environment magazine

Britain: A Green Economy

By John Hayes MP, Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning

This Government wants to build a more sustainable Britain; a national economy rebalanced so it is better equipped to meet global challenges, and a society balanced by the cohesion that springs from recalibrating our estimation of what value each of us brings to civil society. For too long too many have assumed that the only prowess that matters springs from academic accomplishment, and for too long we deluded ourselves that a narrowly based prosperity would be endless.

A Britain where all feel valued because each feel valued is, by its nature, bound to be more sustainable because it is more capable of promoting and preserving the common good. To achieve this we must think again about the means of production and the character of consumption. At the heart of this reconsideration is the green economy, but it cannot be seen in a vacuum – sustainability must permeate all we do. Across all sectors and in businesses of any size there is a pressing need to address the issues of climate change, limited resources and establishing sustainable energy supplies.

Put simply, a green economy is one where value and growth are maximised across the whole economy, while natural assets are sustainably managed. This means an economy that will be supported and enabled by a thriving low carbon and environmental goods and services sector. Environmental damage will be reduced, while energy security, resource efficiency and resilience to climate change are improved.

But sustainability isn’t just about low carbon and green energy. It is also about building a workforce that can adapt to new jobs and new ways of working. This government recognises that to make this vision real the skills and education system must support the transition to a green economy.

The breadth and depth of skills we will need is vast. Just within the energy sector itself we estimate that there will be the need for up to 100,000 new workers by 2015 for the energy efficiency Green Deal; 70,000 more workers in off-shore wind by 2020 and around 10,000 jobs for new nuclear builds.

Across the whole economy we need leaders and managers who understand the green economy and are planning for it. And we need workers of all kinds who understand green issues, have the necessary specialised skills, and react accordingly.

Building on our Skills Strategy, we are working closely with the Department for Energy and Climate Change and the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to identify the skills needed to support the transition to the green economy and then to sustain it.

Skills Academies are a way of bringing businesses together to ensure we meet the skills needs of key sectors. The National Skills Academy for Nuclear is leading on preparations for a nuclear new build programme, working closely with leading nuclear employers and the relevant sector skills bodies across manufacturing, engineering construction and process industries to build skills capacity to meet emerging skills needs.

A National Skills Academy for Environmental Technologies was launched in February this year. Its goal is to ensure there is a qualified and highly-skilled workforce to equip plumbers and electricians with the skills and professional standards to install solar and other microgeneration technologies. It will play a critical role supporting the Government’s targets for renewable energy and low carbon transition. It will galvanise employers to invest in skills and ensure there is demand-driven and quality-focussed provision to meet employer’s needs across England.The Government has announced funding to support up to 1000 Green Deal apprenticeships as part of a package of measures to create a skilled workforce for the cross-Government action plan on climate change.

We are working with the skills and training sector to improve the range and quality of green skills provision in further education and are discussing with the TUC how, through their Unionlearn programme, we can raise awareness and understanding in the workplace.

Sector Skills Councils – employer-led organisations that work to address skills gaps in their sector – will work together to communicate the skills needs of the green economy. To which end, the £50 million Growth and Innovation Fund will support innovative skills projects.

We will continue to support STEM skills, with more higher level apprenticeships to meet the dynamic demands of an increasingly high-tech economy.

A demand-led skills system, driven by the needs of employers is the best way to determine and deliver the skills we need. That is why, this Summer, we will launch our Green Economy Roadmap, providing businesses with clarity on how we will help them bring about the transition to a green economy. The Roadmap will help businesses to start to think about how they should manage these challenges and exploit the opportunities.

A work-force with the skills needed for UK businesses to seize the opportunities the green economy presents will help to build Britain’s sustainability. But a sustainable future also depends on a paradigm shift in the cultural assumptions about what we make and do. We cannot afford to continue to waste natural or human resources. Appreciating what we have, nurturing latent talent and gauging the future by measures of sustainability will make Britain stronger and fairer.