The Green Edge Reports Roundup, Oct-22
Continuing with our selection of reports and other publications from this month’s reading list.
A bumper crop has kept The Green Edge very busy this month. For your convenience, dear reader, we’ve divided our roundup into a few sections.
Skills and Employment
Net Zero Jobs: The Impact of the Transition to Net Zero on the UK Labour Market
The Economy 2030 Inquiry by the Resolution Foundation and the LSE, June 2022
Useful report as a part of a major project. For local authorities and those developing LSIPs, note the data drawn from Data City (see below) and Burning Glass/EMSI (now Lightcast Data) to provide some insight into what is happening in their local areas in the green economy.
Southampton’s Future Skills Framework: Digital, Maritime, and Culture
RSA Cities of Learning Programme, May 2022
With what is now an established method developed by Nesta and EMSI/Burning Glass, the report uses on-line job adverts to devise a local taxonomy and a clear network of links, from core capabilities requirements through to major parts of the Southampton economy. For decarbonisation and green roles, the maritime work is of particular interest linked to existing projects and forthcoming Solent Freeports. It would be good to see this analysis extended to the whole Solent Freeport area, taking in Portsmouth and the northern edge of the Isle of Wight in addition to Southampton. It is worth reading this report alongside the outputs of the Future of Work in Southampton. An additional idea would be for the method used here to be applied to the local green economy as well as the major commercial clusters in the city. In all, seven Cities of Learning are a part of the RAS’s work: Brighton, Plymouth, Southampton, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Bradford, Belfast, and Tees Valley: called. It is interesting to note that three of these will be developing freeports over the coming years. We feel the data presented here might allow the evaluation of skills added by the investment in these freeports.
The Skills Imperative 2035: Occupational Outlook – long run employment prospects in the UK
Working Paper No 2 – Headline Report
NFER, IER Warwick and Cambridge Econometrics funded by the Nuffield Foundation, October 2022
This is a five-year project seeking to identify the essential employment skills that people will need by 2035. In terms of the green skills agenda it is surprisingly light and only mentions ‘green’ twice and ‘net zero’ three times. While climate change is seen as an important megatrend it is not featured elsewhere in this report. The work does acknowledge the growth of SOC levels 1 and 2 occupations where many of the sustainability/green occupations are developing.
Hopefully, later in the project we will see the decarbonisation of the economy picked up more clearly, especially when we see the green employment projects and the significance of environmental/green career pathways in sectors where we are seeing large numbers of green and greening roles (i.e. Agriculture, food and natural resources; architecture and construction; information technology; manufacturing; science, technology, engineering and mathematics; and transportation, distribution and logistics).
Skills for a net zero economy: insights from employers and young people
World Skills UK & Learning and Work Institute, June 2022
Reports on two surveys and comes out with a few simple messages: around 60% of employers recognise the need for green skills both now and into the future; but there is a shortage and this is holding back their progress to net zero; and young people are very interested in green careers and roles but don’t know enough about them. Helpfully, the report presents a series of tables recording the responses from both survey groups which will be useful to many developing green skills plans, career inputs etc. One of its conclusions (and recommendations) is for Government bodies such as the Green Jobs Delivery Group, IfATE’s Green Advisory Panel, the DfE’s Unit for Future Skills is to “undertake data-driven action to ensure approved qualifications and apprenticeships support up to date skills and jobs”. We agree with this and the need for co-ordination and co-operation – both time and funding are not on our side and we need to make best use of resources and capacity.
UK Local Authority Net Zero Scorecards: Eight Net Zero Themed Metrics on 374 UK Local Authorities.
Data City for CBI Economics, July 2022
This is a top-level report that lists the 374 local authorities with a simple colour coded scoring system across eight net zero dimensions. We feel the data behind this chart should be of great interest to all local authorities and would form a great input to any Local Skills Improvement Plans and the work of the Green Jobs Delivery Group.
Sadly, the full report costs £999 (why do people lock important data like this away?) but hopefully an open access version will be made available in time.
Measures, drivers, and effects of green employment: evidence from US local labour markets, 2006-2014
Journal of Economic Geography, Vol 19 (5), September 2019, 1021-1048
An excellent descriptive analysis which we’d love to see updated and repeated in the UK.
Artificial Intelligence in the UK: The relevance of AI in the digital transformation of the UK labour market
Lightcast (formerly Burning Glass/EMSI), October 2022
A typically excellent report from Lightcast. The reason for highlighting it here is the crossover between digital and AI with the transition to net zero. It would be a great step forward if it could be repeated for green and sustainability themes as it becomes the next wave of all pervasive change for the bulk of occupations.
Global Guidance for Education on Green Jobs: Connecting Higher Education and Green Opportunities for Planetary Health
UNEP, 2021
This is a good high-level document, the sort of briefing document for a councillor or MP. Provides good frameworks and a clear direction of the process of change.
Blueprint “New Skills Agenda Steel”: Industry-driven sustainable European Steel Skills Agenda and Strategy (ESSA)
ESTEP under EU Erasmus Programme, August 2021
For those interested in the brown to green skills agenda in the steel and other high-energy-using industries, this is a useful report both in its content and method. The report makes extensive use of ESCO data and describes proficiency levels (novice, basic actor, practitioner, expert, master). It is clear from this analysis that green skills are more likely to be found at expert and master levels.
Proposed Green/Sustainability Knowledge and Skill Statements
CTE Career Technology, 2012
A little dated but still useful. It provides a series of general statements for all occupations and then goes into the six main career clusters: agriculture, food and natural resources; architecture and construction; information technology; manufacturing; STEM; and transportation, distribution, and logistics.
This is a model that can be built upon and would fit well with the IfATE occupational maps.
Local Skills Improvement Plan: Statutory Guidance for the Development of a Local Skills Improvement Plan
Department for Education, October 2022
An updated version of the LSIP statutory guidance document.
World Energy Employment
International Energy Agency, August 2022
A global report, but it does show the rate of growth of employment across all renewables. We found it interesting to note the impact on commercial transport (shipping) with the move to renewables.
Sustainability Framework: A Guide for Trailblazer Groups and Route Panels
Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, April 2020
The updating and renewal of standards and the definition of occupations is critical in making sure emerging and new skills and abilities are captured to modify current ones, or add new ones. We recently looked at the one for construction and the built environment and found IfATE were capturing some of the most significant developments in new roles and occupations.
Infrastructure
Electric Vehicle Changing: Labour Market Intelligence Study
Pye Tait Consulting for The Electrotechnical Skills Partnership (TESP), September 2022
This is a good starting point in trying to establish how many electricians the UK will be needed to install the many EV charging points we require. We do feel the analysis could have included the assumptions being used, though. Plus, it would be good if other data sets, such as the one Ecuity generated for the Local Government Association, are used to challenge the study’s findings. The Ecuity numbers were somewhat higher than the Pye Tait ones: why?
The Transition Towards a Green Economy and its Implications for Quality Infrastructure
German Development Institute, 2020
Looks at the critical role of infrastructure in the diffusion and uptake of green technologies. This is an interesting perspective on the green skills agenda and one which rarely features.
Charging Infrastructure: Unlocking Public and Private Capital to Decarbonise Road Transport
Green Finance Institute and the Coalition for the Decarbonisation of Road Transport, November 2021
Chases down the issue of installing EV charging points from a financial point of view and highlights the huge success in some local authority areas, such as Sussex. It does, however, beg the question: what can we learn from their success?
Construction and Retrofit
Skills for a Sustainable Skyline
Not a report (yet) but a City of London project which is calling for inputs through a Green Skills Pulse Survey and we know would welcome your share and input.
Greener, Better, Faster: Modular’s Role in Solving the Housing Crisis
Make UK Modular in partnership with Kope, October 2022
Modular homes are not new, but under modern methods of construction they offer a means of building around 20,000 new homes a year that meet the highest net zero standards. This report shows the rate of progress and the number of new modular homes already erected and planned. In skill-shift terms, it means net zero is designed and built into the house from the start, and so removes the need for retrofitters.
Addressing overheating risk in existing UK houses
ARUP for the Climate Change Committee, October 2022
Part of the national retrofit strategy but one that is rarely highlighted. The report spells out three role implications and the main mitigation packages for urban planners, building designers and end users/occupants. Costs are also well covered. We feel it would be useful to translate this report into a skills analysis, as has been done in North America for sustainability and solar, and to integrate it into the renewable energy retrofit work.
In our hands: behaviour change for climate and environmental goals
House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee, HL Paper 64, October 2022
One might think it’s a bit of a stretch to include a report on behaviour change under retrofit, but this paper makes a couple of key points. First, the need for widespread carbon/net zero understanding (think: literacy) to the depth which allows judgements to be made as regards both domestic retrofitting and wider personal and societal changes around food, housing, transport, goods, and leisure and services. Second, a message to the wider advisory and guidance world for retrofitting about how they need to engage with householders and landlords alongside installers and equipment manufacturers.
Roadmap to Reaching Zero Embodied Carbon in US Federal Building Projects
Rocky Mountain Institute, October 2022
Charts where embodied carbon arises in the pathway to zero by 2050 and highlights the decisions that need to be built into the design process. We feel it’s a useful input to any foresight work on construction skills looking out over the next 20-30 years.
How to choose, use and better understand climate risk analytics
Urban Land Institute & La Salle, September 2022
While the bulk of attention is on retrofitting buildings to reduce and remove their emissions and to use highly efficient, non-carbon-based energy systems, this does not remove the risk to buildings from other extreme weather and natural events. This practical report is useful in highlighting where other investments might be necessary to ensure continued safety and use of commercial buildings and urban areas.
The Retrofit Toolkit: Helping Local Authorities to Kickstart Deep Retrofit.
The Retrofit Academy, 2021
One of the many toolkits available from the Retrofit Academy, an important standards setter and training organisation serving the growing demand for retrofit skills.
The Retrofit Playbook: Driving Retrofit of Existing Homes – A Resource for Local and Combined Authorities
Climate KIC and UK Green Business Council, February 2021
Excellent for wider awareness programmes, remembering that we need to positively engage with a wide range of stakeholders (homeowners, landlords) who must commit funds to make the transition to net zero.
Advancing Net Zero Status Report
World Green Business Council, 2022
Provides a good overview of the direction of travel and contains a few case studies.
Retrofit Skills Market Analysis
A Report for the West of England Combined Authority by Ecuity, June 2021
A good example of a local retrofit skills analysis, like the one for the North-East described below, providing a local view of this critical skills issue.
What we find a a little surprising is the failure to draw upon material developed in the USA, such as the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) which produce detailed job task analysis profiles for key solar roles, and the Skills Development for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficient Jobs (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2020) that tracks jobs by renewable technology, segment, and the occupational requirements drawn from work by IRENA.
Retrofit for the Future: Reducing Energy Use in Existing Homes: A Guide to Making Retrofit Work
Technology Strategy Board, April 2014
A dated report you might think, but the issues have not changed, nor have most of the solutions. We found it useful in our recent research into retrofit for domestic properties.
The Economics of Electrifying Buildings: Medium-Size Commercial Retrofits
RMI: September 2022
While domestic properties are a major focus of getting to net zero, commercial buildings - largely in major cities - are far more important in having a speedier impact. This report covers several cities in the USA. Tackling retrofit in major commercial buildings requires different skills than for domestic properties, driven from the challenge of combining technologies so much greater emphasis is placed on systems design rather than skills for a particular technology.
Call for Information: Consumer Protection in Green Heating and Insulation.
Competition and Markets Authority, September 2022
Now here’s a message: a concern from the Competition and Markets Authority about the quality of advice and claims being made by retrofit suppliers and installers. This call for information is for greater understanding and skills amongst all citizens as well as across the retrofit sector. Carbon literacy programmes might help here but greater central direction is needed, matched with local support and advice. We note that some of the co-ops have moved into this space and have engaged with their communities as they make progress towards net zero.
The Real Face of Construction in 2020: Socio-Economic Analysis of the True Value of the Built Environment.
The Chartered Institute of Building, 2020
A key value for The Green Edge in our work on skills and employment is the CIOB’s definition of construction, which takes a wide perspective that helps to understand where skills changes are happening in the path to net zero. This also helps in defining the labour market pool of skills upon which to build for the future.
Domestic Energy Skills Assessment: Methodology Report.
Ideas for Change and K Matrix for North-East Energy Catalyst, North-East LEP and the North-East Yorkshire Net Zero Hub, June 2022
This report lays out the approach adopted to derive skills, occupation, and employment insights to drive local education and training supply. We have to say, though, that we think greater use could have been made of publicly available datasets and we find some aspects of the methodology less than robust.
Home is Where the Heat (Pump) Is
The Economy 2030 Inquiry by the Resolution Foundation and the LSE, October 2021
A useful response to the UK Government Heating and Buildings Strategy, highlighting the need to get the funding streams well developed.
Circular City Transformation – 5 pathways and 15 actions towards circular urban environments
Urban Insights by SWECO, October 2022
A few clear messages hit us from reading this report. The importance of systems thinking; the critical nature to engage, inform and help all citizens to understand the world as it is needing to change; and, in an urban setting, that the value of sharing - transport, space etc. - is a powerful one going forward.
Glasgow features strongly in the report and is one of the 100 EU cities working towards net zero by 2040
Net Zero Cities: 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities
EU Missions: Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities, April 2022
While this is a EU project it does feature two UK cities, Bristol and Glasgow. A source to learn from as theincluded cities make progress to net zero.
Green Growth
Making the Future: Initial report of the 2nd Just Transition Commission
Just Transition Commission, Scotland, July 2022
We feel Scotland is doing many of the right things for a greener world. Here we have its Just Transition Commission making a report on developments and progress, making a series of clear recommendations showing how green growth, the transition to net zero, and skills (and good jobs open to all) are closely inter-related.
The Green Line: A Route Out of Crisis and Towards Prosperity: An Aldersgate Group Manifesto
Aldersgate Group, September 2022
Points to the existing employment levels in low carbon and renewable energy sectors and highlights the need to develop a clear strategy for low carbon skills by embedding sustainability at all levels of the educational system and making training and financial support available for workers mid-way through their careers in need of reskilling. This is a clear ask of the Green Jobs Delivery Group to help shape the framework for a low carbon skills strategy.
Growing Clean: Identifying and Investing in Sustainable Growth Opportunities across the UK
The Economy 2030 Inquiry by the Resolution Foundation and the LSE, May 2022
Makes extensive use of information from Data City and provides a useful spatial analysis of what is occurring across the UK’s green economy. Should be of value to local authorities and others involved in developing Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs).
Unlocking Scotland’s Response to the Climate Emergency: 4 Immediate Actions to Fast-track Delivery for the Scottish Government
Climate Emergency Response Group, August 2022
Following a regularr theme calling for strong alignment between local and central government.
Transport
Powering the Drive to Net Zero: Unlocking Public and Private Capital for the UK Battery Sector
Green Finance Institute and the Coalition for the Decarbonisation of Road Transport, May 2022
Skills get a mention here at the very end as one of six policy areas where the report sees the need for Government action.
Navigating an Electric Vehicle Future: Proceedings of a Workshop
National Academies Press, 2022
A typically comprehensive review of EVs, but with no mention of skills as an issue unfortunately. Still useful.
The Two-Wheeled Commute: Micro-mobility and Your Future
McKinsey and Co., September 2022
Provides a useful reminder of the potential and importance of adding micro-mobility to urban transport planning.
Standards
Science-Based Net Zero: Scaling Urgent Corporate Climate Action Worldwide
SBTi Annual Progress Report 2021, June 2022
Brings together progress across 2,100 businesses and offers another indicator of progress towards net zero. Data on each business is open access and we feel it would have been good to combine this with data from the Carbon Disclosure Project, B Corps and PAS 2060 to find the overlaps.
Still Flying Blind: The absence of climate risk in financial reporting
Carbon Tracker, October 2022
A detailed review of 134 corporate annual reports which, we have to say, does not make for great reading. Only a handful of businesses have something positive to say about their progress to net zero. Does this mean that the bulk of the businesses included in this analysis are not greening their workforce? We hope not.
Net Zero and Beyond: A deep dive on climate leaders and what’s driving them
South Pole, October 2022
Covers a detailed survey of 1,220 organisations in 12 countries looking at various issues, one being the drive for net zero. It would be good to have seen these responses correlated with those provided to STBi and the CDP returns, further extended into skills and capabilities to deliver on net zero targets.
Green Energy for the Planet and its People
Orsted Sustainability Report, 2021
We could list every corporate sustainability report but this is one is a little special. Orsted started life as DONG, the Danish Oil and Natural Gas business, and is now a true renewables business after selling its residual oil and gas business to Ineos in 2017. There’s an excellent supply diagram capturing all forms of carbon emissions and illustrating the company’s current focus.
Pot Pourri
Sustainability through digital transformation: a systematic literature review for research guidance
Journal of Business Research, Volume 148 (September 2022) 456-471
The Science Council Climate Conference: The UK Pathway to Net Zero
September 2022
Useful general input to a number of challenges such as decarbonising steel. Instructive when thinking about related skills issues.
McKinsey Technology Trends Outlook 2022
McKinsey and Co, August 2022
A thorough piece of work and a useful source for anyone putting together a technology roadmap and seeking to view the factors shaping skills.
Utility-Scale Solar 2022 Edition: Empirical Trends in Deployment, Technology, Cost, Performance, PPA Pricing and Value in the USA
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories, September 2022
How does home energy score affect house value and mortgage performance
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories, August 2022
Similar to work by the BoE and RICS.
Accelerating the Transition to Net Zero Travel: Strategies for Action
Skift Research and McKinsey and Co, September 2022
Net Zero Spain: Europe’s Decarbonisation Hub
McKinsey and Co, September 2022
White Paper 10 Point Action Plan: Securing Green Hydrogen for Germany and the EU.
Green Hydrogen Task Force, June 2022
Toward Net Zero: Decarbonisation Roadmap for China’s Cement Industry
RMI and China Cement Association, September 2022
As a part of our work on ‘brown to green’ we’ve been looking for route maps for the transition to net zero, in particular in those countries with a large-scale sector presence. China has over 800 cement factories, producing 60% of world output. The likelihood of finding a workable net zero solution to cement production is quite high with that number of sites. The UK has 17 plants, so not likely to happen here, we think.
Requirements of a Low-Carbon World: Energy Supply Investment Ratios
Bloomberg New Energy Finance, October 2022
For those seeking a glimpse into the future, we can see here the transition from carbon-based energy sources to renewables and how the balance is changing. This drives the shifts in jobs and helps inform the production of forecasts.
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