The Green Edge Reports Roundup, Nov-23: Part One - General
Continuing with our selection of reports and other publications from this month’s reading list.
Again this month, we’re splitting our reading list into two posts. This one covers general categories. For Sectors, see Part Two.
As usual, you can find all these reports and more in our searchable reports list on The Green Edge Data Portal.
Skills
Responding to the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) 2023 Annual Progress Report to Parliament
HC 1919, October 2023
Skills are well covered across this response to the CCC e.g. for aviation, for forestry, for maritime. Two things stand out: the publication date for the Net Zero and Nature Workforce Action Plan which is now Summer 2024 (it was due in the first quarter of 2024, but at one stage we’d been told informally possibly even January 2024). Let’s hope this publication date is brought forward to allow all providers, qualification, and standards body to have programmes up and running as soon as possible. And second, the UK Government response claims that the DfE has allocated £3.8bn for green skills which we find hard to believe unless the definition of green is very, very broad. For example, it includes apprenticeships and T Levels, and we have to assume that all 444 IfATE standards and their associated funding are included here.
The Productivity Institute Regional Productivity Scorecard: ITL1 Overview
The Productivity Institute, 2023.
Provides a structured view of capability across all regions and nations, and has four measures on skills and training which show a very patchy picture of health and status. It would be good to build on this assessment for the transition to net zero, and what the capability is at local level to deliver the next phase of green investment. We should be able to see from the Local Skills Improvement Plans in England a series of plans seeking to address the issues identified by the TPI data assessment.
Transforming Skills: A call to action
Corndel, Edge Foundation, and NCFE, September 2023.
Calls for a major shift in the skills system around embedding core ‘human’ skills in all programmes, modernise assessment, boost support for choice (careers guidance), construct courses and qualifications to maximise agility and flexibility, and use technology where possible. It would make great sense to have all of the new and developing green courses designed on the basis of future viewing principles rather than just the ones of the past.
Skills required to deliver energy efficient school retrofit buildings
Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 2020.
Quite an unusual study which deploys Socio-Technical Systems analysis (see page 15) to examine a school retrofit project and the skills involved. It then breaks down the key interest and required skills within each group. Would be good to see this study extended and developed to align with functional and hierarchical task analysis to allow the development of curricula to develop the necessary skills.
Labour Market
How can we measure the number of green jobs? ONS experimental estimates provide some insights.
GLA Economics, Current Issues Note 62, October 2023.
While we listed the ONS document last month, this version is a clearer capture of the analysis and findings with a London focus. Three approaches, three different levels of jobs: industry-based approach runs at 4% of jobs being green, an occupational approach goes to 26%, and a firms-based approach is around 15%. It would be good to see these three approaches at a local level across the UK.
How to find a job that’s good for you and the planet: A Green Careers Guide
EAUC Scotland, November 2023.
A really useful and practical careers guide aimed at the university graduate market but could equally be used in colleges and schools. Helpfully busts a few myths, and encourages a few more people to pursue a career in sustainability and the circular economy.
Learning for a greener and more sustainable future
European Parliament, September 2023.
A useful review of practice and progress across Europe with the key messages around integrating sustainability across the whole curriculum, embedding it in educational practice, and ensure all professional development of educators includes sustainability. Also worth reading alongside this briefing is one from UNESCO and the one from UCL's Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability Education
Inclusion in Green Jobs
Nesta, November 2023.
A really informative and important report tackling inclusion (or lack of it) in green jobs. Finds three primary issues: lack of awareness, perceptions of green jobs (what they are, what they undertake, rates of pay etc.), and mismatch between potential applicant and the reality of green jobs. Key now is to act on removing each of these barriers.
The Productivity Agenda: A blueprint for how the public and private sector can be better equipped to translate productivity gains into improved living standards
The Productivity Institute, November 2023.
A powerful and important document with two chapter at the core of our interests: Chapter 6 (pp 64-75), Skills for Productivity Growth; and Chapter 7 (pp76-85), The Green Transition: net zero as an opportunity to improve productivity. Highlights the need to reform the skills system, its funding, the call for continuity of policy, and key role of devolving powers (and funding) to local level (in particular city regions and their mayors). It concludes the proposal for a Productivity Commission (as they exist in 11 other countries) and to operate on the basis at the Climate Change Committee, the National Infrastructure Commission, Office for Budget Responsibility etc. We’d agree with this end view (and we still have fond memories of the old NEDO setup (operated from 1962 to 1992) and the potential it had in its early days.
The changing geography of jobs
IFS Report R286, November 2023.
Covers the period 1993-2022 and shows graphically the ‘hollowing out’ of the labour market with a major decline in middle income jobs, and growth of low (14%) and high (95%) income roles. Thinking from a net zero transition point of view many of the middle-income roles (see Table 1, page 8) would have historically been feeders into green and greening roles (e.g. metal machining, fitting and instrument making trades – down by 250,000; metal forming, welding and related trades – down by 100,000+). On the counter side, of those occupational groups showing the greatest growth only one - IT and telecomms professionals (growing by nearly 1.2mn over the period) - is largely technical. It is into these huge occupational shifts that net zero has to fit and compete for skills.
The Impact of AI on UK jobs and training
Unit for Future Skills, Department for Education, November 2023.
Some useful indicative listings of occupations here with tables showing the most and least impacted, and figures identifying the impacted sectors and geography of impact. Put simply, AI impacts clerical work across finance, law and business management, and finance and insurance in London and the South-East. We have seen similar analyses over the last 10-15 years, and this is an area that needs to be monitored to see the degree of impact and if it tallies with what is projected. Likewise, we need to see where augmentation and real benefits from AI use will accrue too (e.g. education, labour market matching).
Physics Powering the Green Economy and Physics and the making of the green economy
Institute of Physics, November 2023.
A powerful case for physics and the role it plays across the whole green economy both in creating technologies and in unlocking the potential from technologies. One key diagram, ‘Physics powering the green economy diagram’ captures the spread and impact of physics across key areas, and then into the key technologies of geothermal, bioenergy, CCUS, energy storage, hydrogen, hydropower, nuclear, solar and wind,. Each of these technologies is accompanied with details of the number of companies, their employment, sales and funding, and a series of case studies. We can see this document feeding into careers advice and guidance at schools and university levels. It would be good to see the same approach adopted for chemistry, biology and mathematics.
Local Digital Index 2023
Tech UK, 2023.
Covers the pillars of the tech-enabled ecosystem across the regions and nations of the UK. We list it here because of the interdependency with the growth of the green economy which requires the successful application of digital technologies, connection to the Internet of Things, software for managing energy and its distribution, etc. We were left with the thought of whether would be helpful to derive a series of green indices to assess the robustness of a local economy to support the transition to net zero. We would also suggest The UK Workforce Digital Skills Gap (July 2023) which complements Tech UK’s report and analysis.
Greater London. City Region Employment Profile
Work Foundation, November 2023.
The Work Foundation has produced a series of employment profiles for several of the city regions, and we pick out just one here for Greater London. The profiles have one main focus: security of employment. We find this interesting in contrast to the narrative around green jobs which are often described as being both secure and good. How the development of the green economy will impact and reshape the security of employment is not clear but is certainly an area which requires monitoring.
How Migration Really Works: A Factful Guide to the Most Divisive Issue in Politics
Hein de Hass, Penguin, November 2023.
A helpful and informative book in that it highlights the three competing demands the UK Government faces (as do many others): the wish to operate and support free markets which requires migration to alleviate local skills shortages; the need to protect the rights of all migrants; and, most challenging of all, seeking to meet the wishes (based on false assumptions in virtually all cases) of citizens and voters to reduce immigration (page 360). With the bulge in work, we can see as the infrastructure development and replacement phase of the net zero transition progresses, the role of migration is being raised and will need to be addressed to meet the net zero goals by 2050.
New Higher Education Institutions in England: a real chance to innovate?
Edge Foundation, July 2023.
We have met and spoken with a few new HEIs and they operate on the same set of principles: inter-disciplinary, holistic, systems, and problem based approaches. these are HEIs designed to tackle educational needs of today and the future, and to equip students with competences with academic thinking capabilities and practical experiences of solving problems (often climate emergency ones).
The Rebooting Education Report. A transformative vision of the future from teachers
Reboot the Future, CUP and OCR, November 2023.
Gives a snapshot of teachers views and then delves into sustainability (Chapter 2) where it is covered in geography and science. But there is a long way to go to meet the aspirations of the Department for Education, which most teachers do not see as realistic given the multiple constraints faced by all schools.
Is your university’s transformation centred on tech or people?
EY, November 2023.
A fascinating report based on multiple surveys and discussions with 3000+ students, 116 teaching faculty, 147 professional staff across 28 universities in 8 geographies. When reading it and the “needs” of each group we could have been describing one of new multi-disciplinary universities like LIS, or the BASc programme at UCL which is aimed at equipping students for a future in resolving complex world problems.
How higher education can boost people-powered growth
The Economy 2030 Inquiry, Resolution Foundation, October 2023.
Makes the case for a collaboration between FE and HE to boost L4 and L5 courses and qualifications (probably developed at standards level by IfATE), and walks well-trodden ground as regards the wider benefits to society and the economy for greater participation in FE and HE. These intermediary technical skills are the ones needed for implementing solutions (net zero and otherwise) and finding ways to make technologies work together and work well in different situations. We would suggest this report alongside a related title: Applying the Robbins Principles to Further Education and Apprenticeships.
Learning to grow. How to situate a skills strategy in an economic strategy
The Economy 2030 Inquiry, Resolution Foundation, October 2023.
Identifies four core pillars that need a change: more people entering HE, more sub-degree qualifications (Levels 4 and 5), greater employer investment in education and training, and wider support for lifelong learning. Net result? Reduce inequality and raise productivity. These principles are needed to underpin the transition to net zero and the skills required.
Connecting the Dots: The need for an Effective Skills System in England
Higher Education Policy Institute, HEPI Report 167, November 2023.
A few simple and strong messages here: we need a strategic framework, high levels of collaboration and cooperation across the key actors, role clarity of the education providers (and the regulators and the awarding bodies) which includes full recognition of the role of specialist providers. There is a weight of evidence now which suggests the current skills system can be modified to become much more effective across its supply chain, and which links aspirant skilled worker through to a successful career.
Join the Dots. The role of apprenticeship intermediaries in England
IPPR, May 2023.
This report claims apprenticeship happen through an ‘organic network’ of intermediaries. We found the report to be a great update on the status of the apprenticeship system and the issues it faces (see Figure 5 which maps the current and potential future national intermediary system). Apprenticeships are a critical set of skills for the green economy and the raising of productivity (those skills that can improve and adapt a technology for specific applications).
Fit for the Future: A 5-point plan to grow and sustain engineering and technology apprenticeships for young people
Engineering UK, October 2023.
It is widely agreed that we need to reform some aspects of the current apprenticeship system, and so this report is another useful contribution by Lords Knight and Willets. They group together their 17 recommendations under the general headings of rebalancing education, supporting young people, refocusing funding, and enabling businesses (especially SMEs) and employers to act. Our interest here is very simple: without a strong and growing pipeline of talented, technically qualified apprentices and technicians, the transition to net zero will not happen.
The Future of Work: Protected Characteristics in a Changing Workplace
Learning and Work Institute, August 2023.
As the green economy develops, it is important that full recognition is given to those people who might be most impacted (negatively) and possibly excluded, and this is an area that needs to be closely monitored and acted on. This report looks at three areas: the gig economy, self-employment, and the impact of AI and automation.
CIMSPA 2023 Workforce Insights Reports: Understanding the shape of the UK sport and physical activity workforce post-COVID-19, and its skills needs for the future
Lightcast for CIMPSA, October 2023.
We include this report for three reasons. First, sport and physical activity is a large sector employing 586,000 people, engaging with 3 million coaches and volunteers, attracting new entrants all the time, and so competing with many green sectors. Second, the messages the sector carries for health, wellbeing and changing lifestyles support the move towards net zero. Third, sport and physical activity is also linked very strongly with travel (active transport) and also as sports spectators and fans with the move to net zero events and matches is also a key message going forward to reshape people’s behaviour.
Setting Europe on course for a human digital transition: new evidence from CEDEFOP’s Second European Skills and Jobs Survey
CEDEFOP Reference Series No. 123, December 2022.
A fascinating and sobering analysis looking at the skills across the whole of the EU. Finds that 52% of all EU jobs have low skill demands, 31% moderate, and 17% high; and over half of all jobs are relatively repetitive and standardised. It notes that routine work and task discretion co-exist in many jobs. We also find that most jobs require basic digital skills (at least 6 in 10) but only 8-9% of jobs are dealing with complex digital technologies like robotics and 3D printers. We were left with the impression that there is significant productivity improvement to be gained if further digital skills are gained and developed. It would also really helpful if the survey also picked out green and other skills required for the net zero transition.
Technical Education Learner Survey 2022. Research Report
Government Social Research, June 2023.
A potentially important source of new recruits into green jobs and careers is from entry technical education and training programmes (like T Levels). This report draws on the direct experience of cohorts going through the initial and additional T Level programmes. Overall, the views are positive. We know there are moves to add to the T Level offer around areas like circular economy and sustainability, and even merge them with A Levels. This causes ripples of concern to an emerging programme that will take multiple cohorts to bed in and become fully accepted as a worthwhile route to pursue.
Youth Voice Census 2023 Report
Youth Employment UK, November 2023.
This census covers 4,000 young people aged 11-30 and is now into its 6th year, and provides insights into the transition into work. One of the images we were left with was the degree of young people who feel disconnected from their peers and worry about their futures.
Generative AI and Jobs: A global analysis of potential effects on job quantity and quality
ILO Working Paper No 96, ILO, August 2023.
An interesting study using ISCO data. We found two key figures (Figures 5 and 6) that cover those occupations likely to be automated and those that will be augmented by the further advance of generative AI. The list of jobs being augmented is far larger than those being automated. It would be useful to apply a green filter to this list to see the cross-over between AI and the transition to net zero.
The short-term effects of generative AI on employment: evidence from an online labour market
CESifo Working Paper No 10601, August 2023.
A fascinating and innovative study of the impacts of AI on a series of skills/occupations offered online (15 in all). Finds that copywriters and graphic designers are hit with a reduction in the number of jobs offered and an even steeper decline in their earnings. There must be a cross-over with some services offered across net zero and sustainability services.
Career Development in 2040: 10 major changes impacting the futures of work and workers in Canada
CERIC and Creative Futures, October 2023.
This report is drawn from a wider project on careers advice requirements of workers and the role of career advice providers. The trends identified are: work anywhere; AI and automation; living with climate change; geopolitical conflicts; reconciling the impacts of colonialism; economic precarity; globalisation under pressure; education, disrupted; declining mental health and well-being; and generational shifts. It is how these trends interplay with each other which we feel it is important - we hope the Net Zero Workforce Plan for the UK will recognise this.
Game-Based Learning and Digital Skills
European Training Foundation, November 2023.
There is a role for technology in boosting the effectiveness of skills development (we see AI and VR already making inroads) and his is the case with game-based learning. We think there is a major opportunity for technical programmes to speed up the rate of competence development.
Levelling-up/Regional development
Green Jobs and Skills Plan
Liverpool City Region Combined Authorities, 2022.
Another example of a regional green skills plan that really helps to inform and drive actions and delivery. Makes good use of the data available and makes some pragmatic classification of green skills into behaviour change, adapted skills and specialist skills, with about 20% of roles being impacted locally. There is a clear focus on maximising local opportunities for local people and providing suitable pathways for entry and progression. It would be useful to have all similar documents pulled together into a single place to allow sharing and collating up to national level.
Industry Labour Market and Skills Intelligence Report: Green Economy
Greater Manchester Combined Authority, February 2022.
A good solid report on green skills and the developing green economy across buildings, transport, energy, waste and nature. Captures the demand for specific green occupations (see Figures 5 and 6). As with the green skills plan for Liverpool, it would be great to see these reports and the other LSIPs to be brought together and published to inform national decision making, and to feed into the Green Jobs Delivery Group’s Net Zero Workforce plan.
Why hasn’t UK regional policy worked? The views of leading practitioners.
Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University, October 2023.
One conclusion this report comes to is the Mayoral Combined Authority model is potentially a key model to develop further if funding follows need and meets ambition. Skills feature strongly and we wonder if this will go further in the devolution of powers to also include education. We have seen repeatedly that real progress in the transition to net zero means we need to have engagement at local level to fashion local solutions and build the best ways to include local people. Martin Woolf in his FT article (“Regional policy must be at the heart of any growth strategy” Oct 30th, 2023) concludes: “Regional policy should … be seen not as something apart, but as the heart of any sensible growth strategy, which must be simultaneously national and regional. This then has become a core – arguable the core – political, institutional an economic challenge.” We can only agree.
Levelling-up Funding to Local Government
National Audit Office, November 2023.
Covers the four main funds covering the period from 2020-21 to 2025-26: towns fund / future high streets (£1bn), towns fund / town deals (£2.2bn), levelling-up fund (£4.8bn), and the UK shared prosperity fund (£2.6bn). The four funds have 12 missions, one of which is skills. Progress has been held up due to skills shortages, largely in the construction industry. Strangely, green and net zero aren’t mentioned anywhere in the document - as we talk to local authorities around England, we see them weaving their use of the funds into their “green growth” plans.
Power in Place: Nature
UK100, September 2023.
A good - brief - statement of the issues and how we can successfully tackle them. Dig further here and we find the Power in Place: The Handbook of Local Authority Net Zero Power (April 2023) which underpins the statement on nature. We are repeatedly finding ambitious local and combined authorities pushing the boundaries in multiple areas, like funding for net zero, with creative approaches as central government is not responding quickly enough to the net zero imperative.
DDI Economic Development Opportunities: The Lothians
University of Edinburgh DDI and City Region Deal Edinburgh and South-East Scotland, November 2023.
An interesting and thought provoking document which aims to identify key area where Data-Driven Innovation (DDI) could drive socio-economic growth in the Lothians, against the backdrop of the Regional Prosperity Framework and the National Strategy for Economic Development. Our interest here is articular around green and here we see DDI and its role in sustainable housing and infrastructure, and the circular economy. But we also see the ability of DDI to support a connected transport system to improve mobility and reduce isolation and emissions.
AI Analysis of Local Skills Improvement Plans
Department for Education, November 2023.
A fascinating application of AI to the LSIPs (4,000 pages of text information from the 38 LSIPs) and while this is a trial approach it does produce some credible results. We were a little surprised that when it picked out LSIPs with high green skills content it did not identify Surrey, Liverpool and Manchester but then this is a just a trial. Our verdict: certainly the use of AI will greatly help improve the analysis of multiple documents and summarise their contents, and we can see it being used for consultation and engagement exercises.
Local Skills Improvement Plans Stage 2 Guidance: Objectives
Department for Education, November 2023.
A key part of the current plans for skills in England are shaped by the LSIP process, which have in some cases undertaken deep dives into green skills and net zero. Virtually all of the LSIPs submitted in May 2023 to the DfE indicated the priorities around specific clusters of green skills. The consortia of training providers engaged with the process should be well placed to draw on the LSIP data and intelligence to make bid for Skills Bootcamp into the next wave of funding.
Massachusetts Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2025 and 2030
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 2023.
Looking for alternative routes to net zero are always instructive and this report for Massachusetts provides a root map focusing on four pillars: end use energy, energy efficiency and flexibility, decarbonising energy supply, and carbon sequestration. Interesting and informative, but we were struck that employment is only mentioned at the very end in a short section. We know from our work on offshore wind that the State is a major area of development of international significance and this doesn’t feature as we would have expected.
The Liberated Method. Rethinking Public Service
Changing Futures Northumbria, August 2023.
Some useful messages here that could be used when designing ways of handling the huge shift to net zero as other local public services are being rethought and redesigned.
(RE)Play. The UK gaming sector, its extraordinary growth trajectory and future real estate requirements
Knight Frank with UKIE, October 2023.
Perhaps not an obvious report for us to list, but the gaming industry is growing fast (now employs nearly 50,000 people) across the UK and we include it because of the overlap between education and entertainment (see the programme at Carnegie Mellon University). We think the quality and sophistication of gaming has the ability to engage and inform large numbers of people around the path to net zero, and how to equip citizen and workers alike with the knowledge to fully participate and to take key decisions about mobility, domestic heating, nutrition, etc.