With the calls of climate emergency sounding loudly from COP27, government and citizens need to act urgently if we are to meet the UK’s net zero commitments. 

However, the transition to net zero will only be possible with a skilled “green” UK workforce to build, operate and maintain the necessary assets for energy, retrofit and carbon capture, as well as related infrastructure in the logistics, utilities and transportation industries. While the UK has strong engineering, science and technology skills to support the drive to net zero, it lacks enough people, particularly within the operational workforce and mainly at level 2, to build, operate and maintain “green” physical environmental assets.

There is also confusion about what is meant by “green skills” and what these mean at a practical level for technical and vocational education.

To resolve these key issues, there is an urgent need for collaboration between employers, training providers, awarding organisations, manufacturers, trade unions and all the industry bodies such as CITB and ECITB on a co-ordinated five to ten-year programme to meet our commitments.

Collaboration on green skills is happening on a local level through green skill bootcamps, for example, where employers, training providers and awarding organisations work together, funded and guided by government policy. 

Exeter College’s green construction skills bootcamps are a case in point, designed in collaboration with local building and house construction businesses, and supported by local authorities, charities and training providers across the south west. Funded by the Department for Education’s national skills fund, the bootcamps offer hands-on training for domestic retrofit, resulting in a NOCN level 2 award in domestic retrofit.

Central government needs to own the governance of the skills system and work in collaboration with the devolved governments and local combined authorities to set the framework, enabling awarding organisations to build training programmes for local provider delivery. 

The green jobs taskforce made a start, outlining the challenge in its 2021 report, but there is little evidence of any urgency in next steps or in wider collaboration to build a green skills framework for career pathways. Yet within each industry there are strong links, and these could be quickly integrated with the taskforce to create industry-appropriate frameworks.

Our new paper Greening the UK’s Skills, in conjunction with the British Association of Construction Heads (BACH), outlines the challenges we face and sets out the range of adapted and new skills the UK’s economy will urgently need over the next five to ten years if we are to be successful in reaching net zero.

We must, as a priority, invest in our tutors and assessors to deliver greening training. This will not be large courses like apprenticeships and T levels, but will be short modules of training, add-ons that could be funded through the levy or the adult education budget (AEB). The big opportunity is using these “greening” modules to upskill the 32.8m people in the workforce.

Some colleges may find this logistically difficult. The challenge for FE leaders is how to start delivering “greening” provision in 2023/24.

Welcoming the publication of the report, IfATE’s chief operating officer Robert Nitsch said:  “There can be no doubt that there is a need to re-orientate to green across the economy and that skills are an essential part of this.” He said that IfATE was “absolutely committed to ensuring that its apprenticeships and technical qualifications fully embrace sustainability priorities and is getting on with this work as a matter of urgency” and emphasised that everyone had a part in resolving what is a sizeable challenge.

The great risk facing the planet is climate change. If we are to successfully tackle this life-threatening challenge we must collaborate across government departments, industry and education to develop and build our green skills within the operational workforce, including – crucially – at level 2.

To understand what is preventing further and higher education institutions from becoming green campuses, we gathered opinions from more than 130 FE and HE representatives and 1,000 16- to 19-year-olds planning on applying to college or university. We also spoke to universities and colleges at different stages of their green journey. 

Our research revealed that 2 in 5 (42%) FE and HE institutions are not confident or do not know whether they will meet the government’s goal of a 78 per cent reduction in emissions by 2035 compared to 1990 levels. 

That so many institutions predict falling short is worrying. They face issues in common and understanding these is key to supporting them. For 77%, finance is the primary barrier, while 42% struggle to deliver renewable energy campus-wide and almost a third (31 per cent) blame a resistance to change within the institution.

The technology doesn’t come cheap, and with college funding notoriously constrained over the past decade, FE needs to look at alternative capital options. Most public sector government incentives are aimed at social housing and local authorities but government support is available. There are also sustainable lending options and strategic advice from banks, including private placement funding, the public sector decarbonisation scheme grant and the green heat network fund.

These funding options may change if the ONS, as is widely expected, reclassifies colleges as public sector bodies. This will result in additional budgeting and consent requirements, complicating matters. Colleges will likely need to compete for funds with other parts of the public sector, making it even more important to develop a clear and compelling case for green investment.

In our latest report, Building a Green Campus – what’s stopping institutions?, we explore further options for colleges including case studies of institutions that have delivered part of their green strategy using these devices. 

Deadlines loom but there are few easy-to-find examples of carbon neutral or net-zero campuses. Indeed, there isn’t even a standardised definition of a green campus. 

However we have developed a definition, and given the significant undertaking to achieve this status we have proposed a badge for ‘emerging green campuses’ in acknowledgement of those who are en route .

This formal recognition matters. Indeed, 79% of prospective students want institutions to have clear strategies for tackling climate change. But there’s a mismatch in priorities; less than half (48 per cent) of institutions think factoring climate change into decision making is important to prospective students. 

Our research also shows that solutions lie in cross-institutional activities such as leadership and management, teaching and learning, research and innovation, and services and facilities. In short, co-ordinating and implementing green campuses requires a common, cohesive goal for the whole institution. 

One campus making good progress on its net-zero journey is Gloucestershire College: in 2022, it converted its Gloucester and Cheltenham campuses to fully renewable energy. The campuses host 4,500 solar panels from which it plans to sell excess energy back to the grid. With battery storage also on campus, the college is able to purchase cheap power to hold in reserve when daylight hours are shorter or during peak times. The project is expected to have paid for itself in about six years. 

Sustainability targets cannot be achieved overnight. Transparency and collaboration within and between institutions and partners such as lenders, lawyers and consultants could be the key to unlocking the sector’s potential for green campuses.

But to make a real difference, sustainability cannot simply be delegated to estates or sustainability managers. It must run through every aspect of strategy, and its appeal to young people can be just the incentive to put it there.