How to Develop Green Collar Jobs in Your Area - What is a Green Economy? - and Where are the Green Jobs?
How to Develop Green Collar Jobs in Your Area - What is a Green Economy? - and Where are the Green Jobs?
Purpose of the presentation
This purpose of this presentation by Peter Young from Enviros Consulting was to explain to the audience what a Green Economy and the Green Jobs are.
At first, he reminded of the context for the Birth of a Green Economy in UK starting with the 2007 Stern Report and then explained what a Low Carbon and Resource Efficient Economy (LCREE) is. He also identified the Policy Drivers and the 4 Key Strategies that are in place now and which can help. Then the question 'Why local green jobs are hard to identify?' was addressed and the Opportunity Drivers - from global to local were discussed. He demonstrated why energy is the key and showed the importance of renewables. The presentation ended addressing the implications for jobs/skills and offering six suggestions for Local Government.
Relevance to the region
Each region and locality in the UK has different strengths in LCREE. Thus, the position the region takes should reflect social conditions, natural resources, skills base, infrastructure and carbon emission intensity. The West Midlands region has both the Productivity and the Carbon Gap, so creating Green Jobs to tackle and reduce these gaps is of high significance to the region.
It is important that the West Midlands region understands where it is coming from, recognises the knowledge base there is in the region and builds on the intelligence that already exists (especially its strengths in engineering, sience and technology). Also, when preparing Regional Strategy for Low Carbon Economy it is crucial to always match low carbon projects with an appropriate plan for skills. Slides 23 and 24 show where likely employment in the West Midlands region will be regarding the renewables. Initially, it will be in construction of various plants, factories and other equipment. In the long term, that shifts to operating and running these industrial units.
What SWM liked
We liked that it gave a comprehensive overview of the background and beginnings of the focus on a Green Economy. It also defined the term Green Economy and presented the 4 key Government Strategies in promoting it. That stirred the discussion and the question was raised why there are 9 different funding streams instead of one. This is a very good question to the Government as it shows that there is room for improvement and more comprehensive national strategy in promoting Green Economy and Green Jobs.
Links and contact information
For more information on how to improve environmental, social and health & safety performance of your business and organisation, please visit Enviros Consulting website.