for each of the strategic Net Zero industries, all to be modelled on the academy currently working well for the European battery industry. The figure of 100,000 trainees per industry over a 3-year period appears large, but we have to recognise that the battery industry requires 800,000 people to be trained, upskilled and reskilled by 2025. Furthermore, the solar industry in Europe will hit 1 million employees by 2030 (double since 2023). We also note that the European battery industry work has produced a series of usable and detailed ‘skills cards’ (aka occupational profiles) for the 26 core roles.
Winning the global green race: Lessons for the UK from the US’ Inflation Reduction Act
Institute of Public Policy Research, March 2023
We found it worthwhile reading the whole document, but in particular Section 6 which recommends that while climate action can be a jobs engine, the UK must focus on quality not just quantity. Research for the US Inflation Reduction Act finds that it will enable 1 million jobs to be added per year for the next 9 years - this is 5% of the total US workforce. Meanwhile, the IPPR’s own work found that the UK will have 1.68 million green jobs by 2035 (780,000 direct; 905,000 indirect)
The Breakthrough Effect: How to trigger a cascade of tipping points to accelerate the net zero transition
System IQ, University of Exeter, and Bezos Earth Fund, January 2023
A systematic and knowledge-driven review of the various interventions and their associated technologies for Net Zero, reduced to a short list of three. This focusing process raises important policy questions for skills and priority setting, and shows how one intervention is linked to and drives another. It would be great to see this work built on, perhaps with skills implications and a flow analysis to highlight what this means for recruitment, standards and qualifications.