NEWS: Groundwork backs call for investment in green jobs
A new report published today by the Environmental Audit Committee draws on Groundwork’s expertise in creating high quality, accessible green jobs for people from all walks of life.
Ahead of this week’s government spending review, the report calls on government to put together a robust plan for delivering 2 million green jobs by 2030. Today’s report recognises that green jobs include not only roles which will help us forge a path to net zero carbon emissions, but also jobs working with nature and in the circular economy.
The report picks several points from Groundwork’s evidence, including:
- Calls for the government to align its job support funding – for example through schemes like Kickstart and Restart – with its environmental ambitions.
- Supporting the creation of entry-level nature-based jobs through a National Nature Service, which would build capacity in the sector while contributing to levelling up and reducing health inequalities.
- Embedding knowledge about sustainability in the national curriculum and vocational qualifications, to ensure that every new entrant to the workforce has an understanding of the role they can play in addressing climate change and enhancing nature.
- The need for greater diversity in the ‘green’ workforce, so that people from all walks of life are able to access the opportunities created in the green economy and contribute to the decisions we need to make to achieve our environmental goals.
Responding to the report, Groundwork chief executive Graham Duxbury said:
From our 40-year experience of supporting employment and delivering environmental change in communities across the UK, we know how important it is to create good jobs with a sense of purpose. There is a huge appetite among young people in particular to play a role in addressing climate change and restoring nature, yet the youth labour market is shrinking and young people will be most at risk of losing their jobs in areas of the economy that need to change most as we decarbonise.
We need to ensure that everyone has the opportunity not only to access a green job but to build a green career. Investing in a skilled and diverse green workforce has the potential to ‘level up’ places that might otherwise be left behind and help us make the shift to an economic model that builds wealth in local communities.
Groundwork is supporting the creation of green jobs for young people through the Kickstart scheme. Find out how working at Grow Speke has opened up new opportunities for Hellen: