Is the government about to cut the sustainable schools unit?

There are increasingly strong rumours emerging from the Department of Education that Michael Gove is planning to close the Sustainable Schools unit.

In the current economic climate, Ministers are obviously seeking to cut anything that is perceived as peripheral and I can imagine that, at a cursory glance, Michael Gove could easily see the unit falling into that category.

I wonder if he would have made the same decision if it had been called Building Skills for the Green Economy.

Through our work with businesses, we know that there are increasing concerns about how they will meet the skills gap within a low carbon economy.

Through working with schools it is clear that there is a huge desire to run practical sustainable initiatives and that these can create fantastic learning opportunities for students including those who have become disaffected with more traditional learning techniques.

We also know that young people will have to learn to cope with a more resource-constrained world and will need the skills to do this.

Given these requirements, it would be very shortsighted and potentially damaging to the economy to close the unit.

Instead, the Minister might want to start thinking about how it could be refocused to give young people the skills they will need to flourish in the future.

Follow the money

Last week the mining company BHP Billiton launched a £28bn hostile bid for Canada's Potash Corporation.

It is a clear example of a new corporate struggle for resources.

Potash produces many of the components needed to make fertilisers and with possible food shortages, a growing world population and an increasing number of extreme weather events, BHP has realised the long-term value of controlling this resource.

Changes in eating habits are also increasing the demand for fertiliser. More people are eating meat. Every pound of beef requires seven pounds of grain to produce it and this is having a knock-on impact on the need for fertiliser.

This takeover bid mirrors a wider trend as companies and governments seek the resources that will be needed to meet rising consumption.