GRJ0028
A Response from the RSPB to the Environmental Audit Committee inquiry into Green Jobs
About us
The RSPB is the largest conservation organisation in Europe, with more than 1.2 million members, over 2,000 employees and around 12,000 volunteers. We own or manage 158,725 hectares of land on 220 reserves throughout the UK, including woodland, peatland, wetlands and grasslands which connect people to nature and are home to 80% of our most threatened bird species. Our reserves welcome visitors, with larger centres providing facilities such as cafes, shops and education and family activities.
Nature should be at the heart of decision-making. The RSPB’s policy work covers a wide range of issues including sustainable land and marine management, agriculture, planning, climate change and biodiversity. We undertake large-scale habitat restoration and nature conservation projects, often in partnership with public and private organisations to realise benefits for nature, the environment, society, local economies and future generations.
Response to relevant inquiry questions
- What estimates are there for the jobs required to meet the pathway to net zero emissions, by sector, and other environmental and biodiversity commitments?
Below are estimates of the need for investment in the nature-based jobs required in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to meet the pathway to net zero emissions and both environmental and biodiversity commitments.
UK overview
Jobs required to meet the UK’s pathway to net zero emissions and other environmental commitments involve specialist jobs in nature conservation and renewable energy, as well as the development of environmental skills across the entire workforce, including workers in sectors such as manufacturing, construction, agriculture, mining and services. A green workforce therefore includes:
- Nature-based jobs and skills. Jobs will be created in management, restoration and creation of habitats and green infrastructure, in environmental land management, and nature-based solutions.
- Environment sector jobs and skills. A recent study for WWF[1] estimated that investments in green building, clean energy (especially offshore wind) and carbon capture and storage as part of a green recovery package could create 150,000 new jobs across the UK.
- Greening jobs and skills across the economy. A truly green economy requires environmental considerations to be incorporated across all jobs, and green skills mainstreamed. Studies have demonstrated the range of jobs affected and skills needed to meet priorities for nature and the environment[2].
The jobs that can be supported by nature related investments based on current commitments by governments in each of the UK countries are summarised below. Note, additional jobs would be created through multiplier effects, and in tourism and recreation, as nature investments attracted more people to visit nature sites and surrounding areas.
*RSPB Scotland and partners have estimated that habitat restoration and creation have the potential to create 3000 direct FTE jobs in the conservation sector in Scotland, and more among suppliers, through multiplier effects and by boosting tourism. The largest opportunities are in the creation and restoration of native woodlands, and the restoration of peatlands[3].
Investing in our natural capital in this way will contribute to the net zero carbon target, deliver valuable wider benefits to people and the economy, contribute to achieving Scotland’s National Performance Framework Outcomes and make Scotland’s nature more resilient, contributing to our long-term prosperity.
- Does the UK workforce have the skills and capacity needed to deliver the green jobs required to meet our net zero target and other environmental ambitions (including in the 25-year environment plan)?
No, the UK workforce does not, and is not on track to, have the skills and capacity needed to deliver the green jobs required to meet its net zero target and other environmental ambitions (including in the 25-year environment plan). There is a risk that without investment in skills training now, there will be a nature skills (ecology, land management, species conservation) gap for new nature jobs that the economy needs for schemes such as ELMS, net-gain, and the Nature Recovery Network, which are needed to deliver the green jobs required to meet our net-zero target and other environmental ambitions (including in the 25-year environment plan).
More nature, climate and sustainability education is needed from a young age for future generations to be equipped with the skills and understanding to work in a green, net-zero economy. A recent survey found that nearly a third of pupils surveyed wanted climate change and sustainability to be taught much more comprehensively at school.[4] Another study found that 68% of children hope to have a career that helps the environment, but 71% reported having a lack of understanding about such jobs, which could stop them from getting them.[5]
To upscale nature, climate and sustainability education, teachers need to be trained in how to teach these subjects. A 2019 YouGov survey showed that around 70% of teachers polled reported that there should be more teaching about climate change in UK schools and 75% said that they did not feel that they had received adequate training to educate students on this subject.[6] Around 70% agreed that radical change was required to make the education system “fit for the times we live in”.
There is a strong desire for nature jobs[7] and nature and climate education, and the UK nature sector is ready and able to train people and absorb them into its workforce, if sufficiently funded. However, more financial capacity is required to deliver more green jobs in order to meet the UK’s net zero target and other environmental ambitions.
- Are the Government’s ambitions for green job creation in the public and private sectors sufficient for the scale of the challenges? What changes should be made?
The World Economic Forum and the CCC, as well as a range of other economic and environmental organisations have long championed the economic benefits of investing in natural capital. Investing in the restoration and re-creation of habitats will create jobs, help to meet commitments for biodiversity, and strengthen our natural capital, delivering vital ecosystem services for people and businesses and helping to build a stronger and more resilient economy. The World Economic Forum has estimated that shifting to a nature-positive economy could generate up to US$10.1 trillion (£7.1 trillion) in annual business value and create 395 million jobs globally by 2030. For example, the natural environment supports almost 750,000 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) jobs and over £27.5 billion of economic output across the UK.
In view of what we know about the economic necessity of protecting our natural world, the Government’s ambitions for green job creation in the public and private sectors is not sufficient for the scale of the challenges. The level of public investment in nature is far below the sums needed to meet green jobs ambitions related to existing climate and nature targets, such as improving the extent and condition of priority habitats and reversing declines in wildlife.[8] There is likely to be a significant funding gap before 2024 when new investment is expected from Environmental Land Management and net-gain policies. The Government needs to invest £2.9 billion annually on environmental land management, including £615 million each year on restoration and creation of priority habitats. Based on figures for employment supported by historic LIFE and HLF funded nature restoration projects, we calculate that a £615 million annual investment in restoration and creation of natural habitats will create at least 8,800 jobs directly and support additional jobs through tourism.
Existing funding recently made available goes some way to addressing this need, but analysis shows that it is insufficient to meet total requirements (Rayment, 2019). The Government’s Nature for Climate Fund commits £640 million towards restoring vital habitats and tackling climate change, but that sum is a total figure with no defined timeline and no programme for annual spending to address habitat restoration needs as identified above. Furthermore, the Fund may be spent on commercial forestry with potentially negative impacts on nature. £80 million of the Fund has been brought forward through the Green Jobs Challenge fund, but there is no further strategic programme of investment of the kind that would deliver restoration and recovery of habitats or deliver a sustainable supply of green jobs.
We have also recommended that the Government support an investment of £741 million annually on a new National Nature Service (NNS) employment and training scheme.[9] The NNS could deliver 15,000 FTE jobs per year across the country. As the NNS solves two problems (unemployment and the natural crisis), it represents an opportunity to bring employment-related funding into the nature sector. The Government’s Kickstart programme could, if flexibly deployed, contribute between £40-£180m of the estimated £426m NNS employment costs, alongside £315m project costs delivered by the Nature for Climate fund. This would leave £246-£386 million of the remaining share of employment costs to be provided by new Government investment. There are real opportunities for public private partnerships and joint funding to extend NNS operations.
The NNS concept has significant public support. YouGov research, carried out for Wildlife & Countryside Link in September 2020 found 83% of respondents supportive of Government funding to allow unemployed people to take up jobs to improve outcomes for nature.[10]
- How can the UK ensure jobs are created in areas most impacted by the transition to a low-carbon economy?
Investing in nature jobs in rural and coastal areas which, due to their high accumulations of natural assets, are key targets for nature conservation work will help to ensure that jobs are created in areas most impacted by the transition to a low-carbon economy, because these are also some of the areas with the highest concentrations of high carbon intensive industries. Such areas include the North East, North West and Yorkshire & the Humber.
Nature conservation can offer considerable retraining and job opportunities in the short and long term and is critical in achieving net-zero. Based on the Government’s current commitments, there is potential for at least 70,000 additional jobs to be created in nature over the coming years, many of which could be targeted to these regions. Wildlife and Countryside Link’s shovel ready project compendium details more nature projects that would cover 18 key landscapes across England.
- What additional interventions should be undertaken to aid in a ‘just transition’?
The Government should use the UK’s influence on the global stage and lead other countries by example to build global ambition for nature and climate action to aid in a global ‘just transition’. As the interim report of the Dasgupta Review suggests, environmental degradation risks undermining the global economy. The devasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic must act as a catalyst for the global community to work constructively to set in place ambitious commitments for nature and climate.
This is an opportunity to define Global Britain as a fundamentally green project, and to focus on creating political momentum for action to address the climate and ecological emergencies. The UK should lead the world in tackling the climate crisis and restoring nature by bringing global leaders together to plan for a green and sustainable recovery in the run-up to the United Nations COP26 event in Glasgow next year, the UK’s Presidency of the G7 in 2021, and the equally important CBD COP15.
Strong leadership now from the UK can help to secure an effective global deal at CBD COP15 that can save nature, improve livelihoods, help tackle climate change, and reinforce our economy. The UK must act as a strong voice in negotiations to ensure that new global targets are ambitious, clear and measurable, and are supported by adequate means of implementation. We also need to demonstrate by doing, and clear legally binding targets for nature’s recovery in England, would give the Government political credibility in pressing for these international commitments and drive domestic ambition across all four countries of the UK, bringing great benefits for our own economy and social wellbeing. To be effective, outcome targets should be supported by concrete actions, such as a commitment in England to effectively protect and manage of 30% of our land and seas for nature by 2030, and ambitious habitat restoration targets. The UK must also demonstrate its domestic ambition by ensuring the smooth and timely passage of the Environment Bill with strong, legally binding targets for nature and for reducing environmental harm cause by imported commodities. These targets must articulate a measurable overarching goal for nature, including requirements for setting long-term targets for recovering species population abundance, reducing species extinction risk, and improving habitat quality and extent on land and at sea.
The UK should also build on existing commitments and programmes on greening commodity supply chains, such the Global Resource Initiative, to accelerate the transition to resilient food and agriculture systems underpinned by a sustainable financial system that no longer drives social or environmental harm.
Domestically, for the success of new ‘public money for public goods’ approach to agricultural policy ELMS must be transparently administered. Schemes also need to be simple to access and reliably delivered to encourage uptake and to secure a smooth, just transition from our current model.
- What impact can green jobs have on the wider UK economy?
Green jobs that help to revive nature and increase access, and fairness of access, to nature can help to the improve public health and wellbeing and reduce societal inequalities.
Access to nature-rich, biodiverse green and blue spaces improves health and wellbeing, as well as child development, productivity and social cohesion. Ecosystems services provide us with clean air and water and protect us against extreme weather events, such as flooding. At the global level, nature’s ecosystem services protect us against climate change and health pandemics and provide us with a climate-safe, sustainable, and resilient planet in which the UK can thrive.
Recent studies have highlighted people’s value of nature for health, wellbeing and happiness, particularly during lockdown.[11],[12] The majority believed that the Government should set economic growth targets with nature protection in mind (78%), invest in nature protection as part of any economic recovery plans (77%), and increase the number of accessible nature-rich areas in the UK (84%).[13]
This can help level up the societal inequalities in access to nature. The Marmot Review 10 years on report found that deprived inner-city areas have five times less the amount of good-quality green space and higher levels of pollution than other urban areas.[14] Households with an annual income under £10,000 are 3.6 times more likely to have no outdoor space where they live, and about 40% less likely to live within a 10-minute walk of any publicly accessible natural greenspace than those with an income of £60,000 or more.[15] Urban households are less likely than rural households to have any outdoor space, 21% less likely to live close to any public natural greenspace, and 23% more likely to feel they have been unable to spend enough time in nature. Ethnic monitories tend to have less access to nature and its health benefits, which further exacerbates the inequality of the impact of Covid-19 on death rates in ethnic minorities. For example, Black people are nearly 4 times less likely to have no outdoor space at home, 2.4 times less likely to have a private garden[16] and 1.9 times more likely to die from a COVID-19-related death than White people.[17]
Investing in nature jobs, therefore, is not only cost beneficial financially, it also contributes to wider economic and societal benefits in the UK.
- What contribution can green jobs make to the UK’s economic recovery from Covid-19?
Green jobs can make a great contribution to the UK’s economic recovery from Covid-19. Green stimulus investments make economic sense and benefit from public support. Eminent economist Joseph Stiglitz and the Oxford Smith School have demonstrated that green investments are often more effective at job creation than conventional ones and that natural infrastructure is one of the most reliable investments.
Investment in nature jobs such as tree planting, enhancing parks for disadvantaged communities, restored landscapes and flood protection is cost beneficial. This delivers:
• Reduced pressure on the NHS. Natural England has estimated that £2.1 billion per year could be saved in health costs if everyone in England had good access to greenspace, due to increased physical activity in those spaces.[18] Every £1 invested in enhancing green space could yield £20 in public benefits.[19]
• Natural capital, providing ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration, water quality and reduced flooding.[20]
WWF’s Living Planet Report 2020 modelling shows that while demand and supply-side interventions are beneficial, only increased conservation efforts can reverse the trend in nature decline. Given that nature loss is a key cause of climate change, investment jobs in nature/conservation is key to achieving Government’s Net Zero and ‘30 by 30’ targets.
The nature sector can offer considerable employment opportunities (15,000 year-long jobs) in the next 18 months if sufficiently funded, e.g. for nature-based solutions and the maintenance and improvement of greenspaces (see Wildlife and Countryside Link’s shovel ready project compendium). The Green Recovery Challenge Fund has offered opportunities for this, though £80M is far less than what is needed to achieve the Government’s ’30 by 30’ and Net Zero targets.
- How can the UK ensure high emissions are not locked-in when tackling unemployment?
Having a long term zero net greenhouse gas emissions test for government employment schemes would help to ensure that high emissions are not locked-in when tackling unemployment.
For example, government employment schemes for house building should ensure that new build houses and estates are nature and climate friendly, including being carbon neutral or positive. This will also help to increase access to nature and ecosystem services, such as clear air and natural flood defences.
Investing in jobs in nature-based solutions to climate change are a good way of ensuring high emissions are not locked. They will also help achieve the UK’s decarbonisation targets.