The Green Edge Take – January 2025
Our take on the crop of green reports from this months reading list.
The Green Edge Take, reflecting our views on the crop of sustainability-related publications that crossed our desk last month.
֎ Reports we feel are particularly worth a look.
Skills and Workforce Development
֎ Green Jobs Skills and Enterprises
Author/Publisher: Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO)
Date: December 2023
This is a gem, written for the VSO by a consultant to advise it on further development. For us there are three reports in here: one for the VSO to aid its decision making; one about international development and green skills and jobs; and finally, a review of key materials on green jobs and skills. For an introduction to the topic, this report is well worth delving into and is well illustrated.
֎ Net Zero Careers Accelerator White Paper
Author/Publisher: GoodPeople
Date: 2024
An emerging and growing scheme in London to work along the whole supply chain to provide skills for retrofitting (initially), which means getting housing operators (e.g. housing associations), repair and maintenance construction companies, education and training providers, property developers, local authorities etc. together. One theme we see here is a form of collaboration and co-operation which says the skills challenges have multiple owners, and there is a need to work together to solve them. We can see this approach being relevant to other emerging green sectors (nature / forestry / ecosystems management, waste management, repair and recycling, etc.) and applicable across the UK.
Net Zero Sector Skills – Wales: Summary of Response
Author/Publisher: Welsh Government
Date: April 2024
A timely and informative collection of views on net zero occupations and skills across multiple key sectors in Wales. A resource and analysis the Office for Clean Energy Jobs can draw upon, perhaps, to include in the next iteration of the work of the Green Jobs Delivery Group.
Planning for Net Zero
Author/Publisher: POST (Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology)
Date: January 2025
Planning and net zero, planning and growth—planning is in the news, and is seen as a critical part of tackling two issues for the current UK Government. Accelerating plans and planning requires additional capacity and skills which is picked up under “Resourcing and skills” (page 16). If this is of interest, it is worth digging into the RTPI website.
Clean Industrial Deal Paper
Author/Publisher: Electrification Alliance
Date: 2024
There’s a constant stream of policy papers, white papers, and position papers making very similar points, and all raise the criticality of skills: this one does as its sixth measure. While this paper is aimed at the EU and the European Parliament, it could have well been written for the UK Parliament.
EIC Tech Report 2024
Author/Publisher: European Innovation Council
Date: November 2024
Doesn’t mention skills but our interest is in looking for emerging and developing technologies that will impact the net zero transition. Here we have a section covering green technologies (pages 10-27), and there are two further sections covering health, and digital, industry and space. Always worth tracking what technologies are developing, and will demand new and reformed sets of skills.
Labour Market
֎ Accelerating Together: How the UK Workforce Can Get Net Zero Done
Author/Publisher: Bain & Company
Date: January 2024
This is certainly worth reading as it uses ONS data to look at the scale of new green jobs and reskilling needs. It seems that around 500,000 new roles and 4mn workers need reskilling of various levels. Shows the real value of adopting a workforce approach and looking at the new total green skills requirements across the whole labour market, and the flows required over the next 5-10 years. It would be good to see this study built upon by the Office for Clean Energy Jobs.
֎ Net Zero and the Labour Market: Evidence from the UK
Author/Publisher: Anna Valero, LSE Public Policy Review
Date: March 2024
This paper focuses on the UK and summarises findings from an occupational approach, which classifies jobs as being green when they involve new tasks or skills required by the transition to net zero, or when they are likely to see increased demand due to the transition. It sets out evidence that green jobs have the potential to be good jobs, requiring higher skills and paying well. Overall, this is largely a story of change in existing jobs and sectors; very few jobs will be phased out. The transition and its impacts on the labour market will be difficult in specific sectors and places, requiring targeted programmes and broader skills policies to ensure that net zero can not only be delivered, but delivered in an inclusive way. A good read and probably best read alongside the report by the Resolution Foundation on Net Zero Jobs – The Impact of the Transition to Net Zero on the UK Labour Market (June 2022).
Accelerating to Net Zero: CCC Progress Report
Author/Publisher: UK Government
Date: December 2024
A positive report showing commitment to continue pushing towards net zero. Turn to Section 2.29: Driving growth, good jobs, and competitiveness industries (pages 24-28) which captures the roles of Skills England and the Office for Clean Energy Jobs, and trails future development (e.g. industrial strategy).
֎ Future of Jobs Report 2025
Author/Publisher: World Economic Forum
Date: January 2025
The green transition is a core part of the trends shaping the future of work and jobs (pages 15-16, 30-31), and the features of the UK labour market (pages 212-213) are neatly summarised here. For anyone wanting to see the global context of the green transition and its scale and ubiquity, there are some rich materials to be drawn upon here.
Green Jobs: Impacts of a Green Economy on Employment
Author/Publisher: Klaus Jacob, Rainer Quitzow, Holger Bär – Environmental Policy Research Centre, Freie Universität Berlin
Date: 2015
10 years old, but still a helpful analysis, working its way through what was known then and still holds true today.
Reskilling and Upskilling for Decarbonization: Analyzing Micro-Credential Programs for Energy Workforce Development
Author/Publisher: Stephanie Coates, Alan Rossiter, Ramanan Krishnamoorti, Journal of Continuing Higher Education, August 2024.
Date: August 2024
Link (Paywalled download)
Decarbonisation and the energy transition requires many workers in the incumbent energy industry to transform their knowledge base and skills. Upskilling and reskilling programs that address the skills gap and offer opportunities for continued education are critical for workforce development and social equity. The authors evaluate six online energy transition-related micro-credentialing programs met students’ expectations for augmenting foundational knowledge and skills. Additionally, they assess the role of energy companies in supporting reskilling and upskilling opportunities for their workforce and the potential of micro-credentialing programs for addressing interdisciplinary and continued education needs. The students, predominantly mid- to senior-level energy professionals, are surveyed through a pre-study upon enrolment, a post-study upon completion, and a panel study that measured learning outcomes over six months. The results presented show that the programs were successful in supporting continued education by offering new areas of knowledge and meeting students’ expectations of increased foundational knowledge and skills. Most students were also able to apply the acquired knowledge and skills to their jobs while still enrolled in the programs. Moreover, members of the workforce were self-motivated to augment their foundational knowledge and develop their skills through continued education without inducement from their employers.
ECITB Workforce Census Report for 2024
Author/Publisher: Engineering Construction Industry Training Board
Date: January 2025
A small gold mine of information for all the occupations and their make-up across the engineering construction industry. Shows the growth of the sector over the last 3-4 years and the increasing importance of the renewables sector as regards employment. Picks out those regions with major concentrations of employment and reflect the investment being made in energy sectors (nuclear, oil and gas etc.). The Office for Clean Energy Jobs should think about running this type of census in future across the whole clean energy sector and its supply chain.
International Talent Programs in the Changing Global Environment
Author/Publisher: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Date: 2024
We heard recently from the CEO of Siemens Energy UK that 500,000 more workers will be needed for energy jobs over the coming years, and this begs the question about where these additional people will come from. So, attention will be focused on international migration and the attracting and retaining of key sets of people and their skills. In the UK the Migration Advisory Committee is being linked to Skills England to keep the role and potential of migration in mind to support the net zero transition, and the overall growth agenda.
IW Policy Paper: Agenda 2030 for Education Policy
Author/Publisher: Prof. Dr. Axel Plünnecke, Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln
Date: December 2024
While this report is on Germany and the challenges it faces in addressing demographic shifts, decarbonization, digitalization, and deglobalization, we thought it could have been written about the UK. The country’s innovation capacity is declining, and its education system is not fully utilizing the potential of immigrant and disadvantaged students. Key concerns include the decline in STEM skills, insufficient early language support, and inadequate digital education. Proposed measures include expanded STEM education, stronger support for disadvantaged students, increased investment in universities, and fostering openness to change through digital literacy and international exchange programs. Expanding childcare, implementing targeted support in schools, and enhancing university-industry cooperation are also emphasized. The report highlights an urgent need for stronger STEM and digital skills to drive innovation and transformation, especially in addressing climate and energy challenges. Green skills, crucial for decarbonization and environmental management, require integration into STEM curricula and vocational training. Enhanced early education, continuous skill development, and targeted immigration strategies can help meet labour market demands and support sustainable development goals.
Workforce Skills Report 2023
Author/Publisher: Science Council
Date: April 2024
A collation of the discussions and themes across science education: sustainability is clearly a major emerging theme widely recognised across the wider science community. This is well developed in some key areas e.g. one we have looked at in some detail is C-DICE (Centre for Postdoctoral Development in Infrastructure, Cities and Energy) run from Loughborough University and its roadmap for higher level skills readiness for the net zero transition.
Building a Data-Driven Picture of Researcher Mobility in the UK
Author/Publisher: National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB)
Date: September 2023
The transfer of expertise between the private sector (mainly larger businesses in high tech manufacturing and ICT) and universities is an important part of the ecosystem which helps to transfer knowledge and accelerates the development of key technologies. We wonder if the inter-sectoral mobility will become more important in key renewable energy, sustainability and circular economy sectors, and we would hope this analysis is updated and refined as regards the net zero transition.
Flourish: Design Paradigms for our Planetary Emergency
Triarchy Press, 2021.
Link (Book)
Tackles a major question: what will it take to restore balance to our world for future generations’ survival? The authors propose a set of regenerative design principles, and offer a plan for designers to thrive.
Taking Work or Changing Work?
Author/Publisher: Institute for the Future of Work
Date: January 2025
A qualitative study of the changing nature of work, and the cross-over with our interest is simply around churn of tasks and skills being driven by the trio of AI (and wider digital technology), the combined clean tech drivers of electrification and decarbonisation, and the move towards circular business models. Churn drives the need for upskilling and reskilling at varying degrees of intensity, and how this can be supported is a major policy challenge in the UK. If this area is of interest, then a related publication, Analysing the distribution of capabilities in the UK workforce amidst technological change (Jan 2025) is also worth looking at.
The Working Future: More Human, Not Less
Author/Publisher: Bain & Company
Date: 2022
We find reports like this one of use as it helps to understand how the labour market is changing and how individuals are viewing it. It suggests we might start to change some well-used working assumptions about we position, promote and attract people into work and specific careers. This understanding is critical for the net zero transition attracting new entrants and career changers if key milestones are to be achieved.
Devolution and Regional Development
֎ Cities Outlook 2025
Author/Publisher: Centre for Cities
Date: January 2025
2025 is going to be an important year for growth policies around planning, devolution, and industrial strategy. So, this report provides a benchmark against which these policy initiatives can measured. Net zero businesses feature as they are part of the “cutting edge economy” which are used to rank and evaluate individual cities. Regional development and developing the economies of all parts of the UK will take several decades (probably 5 or 6) based on the experiences of Germany.
Clusters Part 2: Case Studies
Author/Publisher: Innovation Caucus, Oxford Brookes University
Date: August 2023
Our interest here is in the case studies that cover agri-tech (for East of England, Northern Ireland), the blue economy (South-West, Highland and Islands of Scotland), and energy and propulsion (East Midlands). Within each case study we find a deep skills component and analysis.
Low Carbon Hub Business Plan 2024-25
Author/Publisher: Low Carbon Hub
Date: January 2025
While this business plan could be regarded as being one for energy, we see it as both a demonstration of local action (there’s a map included which shows c40 community energy groups operating in Oxfordshire) and extensive delivery which brings with it education and training of communities to progress net zero ambitions.
Community Benefits from Net Zero Energy Developments: Consultation
Author/Publisher: Scottish Government
Date: December 2024
As we would expect, the Scottish Government is seeking to improve the principles through which community benefits are developed and agreed, and is seeking to ensure communities get the best deal possible. This is excellent, and is a key part of ensuring the net zero transition progresses, and is inclusive and just. We see engagement of individuals and communities are vital from the outset in a transparent and well-managed way.
Analysis of a Net Zero 2030 Target for Greater London
Author/Publisher: Element Energy
Date: January 2022
We are listing this report given the renewed interest in retrofitting, and because of its detail around the labour requirements over the next 10 years and more (see Section 3.2.2, pages 44-49). We think the sets of ratios used in the analysis for specific types of technology (heat pumps, heat networks etc.) will be generally useful.
Skills Research Digest Northern Ireland Q3 2024
Author/Publisher: Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland
Date: Q3 2024
An excellent source of information on all aspects of skills in Northern Ireland developed by Elaine Hendy (EMH Connect) and Angela Gardner (AJ Enterprises). Well worth checking on as it includes green and net zero transition issues. Scotland has the same resource as well.
Make UK Executive Survey 2025
Author/Publisher: Make UK
Date: January 2025
It’s good to see that opportunities arising from net zero can drive growth across manufacturing. Seeing net zero as a growth opportunity and a significant market helps drive perceptions of net zero, but raises issues around skills driven vacancies. A follow-up survey would be welcome to delve into the detail behind the net zero growth opportunities, and perhaps link with the type of work undertaken by CBI Economics and Data City.
Clean Fuels for All by 2050
Author/Publisher: FuelsEurope
Date: 2021
A little dated perhaps, but for us it says that for all high carbon emitting and producing sites need to have a clear pathway to a low/zero carbon future, and we see this brochure (admittedly a campaign brochure) as a part of this process. We need to see clear plans for all sites and their communities as to how and when they will manage their net zero transition. Failure to tackle this aspect of the net zero transition could well delay progress.
Sightline Climate: Climate Tech Investment Trends 2024
Author/Publisher: Sightline Climate
Date: January 2025
Where are the next wave of clean energy and green businesses developing? This detailed analysis looks across energy, food and land use, transportation, industry, climate management, built environment, and carbon. It would be good to combine this analysis with the work of Data City and use Lightcast data to unearth the skills component of the businesses securing investment.
Pot Pourri
Cleantech Global 100 2025
Author/Publisher: Cleantech Group
Date: January 2025
Always a fascinating read but our interest here is the profile and the UK’s showing. Here we have six broad sectors: agriculture and food (7 companies), energy and power (39), materials and chemicals (23), resources and environmental management (7), transport and logistics (8), and waste and recycling (16). Of these 100 companies, there are 9 in the UK, with the strongest showing in materials and chemicals with three UK-based companies. Please note this is largely a Western viewing listing and only identifies three companies from China.
Shared Prosperity and Just Transition
Author/Publisher: Indigenous Peoples' Rights International and Business & Human Rights Resource Centre
Date: October 2024
Our coverage of the just transition has tended to be Western-centric, but it needs to be viewed much more widely than this; here we have a recent report which helps in that respect. Much greater international attention must be given to the whole supply chain of businesses and sectors as the green transition progresses.
Just Transition for Supply Chain Management
Authors: Hakan Karaosman, Donna Marshall, Irene Ward
Publisher: International Journal of Operations & Production Management
Date: May 2024
Extends the core principles around just transition into the core management capabilities and skills across the supply chain. Worth reading alongside Accelerating an Equitable Transition: A Framework for Economic Equity by the World Economic Forum which provides some very helpful frameworks through which to view a just transition.
AI Opportunities Action Plan (and UK Government Response)
Publisher: UK Government
Date: January 2025
Link (also Response from UK Government)
The potential for AI is undeniable and we have two specific reports here just remotely relevant to green skills around AI Growth Zones (at a stretch) and energy (data centres as consumers of clean energy). There is an opportunity missed here given the cross-over with clean energy management, sustainability and the circular economy. But, the wider point for us is that boosting of AI awareness and capability can only help with the net zero transition: just look at the growth of Octopus and its Kraken platform amongst many other areas.
Divergence of ESG Ratings
Authors: Florian Berg, Julian F. Kölbel, Roberto Rigobon
Publisher: MIT Sloan
Date: May 2022
Looks at ESG ratings and finds significant divergences which says we need to be very careful when using such ratings, and we also need to question the methods, data and scope. This is a pivotal paper as it should make us all careful when rating and ranking businesses, and making decisions around value and preference. We wonder, if we looked in a more balance way at the processes that underpin ESG performance, that it might show how embedded ESG is within the culture and capabilities of a business.
֎ Planetary Solvency: Finding Our Balance with Nature
Authors: Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, University of Exeter
Date: January 2025
A sobering piece of work that finds climate change and nature-driven risks have been and are hugely underestimated. The finding that sticks with us is that global economic growth could plummet by 50% between 2070 and 2090 from the catastrophic shocks of climate change unless immediate action is taken to decarbonise and restore nature. Admittedly this is the worst -case scenario, but nevertheless it makes any cost-benefit analysis of climate mitigation and adaptation look relatively cheap in comparison.
֎ How we sold our future. The failure to fight climate change
Polity Press, December 2024.
Link (Book)
This powerful, well-written book seeks to address one major question: why do societies continue headlong on a path toward destruction of the natural environment, without which human civilisation could not exist? The author argues that we must imperatively prepare our societies for a world that is 2.5 degrees warmer and find more effective ways to speed up the energy transition. Key in making the transition is a major shift in the balance of incentives and power: we need climate-friendlier business models that are profitable. One statistic sticks with us: 88% of the damage from global warming is expected to occur in the Global South—but that does not restrict catastrophic events occurring elsewhere.
The Real Cost of Climate Change
Publisher: Kisters
Date: November 2023
Charts the costs of climate change across five countries: USA, UK, Germany, Australia, and Spain. There is a chart here which goes back to 1900 and shows the huge growth in the numbers of natural disasters. The data presented here makes the case for both redoubling the efforts for the net zero transition, and balancing investment in both adaptation and mitigation. In skills terms the infrastructure investment required to handle flooding, higher temperatures, etc. has a tension in that it pulls scarce resources away from decarbonisation and electrification.
Energy
General
A New Energy and Industrial Revolution: Making GB Energy a Success
Publisher: Project Tempo
Date: November 2024
One clear message coming out of this paper is: don’t over promise on jobs and on costs. Green and net zero policies are in danger of being repeatedly promoted on dimensions. Whilst being true (probably in the long term), they might not be seen for many years.
Biomass
Economic Potential of Energy Crops in Scotland
Authors: Fiona Dowson et al.
Publisher: Ricardo plc
Date: December 2023
Much attention has been devoted to farming recently. It is good to see a study like this exploring three potential energy crops (miscanthus, and short rotation coppice and forestry) which provide new opportunities. The main skills implications arising from coppicing and forestry are shortages from the forestry sector. For us, it was good to read that skills were considered.
Sargassum-to-Energy: Bioethanol Production in Ghana
Authors: Winnie A. Owusu, Solomon A. Marfo, Harrison Osei
Publisher: Sustainable Environment
Date: 2024
Use of seaweed (biomass) for bioethanol production is working apace across the world and here’s another example, providing an opportunity to combine high growth areas (Ghana) with areas of high demand at home and elsewhere. Skills demanded here are also significant and highly transferable around the world as nature becomes a key energy source (as well as a carbon sink).
Carbon Capture and Storage
Carbon Utilization Infrastructure, Markets, and R&D
Publisher: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Date: 2024
While the technology is interesting, what caught our interest here was the highlighting of transferable skills relevant in oil and gas to a key decarbonisation technology. It goes further than this and looks at the spatial aspects as well. This is what we are seeing in the North Sea oil and gas industry and the move of accumulated expertise into the offshore wind industry.
Wind Power
Global Wind Report 2024
Author/Publisher: Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC)
Date: April 2024
Highlights the importance of skills to the growth of the wind industry and the need for transition plans. Key workforce issues are summarised late on the report (page 98). Shows the massive trends in train across the world.
Nuclear Power
The Path to a New Era for Nuclear Energy
Author/Publisher: International Energy Agency (IEA)
Date: January 2025
Core message: momentum (investment) continues to build across 40 countries, and there is a clear role emerging for small modular reactors, which have a pivotal role in the analysis presented here.
Heat and Retrofit
Thermondo: Germany’s Heat Pump Revolution
Author/Publisher: McKinsey & Company
Date: June 2023
A brief case study of the German business, Thermondo, which describes its development since 2012. Our interest here is the role Thermondo has in meeting the huge demand for home heating upgrades (which generally runs at 800,000 per year and is doubled by net zero) through an online platform, now employing 500 trades people. We also see the move into private-label heat pumps, renting heating services, and the shift from energy consumers to prosumers. What can the UK learn from Thermondo and help scale up the shift from gas boilers to heat pumps?
Cotton Mills to Carbon Goals: Manchester’s Retrofit Journey
Author/Publisher: Neil Wolstenholme
Date: January 2025
Useful case study of one key aspect of Manchester’s plan to achieve Carbon Neutrality by 2038. Describes how some of the barriers can potentially be overcome through the skills capture and matching platform developed by Kloodle, which is currently working with schools in the Manchester area.
NRH Retrofit Pattern Book 2024
Authors/Publisher: 5th Studio
Date: September 2024
With 8mn Victorian houses and around 7mn terraced houses across the UK, this book is a useful steer as to what is possible and how to retrofit them. A useful text for anyone putting together education and training programmes, and also for those needing to understand the issues with a large proportion of their housing stock.
Assessing Future Heating and Cooling Needs in UK Housing
Authors/Publisher: CS-NOW Consortium, UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
Date: April 2023
While retrofitting is constantly being raised as a heating issue, we also need to consider over-heating (due the climate) and cooling, and this needs to be built into retrofit programmes. It might also carry over into the design of heat pumps and to make them reversible and so allow them to draw heat out of a building i.e. become an air-con unit.
Energy Performance Regime Consultation and Impact Assessment
Authors/Publisher: UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Date: December 2024
Good to see the skills of assessors being raised and highlighted. We will be following this consultation to see how the skills element is raised by respondents.
London’s Retrofit Revolution: What’s Going Wrong?
Authors/Publisher: Zack Polanski, Green Party of England and Wales
Date: September 2023
A thoughtful article, looking into the issues of training supply and demand for retrofitting across London. It makes the interesting point that retrofitting should be regarded as a construction skillset and not some special category of green skills. We recommend a follow-up on the link to the response by the Mayor of London to the points raised by the analysis.
Food and Agriculture
Serving the Public. The good food revolution in schools, hospitals and prisons
Manchester University Press, January 2025.
Link (Book)
The power of public food procurement is immense and can potentially benefit health and general well-being, whilst also improve sustainability across the food system from farm to fork. Let’s hope the messages land here of using procurement and greater strategic use of food to drive gains in health and the viability of local food growers. It would be good to see the current curriculum review pick up on the education gains of the good food revolution in schools.
NAAC Manifesto 2024: Agricultural Contractors
Author/Publisher: National Association of Agricultural Contractors (NAAC)
Date: April 2024
There’s a lot of talk about farms, farm managers and farmers but little about the significant role of farming contractors as they bring skills along with the equipment, all of which is rapidly changing. One thing we see is that contractors have a key role in carrying skills into new areas—agriculture in this case, but also in sectors like construction and retrofitting. Often a contractor workforce is mobile and so creates its own education and training challenges.
Investing in Nature for UK Food Security
Author/Publisher: The Wildlife Trusts
Date: January 2025
Makes the case for increasing funding of the ELMs scheme and walks into the need to challenge current land use management. A useful insight into a key area of Government policy which will shape priorities and employment opportunities across England. We would like to see the work and employment implications of changes to agriculture, food security and nature priorities.
Rooted: How regenerative farming can change the world
Viking/Penguin, 2022.
Link (Book)
Wrapped around a personal story, captured in here are the twists and turns that agriculture has gone through in the UK over the last 50+ years. It shows how agriculture has been “weakened” by inconsistent policy decisions that were pro-food production but not supporting nature and natural sustainability. It also highlights the self-teach and peer-sharing of new developments takes place, and shows how changes in agriculture are multi-generational.
Cement
Low-Carbon, Low-Cost Cement: The Case for LC3
Author/Publisher: RMI
Date: December 2024
Helps to explain the progress with the decarbonisation of a key sector using limestone calcined clay cement—hence LC3—and shows progress through case studies with CBI Ghana, Holcim, Fortera, and Vicat.
Circular Economy
Switching to Circular Global Value Chains
Author/Publisher: Circle Economy
Date: 2024
Uses three case studies of Morocco, Bangladesh and Egypt to explore the wider issues of circle economy adoption and development, and highlights skills as being of importance (in the case of Bangladesh). Given that the textiles workforce of Bangladesh is 4.6mn, the shift in the supply chain could have major implications of these jobs.
Construction and Built Environment
Building It Green: European Report
Authors/Publisher: Linda Clarke et al., University of Westminster
Date: July 2023
A useful investigation of the different ways of incorporating climate and energy efficiency literacy into vocational education and training systems using a series of national case studies of Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, and the UK. Having an effective way to absorb the new, modify and incorporate into the existing, and support the development and recognition of new occupations; here we see the challenges across multiple countries well described.
The Green Shift: Financial Incentives for Sustainable Housing
Authors/Publisher: Rafe Bertram, Good Homes Alliance
Date: October 2023
Wouldn’t it make real sense if all new homes were built to a higher standard and did not need retrofitting? Reaching that tipping point is not only critical for hitting the decarbonisation of buildings (getting us closer to the 600,000 net zero compliant houses per year), but also would kick-start a higher level of skills development for green construction. Getting the appropriate net zero technologies into new houses would provide a base level of education and training which would help provide a base load upon which budgets and future plans can be built.
Digital
Digital Sustainability: A Path to Value Creation
Author/Publisher: MIT CISR
Date: January 2025
One of an insightful series of research notes, this looks at three areas of digital businesses (green IT, green products, and green digital offerings) and four strategic sustainability goals: compliance and efficiency, customer and investor reputation, new revenue, and company purpose. Worth digging into the detail and into the case studies to understand the relationship between sustainability delivery and business performance. Highlights the importance of strategic capability to tease out the interface between sustainability requirements and trends, and business development.
Finance
Leveraging the Spectrum of Finance for Just Transitions
Authors/Publisher: Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) and Just Transition Finance Lab (JTFL)
Date: December 2024
Emphasizes the importance of skills in facilitating a "just transition" to a sustainable, net-zero economy. It highlights the need for reskilling and upskilling workers impacted by economic changes, especially in carbon-intensive sectors, to ensure equitable opportunities. Social impact bonds and tax incentives are proposed to fund workforce development and support training programs. The document also stresses the role of governments and financial institutions in integrating skills development into broader policy frameworks. Stakeholder engagement, particularly with local communities, is considered essential for tailoring initiatives to specific needs, ensuring both social inclusion and economic transformation. We have to wonder if the current UK Government would back skills impact bonds to provide another boost the engagement with training.
Climate-Related Vulnerabilities: Analytical Framework and Toolkit
Authors/Publisher: Financial Stability Board (FSB)
Date: January 2025
It’s always sobering to read the methods and frameworks being developed to assess climate risks. As the risks of wildfires, floods, landslides, earthquakes, cyclones, and droughts rise, we need to factor them into our wider skills thinking. One message here is the need to balance investment in adaptation with mitigation as weather extremes increase. Just think that with a 2°C temperature rise we would have 100 airports below sea level, and 364 at risk of flooding (see here).
Forestry
The UK Forest Market Report 2024
Authors/Publisher: Tilhill Forestry and Goldcrest Land & Forestry Group
Date: 2024
Provides a comprehensive view of the status of forestry in the UK. Of particular interest are the two sections on natural capital and carbon. The feature which strikes us is the scale of the swings in the forestry market.
Nature and Biodiversity
֎ Decent Work in Nature-Based Solutions
Authors/Publisher: International Labour Organization (ILO), UNEP, IUCN
Date: December 2024
A thorough and detailed study covering skills and occupations core to nature-based solutions. The surprising finding is the scale of employment potential each year (400,000-1.1mn) when viewed over a 10-year period. Well work a read and we wonder how the core of this work could be applied to Western agriculture and nature.
Metals
Future of Steel: From Green Transition to Everlasting Era
Authors/Publisher: Kairos Future for Outokumpu
Date: September 2024
A useful read for those wanting to understand how the steel industry is developing and how sustainability and the green transition are being managed. The statistic that sticks with us is that every tonne of steel made results in the emission of nearly two tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Textiles
Impact of EU Policies on Trading Partners
Author/Publisher: Circle Economy
Date: December 2024
For all the enthusiasm for shifting the UK economy towards a circular-based one, there are direct and significant impacts in other parts of the world. This report looks at this issue in Ghana and Bangladesh, and how they might transition to a more circular economy by the West.
Closing the Loop for Textiles
Author/Publisher: Deloitte
Date: November 2024
The focus here is the Eco-design for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and textiles which starts on 19th April 2025, and lays out a series of questions (challenges) that boards need to address. As with many EU regulations, there is a timeline for the unfolding of changes needed in textiles.
Transport
Decarbonisation Pathways for UK Transport
Author/Publisher: Jillian Anable, IPPR
Date: December 2024
While having mandatory end dates for the sale of ICE powered cars and vans, there is a need to consider the impact of the ICE vehicles up to the end date. This article calls for a rethink and a refocusing of attention to the drivers of emission, not just focusing on EVs and their development. A shift of behaviour for us all would be to make greater use of low carbon public transport, rather than simply replacing our ICE vehicles for EVs.
London Cycle Hire Evaluation
Author/Publisher: Yingheng Zhang et al.
Date: September 2024
The development of the sharing rather the owning of assets is a key part of the shift to a circular economy, and here we see the initial bike hire scheme in London being evaluated. We are interested here in the skills behind the scheme that keep the bikes on the road. Most of the qualifications and courses offered for bike mechanics are focused on repair and maintenance. Perhaps there are gaps here for design and matching of bikes to users, and the need for high standards around battery-based bikes.
London Cargo Bike Action Plan
Author/Publisher: Transport for London
Date: March 2023
Active travel and cycling is one thing, but using bikes as last-mile delivery systems is something else again. In skills terms, it is more the rider that needs the training. Insurance might drive standards, both for rider training and for those maintaining and repairing bikes.
Lime in London: Shared E-Bike Benefits and Regulation
Author/Publisher: Lime Technology Limited
Date: July 2023
Exploring active travel and the employment implications of increased levels of cycling—in particular of the growth of shared-bike schemes—this report is useful input, and should be read alongside the paper listed above. Lime alone employs 150 bike mechanics in London: that’s one mechanic for every 134 bikes. One side effect of the shared-bike scheme has been to boost overall levels of cycling (introducing people to cycling), and the need for greater capacity to repair and maintain bikes. For those gaining a bike mechanic qualification (say, those offered by City and Guilds, and also key component manufacturers like Bosch) have a ticket to create their own business or to work in a co-operative network.
Carbon Removal at Airports
Author/Publisher: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Date: November 2024
Decarbonisation pathways are important to understand. Here we have the ones developed for airports, helping owners and operators to plot the skills components of their plans.