Skills for the revolution

21 November 2022

It seems a long time since discussions resonated about a future ‘green revolution’ being necessary as the UK and the rest of the world recovered from Covid-19’s impact. 

In fact, it was two prime ministers ago, back in November 2020, when the blog reported on Boris Johnson’s Ten Point Plan for such a transformation that would include offshore wind, hydrogen, nuclear power and electric vehicles, as well as more energy-efficient homes and public buildings, creating and supporting up to 250,000 British jobs.

So what has happened since then?  

According to ‘Greening the UK’s Skills’, a report by the NOCN Group training body and BACH (the British Association of Construction Heads), confusion remains about what is meant by ‘green skills’ at a practical level for technical and vocational education.

Endorsing the publication, the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) says that, whilst the UK has engineering, science and technology skills to support the drive to Net Zero, it lacks enough people with those skills, particularly the operational workforce, mainly at Level 2.

The report sets out the range of adapted and new skills the UK’s economy will urgently need to build and operate over the next five to ten years to address the major challenges created by climate change.

Mark Reynolds, group chairman and chief executive of Mace and CLC co-chair, said: “This is a very welcome and helpful report, particularly in identifying the new Green occupations envisaged and the training courses that will need to be developed. There is now an urgent need to develop training for Green Skills in the construction sector, especially at Levels 1- 3, to run throughout the FE training courses, as well as in Bootcamps and Apprenticeships. 

“The CLC recognises that collaboration between CITB, Government and all key stakeholders is vital to achieve our Net Zero commitments.”