GRJ0063

Written evidence submitted by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS)

Introduction

  1. Two centuries ago, the UK led the world’s first Industrial Revolution – supporting jobs and growth across the country. Today we are mobilising the same forces of innovation and private investment to level up our country and, enable our proud industrial heartlands to forge the future once again. By investing in clean technologies – wind, carbon capture, hydrogen and many others – Britain will lead the world into a new Green Industrial Revolution and support green jobs across the country.

 

  1. We will build back better and greener from the devastating impacts of the coronavirus on lives and livelihoods. We will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs by investing in pioneering British industries, while simultaneously protecting future generations from climate change and the remorseless destruction of habitats.

 

  1. The Green Jobs Taskforce was set up in November 2020 to help ensure we have the skilled workforce to deliver net zero and our Ten Point Plan. The Taskforce is co-chaired by both Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Department for Education (DfE) ministers and includes representatives from business, skills providers, academia and unions. The taskforce will conclude its work in spring 2021, with the actions feeding into our Net Zero Strategy to be published later in the year. Its aim is to focus on the immediate and longer-term challenges of delivering skilled workers for the UK’s transition to net zero including:

 

  1. Britain is already leading the way. Over the last 30 years, we have shown that economic success and environmental responsibility can go hand in hand. We have grown our economy by 75% while cutting emissions by 43%. In 2019, we became the first major economy to adopt a legally binding obligation to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

 

What estimates are there for the jobs required to meet the pathway to net zero emissions, by sector, and other environmental and biodiversity commitments?

  1. Statistics published by the ONS show that our low-carbon industries already support over 460,000 jobs (directly and in supply chains): from electric vehicle manufacturing in the Midlands and the North East, to our thriving offshore wind industry centred on the Humber and the Tees.[i]

 

  1. Through the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, which we built on with the Energy White Paper, we are mobilising £12 billion of government investment, and potentially three times as much from the private sector, to create and support up to 250,000 more green jobs by 2030.[ii] Our analysis suggests that the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan[iii] could support:

 

 

  1. The Ten Point Plan also announced an increase in the Green Recovery Challenge Fund to £80 million, enabling over 100 nature projects to be delivered across England over the next 2 years. This will help create and retain thousands of green jobs to work on nature conservation and restoration projects across England, helping to improve biodiversity and tackle climate change.

 

  1. Our Net Zero Strategy, due to be published later in 2021, will set out the government’s pathway for transitioning to a net zero economy, setting how government will look to maximise new growth and employment opportunities across the UK. The Strategy will build on the Ten Point Plan and the sectoral plans we will bring forward in 2020/21. The Strategy will also consider what skills we need in the economy to deliver this transition drawing on the work of the Green Jobs Taskforce.

 

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)?

What needs to be done to ensure that these skills and capacity are developed in time to meet our environmental targets?

  1. Through the work of the Green Jobs Taskforce, the government is looking to map out the key opportunities, challenges and skills needs that will help us transition to net zero. The key outputs from the Taskforce will be:

 

  1. The government has a range of programmes in place to help people get the skills needed in the economy and are most valued by employers, including to support green jobs. This includes Apprenticeships, Skills Bootcamps, Traineeships, T Levels, and the forthcoming £2.5 billion National Skills Fund (£3 billion when including Barnett funding for devolved administrations) which will help us grow future talent pipelines and deliver the skilled individuals we will need. For example, there are a number of apprenticeships currently already available in the green and energy sectors including, community energy specialists, junior energy managers and dual-fuel smart meter installers, and we are committed to ensuring people of all ages can benefit from the high-quality training that an apprenticeship offers.

 

  1. The Lifetime Skills Guarantee will help people train and retrain at any stage of their lives, and so develop the skills most valued by employers. As part of this guarantee, from April 2021, any adult aged 24 and over who is looking to achieve their first full Level 3 qualification, will be able to access a fully funded course which will give them new skills and greater prospects in the labour market. We will target this Level 3 adult offer on sector subject areas that have strong outcomes at level 3 linked to labour market need. The offer includes a range of qualifications that are valuable across the economy, including that of key green sectors, for example, Engineering, Building and Construction, Manufacturing Technologies and Horticulture and Forestry. 

 

  1. In addition, the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education has convened a Green Apprenticeships Advisory Panel to guide the Institute in encouraging trailblazers to better align apprenticeships to net zero and wider sustainability objectives. In conjunction, it will also assist Route Panels in identifying gaps in the apprenticeship offering and suggest revisions to existing standards.

 

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?

  1. In the longer term we are determined to seize the once-in-a-generation opportunities of the green economy and the net zero transition by creating new business and employment opportunities. According to some estimates there could be up to 2 million green jobs by 2030 across all regions of the UK.[iv]

 

  1. The Ten Point Plan will mobilise £12 billion of government investment to unlock three times as much private sector investment by 2030 and level up regions across the UK. In doing so we estimate the Plan will support up to 250,000 highly skilled green jobs by 2030 and up to 90,000 jobs within this Parliament, across energy, buildings, transport, innovation and the natural environment.

 

  1. The Energy White Paper sets out plans for a historic transformation of the UK’s energy system for a cleaner, greener future, starting the transition away from our traditional dependency on fossil fuels for energy

 

 

  1. Over the next year we will work with industry to devise further sectoral plans and meet our carbon budgets and set out our Net Zero Strategy ahead of COP26, the last of which will bring together what skills will be needed to transition to net zero across these different sectors and how HMG will support this.

 

What risks are there to meeting the Government’s ambitions for green job creation in both the public and private sectors? What should the Government do to create the conditions to ensure its commitments are met by both sectors?

  1. Delivering our net zero objective will require decarbonisation of all sectors and close working between government and the private sector.

 

  1. Our 2019 Green Finance Strategy sets out how we will harness the strength of the UK’s world-leading financial sector to catalyse green investment and accelerate delivery of net zero.  

 

  1. We have set out a strong framework for investment with a clear signal to investors in our commitment to net zero by 2050. Our approach is tried and tested – it has seen the UK power sector attract over £93 billion of green investment since 2010, with the sector’s emissions reducing by 58% since 2010 and 67% since 1990.

 

  1. Additionally, this year the Government will issue its first Sovereign Green Bond helping to finance projects that will tackle climate change, finance much needed infrastructure investments and create green jobs across the economy. We will also create a new infrastructure bank for the UK which will co-invest alongside private sector investors for infrastructure projects.

 

  1. As set out in paragraph 3, to ensure we have the skilled workforce to deliver net zero, we have launched the Green Jobs Taskforce to ensure government is working in partnership with business, skills providers and unions, to develop plans for new long-term good quality, green jobs by 2030 and advise what support is needed for people in transitioning industries. The taskforce will conclude its work in spring 2021, with the work informing our Net Zero Strategy, to be published later in the year.

 

  1. Alongside this, we are investing in the long-term skills we need to realise these green job opportunities. This includes investing £406 million in maths, digital and technical education to help address anticipated shortage of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) skills. These measures will help provide good jobs and greater earning power for all and will help provide businesses with the skilled people they need to thrive in our growing low carbon economy.

 

What measures should the Government take to ensure that its proposals to meet environmental targets do not by default lead to jobs in affected industries being exported?

How can the UK ensure jobs are created in areas most impacted by the transition to a low-carbon economy?

What additional interventions should be undertaken to aid in a ‘just transition’?

  1. Ensuring that our transition is a just and fair one for workers and households is a priority for this government. The government will make sure that our growing green economy is inclusive, benefitting people across the UK, supporting workers as industries transform and ensuring costs as well as the benefits are shared fairly, protecting consumers, workers and businesses.

 

  1. To support this HM Treasury is conducting a review into the costs of decarbonisation, including how to achieve this transition in a way that works for households, businesses and public finances, as well as the wider implications for UK competitiveness. In December we published the interim findings of this report and the final report and recommendations of the review will be published this year.

 

  1. Our ambitious Ten Point Plan and Energy White Paper will create green jobs across the country by investing in our proud industrial heartlands, futureproofing them and putting them at the forefront of the green industrial revolution – ensuring we capture the growth and job opportunities of net zero.

 

  1. We are also looking at the skills need as well as support for the labour market transition to net zero on a sectoral basis. One way we have done this is through sector deals, including those on nuclear, offshore wind and automotive. Looking ahead, our expertise in the North Sea from oil and gas is now part of a growing offshore wind supply chain. There are 150,000 jobs in the oil and gas industry (including the supply chain), of whom four in ten work in Scotland. We believe that the North Sea oil and gas industry has a key role to play as we move to a Net Zero economy. We are also working at pace with the UK’s upstream oil and gas sector to deliver a transformational North Sea Transition Deal. This is in recognition of the fact that the sector including its supply chain and workforce has the capabilities and skills to help drive the energy transition in the UK and subsequently in new export markets.

 

  1. The UK is also taking action internationally to support a just transition. At COP 24 in Katowice the UK signed up to the Just Transition Silesia Declaration led by the Polish Government. Building on this we signed up the UNCAS pledge in September 2019 to formulate a national plan for a Just Transition, creating good green jobs and decent work for all.

 

  1. As we look forward, this year the Net Zero Strategy will set out the Government’s vision for transitioning to a net zero economy, making the most of new growth and employment opportunities across the UK.

 

 

What impact can green jobs have on the wider UK economy?

  1. We are determined to seize the once-in-a-generation economic opportunities of the net zero transition by creating new business opportunities and up to 2 million green jobs by 2030 across all regions of the UK. In the electricity sector alone, 83% of the $13.3 trillion investment in electricity systems worldwide between now and 2050 could be into zero-carbon technologies.  With high levels of innovation and ambitious policy, the UK's 12 low carbon sectors with the largest potential for innovation could contribute £27 billion to the economy through domestic economic activity and £26 billion through exports by 2050.

 

  1. The Ten Point Plan and Energy White Paper present a vision for the UK that is greener, more prosperous and where the UK is positioned to take advantage of export opportunities in new, global emerging markets in low carbon technologies and services. Building on our existing strengths including in offshore wind, smart energy, electric vehicle technologies and green finance, will provide jobs, support levelling up and reinvigorate our industrial heartlands, including in the North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, the Midlands, Scotland and Wales.

 

  1. For example, analysis shows that:

 

 

 

What contribution can green jobs make to the UK’s economic recovery from Covid-19?

How can the UK ensure high emissions are not locked-in when tackling unemployment?

  1. The Prime Minister has said that as we rebuild from the impacts of the pandemic we must build back better, greener, and faster. As set out earlier in this evidence submission, the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan lays the foundations for a Green Industrial Revolution in the UK which will support green jobs, levelling up, accelerating our path to net zero, and creating a long-term advantage for the UK. We will start by supporting 90,000 jobs across the UK within this Parliament, and up to 250,000 by 2030.

 

  1. There is evidence from the global financial crisis in 2008 that suggests that in the short-term, green investments, such as renewables and energy efficiency, are effective means of delivering jobs and growth in response to instances of economic crisis. They offer higher employment and growth pay-offs compared to traditional stimulus measures, thanks to higher jobs multipliers (as in the case of renewables), which boost spending and increase short-run GDPi. 

 

January 2021

[i] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-ten-point-plan-for-a-green-industrial-revolution/title#fn:1

[ii] Any figures or values displayed without reference to a direct or external source have been calculated in accordance with standard HMG analysis procedure. Aggregate figures rely on simplifying assumptions without presuming macroeconomic market conditions and are subject to further consideration in upcoming sectoral strategies

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Ricardo, UK business opportunities of moving to a low carbon economy

[v] The CCC, The Sixth Carbon Budget, Buildings