Lost in transition?

We might have the technology – and the will – to help address climate change by ‘greening’ homes, businesses and infrastructure, but do we have the skilled people needed to make it happen where it counts? Not according to a report by the Environmental Audit Committee; the transition to a low carbon economy is hampered by a significant skills gap. Mark Cantrell reports

Forget Copenhagen. Regardless of the outcome – and it’s been touted as an anti-climactic (sic) disappointment – the UK’s ability to fulfil the transition to a low carbon economy is hampered by a lack of suitably skilled people.

The issue of a ‘skills gap’ is not a new problem, the construction industry has been struggling with a lack of conventional trade-skills for some time, but when it comes to the sustainability agenda, this ‘skills gap’ is hindering the emergence of a ‘low carbon’ industry touted to have a world-leading potential.

It’s a burgeoning ‘industrial revolution’ that could create thousands of new jobs in the UK and said to be worth a staggering £3 trillion worldwide, but in the UK the sectors that can usher in this green economy are not receiving adequate support, according to a report by the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) of MPs.

“The Government has missed a big opportunity to kick start a green industrial revolution with its £3 billion fiscal stimulus,” said the committee’s chairman Tim Yeo MP. “Germany, the US, Japan and China have invested billions in their low carbon industries, but only one sixth of the UK Government’s fiscal stimulus package was devoted to green industry.

“At the same time as cutting carbon emissions we could be boosting employment and putting UK firms at the forefront of the huge global market for green technologies. A good place to start would be to launch an ambitious street-by-street programme of energy saving measures for households that will boost employment and keep UK building firms in business.”

The Government’s Low Carbon Transition Plan set out its aims to strip carbon out of the economy, but according to the EAC it has not provided industry with a clear enough sense of what needs to happen when it comes to jobs and skills. They also face barriers when it comes to planning, regulation and infrastructure matters. One in three ‘environmental firms’ is facing a skills gap that might prevent the Government from realising its transition plan.

“Relying exclusively on the market to address skills gaps is causing delays in greening the economy,” according to the report. “The demand-led approach to skills has not worked because employers are unable effectively to articulate their needs to the skills delivery bodies. The Government’s new skill strategy must prioritise the skills needed to drive the economy through the low-carbon transition. A body to lead the green skills agenda must be found and low-carbon skills need to be integrated through the whole skills delivery system to encourage behavioural changes across the entire economy.”

The UK could gain itself a competitive advantage in the coming decades, according to the EAC, increasing employment and allowing the country to take on a globally leading position in a number of low carbon sectors. An increase in the speed and scale of a domestic insulation programme could sustain employment and kick start a market that is estimated to be worth between £3.5 and £6.5 billion a year. Unless the barriers are overcome, however, this potential benefit could prove stillborn.

“There is a desperate need to act on climate change and a massive opportunity, but Government must send out a very clear message,” said the Town and Country Planning Association’s (TCPA) chief planner Hugh Ellis, who gave evidence to the committee. “The message about the need to address climate change as an urgent priority simply has not reached the majority of decision-makers. Many of our communities remain completely untouched by the kinds of positive solutions green open space, energy demand reduction and renewable energy offer that would help to show that climate change is both real and manageable.”

The issue of jobs and skills isn’t just limiting the growth of a new economic sector, or hindering the transition to a low carbon economy, the TCPA says. It also means that many of our communities remain untouched by the benefits of “climate adaptation”, such as lower heating bills thanks to better insulated homes for instance. Or, indeed, employment opportunities and the boost that can bring to local economies.

“Many of the threats of climate change – dangers to human health and comfort; threats to key parts of the economy such as agriculture; vulnerability of most modes of transport, the built environment and critical infrastructure – clearly have a spatial dimension,” Ellis added. “Planning is one of our few disciplines that work with the long term time horizons over which climate change will occur and over which responses must be made. Government must address the fact that adaptation is often treated as the poor relation in policy debates.”