• Home
  • News
  • In-depth
  • Opinion
  • Energy
    • Wind
    • Marine
    • Solar
    • Biomass
    • Nuclear
    • CCS
    • Infrastructure
  • Policy
    • Politics
    • Legislation
    • Taxation
  • Management
    • Marketing
    • Risk
    • Skills
    • Incentives
    • Carbon Accounting
  • Technology
    • Waste
    • Recycling
    • R&D
    • Efficiency
    • IT
  • Investment
    • Carbon Trading
    • Offsets
    • Venture Capital
  • Net Zero Now
  • Events & Awards
  • SDG Hub
  • Industry Voice
  • Newsletters
  • Sign in
  •  
      • Newsletters
      • Account details
      • Contact support
      • Sign out
     
    • You are currently accessing BusinessGreen via your Enterprise account.

      If you already have an account please use the link below to sign in.

      If you have any problems with your access or would like to request an individual access account please contact our customer service team.

      Phone: +44 (0) 1858 438800

      Email: [email protected]

      • Sign in
  • Follow us
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • Newsletters
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
  • Free Trial
  • Subscribe
  • Events & Awards
    • Upcoming events
      event logo
      Webinar: Net Zero Investment: What role do investors play?
      • Date: 13 Jan 2021
      • Online, Webinar
      event logo
      NZF Pathway - Finance

      This exclusive half day online event will investigate how all businesses can support and accelerate the transition to low and net zero carbon buildings, while maximising the financial and productivity opportunities that will result.

      • Date: 16 Mar 2021
      • Online Event
      event logo
      Net Zero Festival 2021

      Net Zero Festival is the world's first business festival dedicated to exploring, advancing, and celebrating the global transition to a net zero emission economy. Join us at BusinessGreen's Net Zero Festival – for leaders who won't wait until 2050 to build a better business, and a better world.

      • Date: 27 Sep 2021
      • Worldwide
      View all events
  • SDG Hub
Business Green
Business Green
  • Home
  • News
  • In-depth
  • Opinion
  • Energy
  • Policy
  • Management
  • Technology
  • Investment
  • Net Zero Now
 
    • Newsletters
    • Account details
    • Contact support
    • Sign out
 
  • You are currently accessing BusinessGreen via your Enterprise account.

    If you already have an account please use the link below to sign in.

    If you have any problems with your access or would like to request an individual access account please contact our customer service team.

    Phone: +44 (0) 1858 438800

    Email: [email protected]

    • Sign in
  • Hot topics
  • Green recovery
  • Net Zero Now
  • Net Zero Leadership
  • Net Zero Finance
  • Skills

Future Jobs: The jobs of the future are already here

Engineers work on a scale model of a new wind turbine | Credit: William Drake Photography / DeepCwind Consortium
Engineers work on a scale model of a new wind turbine | Credit: William Drake Photography / DeepCwind Consortium
  • James Murray
  • James Murray
  • @James_BG
  • 15 October 2018
  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  • LinkedIn  
  • Send to  
0 Comments

Welcome to the BusinessGreen Future Jobs Hub, supported by Green GB Week

It is one of the biggest advantages of the transition to a net zero emission economy, alongside the averting of catastrophic climate change and the nurturing of a habitable biosphere, obviously. And yet the creation of millions of green jobs is rarely highlighted and often poorly understood.

Confusion over what constitutes a green job, what sustainability roles actually entail, and how you might go about getting one is widespread. Last week's government survey of 1,000 young people aged between 18-24 revealed nearly two thirds are interested in working in the green economy, but more than 70 per cent underestimate the number of green roles that are set to be on offer over the coming years.

Related articles

  • Setting the gears in motion: Why the path to net zero must not grind to a halt
  • Closing the climate skills gap among investment professionals
  • We must not be naive about the societal disruption of the net zero transition
  • Will green intentions turn to action in 2021?

This is understandable. The burgeoning green economy and the exciting new employment opportunities it creates rarely enjoy the media profile they deserve. The sector already employs hundreds of thousands of people - comfortably more than work in aerospace or pharmaceuticals - but you wouldn't necessarily know it from the balance of media coverage.

Moreover, it is difficult to define what amounts to a green job. Earlier this year the Office of National Statistics published data on the low carbon and renewable energy (LCRE) sectors, which found the sector grew five per cent in 2016 and supported 204,000 full time roles. Sounds impressive, but previously the government had used a different set of metrics for the Low Carbon and Environmental Goods and Services (LCEGS) sector and had concluded that as of 2013 the various industries covered by that data set employed approaching half a million people. The precise size of the green job opportunity varies considerably depending on whether you regard noise consultants, contaminated land experts, or water engineers as part of the green economy.

However, one thing is clear. The green jobs market is growing - and fast.

There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, the highly popular industries at the heart of the green economy - renewable energy, electric vehicles, smart technologies - are growing far faster than the underlying economy and will continue to do so as the UK strives to decarbonise. Secondly, the long term vision of a creating a net zero emission economy will require every business and every industry to slash its greenhouse gas emissions and for whole new sustainable industries to emerge. To some extent every business will have to become a green business and every job will have to become a green job, and all before most people under 40 have retired.

It is easy to see why the government estimates that the green economy will create two million jobs between now and 2030. It is also easy to see how this is likely to prove a highly conservative estimate. As car manufacturers become electric vehicle manufacturers, builders become experts in delivering net zero emission homes, and the government's farming subsidy reforms create whole new markets for environmental conservation, the resulting jobs boom could quickly make the green economy one of the dominant forces in the labour market.

But creating jobs is one thing, filling them is another challenge altogether, which is why BusinessGreen is delighted to launch the Future Jobs Hub as part of Green GB Week. It will showcase the huge range of green roles on offer and the immense rewards they bring to the people striving to build a greener Britain.

Over the course of this week we'll be running a series of interviews and video profiles with some of the people who are already engaged in the jobs of the future. From e-bike 'cargonauts' and sustainable fashion designers to urban farmers and offshore wind engineers, we'll highlight how green businesses aren't just driving down environmental impacts, they are also supporting a wide range of attractive and rewarding new jobs.

What do these green jobs have in common? Is there a single thread that unites them, beyond the commitment to tackling environmental challenges and delivering more sustainable business models?

There is certainly enormous variation - the working lives of a sustainability executive at a blue chip firm and an organic farmer in rural Scotland are obviously very different. But almost everyone we spoke to for this week's Future Jobs Hub did point to a handful of similarities in their roles. The green economy is ultimately about disrupting business-as-usual and developing new approaches. An ability to assess the status quo and then apply problem-solving skills are a fairly universal requirement for all green roles.

A disproportionate number of green roles are also technical in nature - a decarbonised economy will need a lot of new infrastructure - and as such science, technology, engineering, and maths skills are likely to become ever more important. Equally, the case for helping to re-skill people working in high carbon industries that are likely to come under ever more regulatory and commercial pressure is clear.

However, not every green role requires advanced engineering or technical skills. For example, it is a rare green role that does not demand some form of communications and advocacy skills. Whether it is through informal chats with customers and colleagues or official training programmes, the need to bring other people along for the ride as the green transition gathers pace is critical.

Consequently, almost everyone who works in the green economy - whether their day job involves wind turbines or vegan leather - believes that a genuine passion for tackling the world's big picture environmental challenges and an optimistic desire to seize the opportunities sustainable development and clean technologies offer is a prerequisite.

The good news is more and more people have the the commitment required, as well as a desire to pursue the rewarding and fast-evolving opportunities the green economy. The BusinessGreen Future Jobs Hub aims to help anyone who has considered doing something 'green' in the future recognise that the jobs of the future are already here.

  • Tweet  
  • Facebook  
  • LinkedIn  
  • Send to  
  • Topics
  • Skills
  • Future Jobs Hub
  • In-depth
  • Sustainability executives
  • BEIS
  • Green Great Britain Week

More on Skills

    • Skills
Closing the climate skills gap among investment professionals
    • Skills
    • 07 January 2021
Millions of workers will be affected by the UK's net zero transition | Credit: Drax
    • Politics
'Getting to Zero': New commission to explore how to manage threat to carbon intensive jobs
    • Politics
    • 05 January 2021
    • Infrastructure
The impacts of 2020 that could ripple for years to come
    • Infrastructure
    • 30 December 2020
Ten per cent of jobs in Aberdeen are directly dependent on fossil fuels.
    • Work
'Net Zero Deal': UK and Scotland urged to work together to help keep North Sea oil and gas in the ground
    • Work
    • 03 December 2020
Clare Shine will take over as director of CISL in April 2021 | Credit: CISL
    • Skills
Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership appoints Clare Shine as new director
    • Skills
    • 23 November 2020
Credit: RE:TV
    • Management
Prince Charles urges firms to appoint 'suitably empowered' chief sustainability officers
    • Management
    • 20 November 2020
Leeds from above | Credit: Steven Feather
    • Infrastructure
IPPR: Decarbonising homes in North England could deliver £3.85bn boost
    • Infrastructure
    • 17 November 2020
    • Skills
The wind industry needs a great leap forward for worker skills
    • Skills
    • 16 November 2020

More news

Alok Sharma takes on COP26 Presidency full-time
  • Policy
Alok Sharma takes on COP26 Presidency full-time

BREAKING: Kwasi Kwarteng promoted to become Business Secretary, as Sharma to step up his focus on preparations for crucial Glasgow Summit

  • 08 January 2021
Global Briefing: China unveils long-awaited carbon trading market
  • Energy
Global Briefing: China unveils long-awaited carbon trading market

All the top green business news from around the world this week including China's ETS, Japan's fossil fuel car ban, and Enel's African green power push

  • 08 January 2021
Why sustainability professionals have the edge on anti-racism work
  • Management
Why sustainability professionals have the edge on anti-racism work

There are important parallels between tackling the climate crisis and overcoming diversity challenges

  • 08 January 2021
What we can learn from Aveda's blockchain vanilla traceability project
  • Supply chain
What we can learn from Aveda's blockchain vanilla traceability project

The beauty giant reveals how it is getting a better grip on its supply chain impacts

  • 08 January 2021
blog comments powered by Disqus
Back to Top

Most read

Back two-way EV charging technology to slash costs and emissions, white paper urges
Back two-way EV charging technology to slash costs and emissions, white paper urges
Ørsted secures green light for mammoth 2.4GW Hornsea Three offshore wind farm
Ørsted secures green light for mammoth 2.4GW Hornsea Three offshore wind farm
Reports: Sharma offers to quit BEIS for full-time COP26 focus
Reports: Sharma offers to quit BEIS for full-time COP26 focus
Distilleries receive first phase of £10m green whisky fund
Distilleries receive first phase of £10m green whisky fund
Global coffee players brew up 2050 climate plan to slash 1.5 gigatonnes of CO2
Global coffee players brew up 2050 climate plan to slash 1.5 gigatonnes of CO2
  • Contact Us
  • Marketing solutions
  • About Incisive Media
  • Terms and conditions
  • Policies
  • Careers
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

Incisive Footer Logo

© Incisive Business Media (IP) Limited, Published by Incisive Business Media Limited, New London House, 172 Drury Lane, London WC2B 5QR, registered in England and Wales with company registration numbers 09177174 & 09178013

Digital publisher of the year
Digital publisher of the year 2010, 2013, 2016 & 2017
Loading