Friday 19 January 2024

UK at risk of falling behind in green jobs

While 71% of business leaders acknowledge the importance of green skills, nearly 51% are actively implementing or planning related programmes for their workforce.

A recent study conducted by Economist Impact, supported by Iberdrola, has highlighted potential challenges facing the UK's green transition.

Despite optimism about the positive impact on job creation, a significant portion of the UK workforce lacks essential training for a greener economy, posing a risk to the transition's progress, according to the report.

A majority of business leaders worldwide, accounting for 62%, assert that deficiencies in green skills will lead to bottlenecks, causing delays in the progress of the green transition.

Soft skills such as environmental awareness, innovation and teamwork are deemed crucial alongside technical expertise.

Business leaders express confidence in their role (60%) but stress the need for coordination and innovation between governments, educational institutions and the private sector.

Iberdrola also calls for long term environmental incentives to expedite the broader greening of the economy.

Keith Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of ScottishPower said: "As the business leaders we spoke to for our research agreed, the private sector will undoubtedly drive the skills agenda but there’s is a debate to be had with policymakers as to how we coordinate and innovate so the UK can take advantage of everything the green transition has to offer."