‘Change starts with me’: What UK's young people think about green jobs
2021/22 Year Here Fellows explore the insights gained from working with young people looking for green jobs.
The UK government set out an ambition to have 2 million ‘green jobs’ by 2030 — from electric vehicle manufacture in the Midlands to construction and installation of offshore wind farms around the coast and retrofitting homes across the country. To reach this goal and ensure the benefits of this new green economy are shared by all communities, we will need young people from all backgrounds to be trained and upskilled to take on green roles.
Here, three Year Here Fellows — each working to support this transition — share their insights on how young people currently perceive green jobs and the barriers and opportunities to entering this sector. This work came out of the partnership between Year Here and Royal London as part of the ‘Bold Ideas’ stage of the Changemakers programme. The partnership explored what causes financial vulnerability, the challenges of building economic resilience, and how we can better build people’s financial resilience. It also looked at the social and financial impacts of moving to a low-carbon economy. Together we aim to find new and scalable solutions by giving Year Here Fellows deep insights into these challenges.
What are green jobs?
Whilst there are some shared definitions used by the UN and the International Labour Organization, the Office of National Statistics in the UK has acknowledged that there are challenges to implementation in practice. Should we look at roles directly within the Low Carbon & Renewable Energy sector? Or how about circular economy fashion businesses? What about lawyers advocating for new legislation on emissions or fund managers investing in tech companies which reduce the need for international flights?
Groundworks acknowledge the broad scope that we should consider and define green jobs as ‘any jobs that have a direct, positive impact on the planet and that will form part of the low carbon economy of the future […] To protect our future, every job must be a ‘green job’. This means that every worker must have a good understanding of climate change [and] the impact their work has on the environment’.
What does this mean for young people looking for green jobs?
Firstly, the ambiguity of what roles, sectors and skills are included in the definition makes it difficult for young people to navigate and access information about green jobs. Whilst the majority of young people say they care about the green agenda, the majority also say they aren’t sure how they can be involved. Social mobility charity Speakers for School found that 63% of 15–18-year-olds said they know what a green job is, but over half aren’t sure about the required skills and qualifications to get one.
At the same time, there aren’t necessarily role models to help young people see this as a viable career path and provide relevant mentoring to guide them. Just 4.8% of professionals working in the environment sector identify as Black, Asian or minority ethnic (compared to the 12.6% average across all professions), making it the 2nd least diverse sector in the UK.
What insights have Year Here Fellows gained from working on the frontline of these challenges?
1. Schools aren’t currently equipped to advise on green careers, and employers aren’t sure where to look for the skills they need
2021/22 Year Here Fellow Marisa Bruce is a Teach First graduate and has spent the last nine years working in East London teaching politics and working in various pastoral and leadership roles. Her consulting project — enabled through funding from Royal London — was with biotech fashion start-up Modern Synthesis, which was looking to recruit more diversity of thought into its team. Marisa reflected that “the project with Modern Synthesis made me realise how currently people working in the just transition space are more likely to come from a more privileged background, and we need to do more to educate people about these new job roles that people may want to work in.”
It might seem obvious then that teachers and schools would be doing their best to showcase this growing sector; unfortunately, Marisa has found in her experience that this is rarely the case.
“The jobs we talk about in schools are more traditional and not necessarily the jobs that will exist in the next 5–10 years,” says Marisa. “Partly this is because teachers don’t get any mandatory continued professional development on the labour market and how this is changing.” Things are improving in terms of career advice (for example, the introduction of the Gatsby Benchmarks has clarified what good quality looks like), but career advice remains only as good as the school prioritises making it, and many schools still need additional support.
Meanwhile, employers keen to bring in young talent are not sure from where to recruit. Modern Synthesis targets places like Imperial University and Central St Martins because they know these institutions would have provided relevant training. But Jen Keene, Modern Synthesis’ CEO, wants to show that their organisation is open to many more people who may not see themselves as green designers or scientists. “We are really thinking about diversity and inclusion in our talent pipeline & team, as well as our local social responsibility in terms of integrating our manufacturing site into the local community and creating local jobs.”
2. Young people from low-income backgrounds don’t yet see green jobs as a clear career path and way to earn secure money, relative to more traditional aspirational careers
2021 Year Here Fellow Roxana Romero and 2021/22 Fellow Kathy D’Apice both did a 5-month placement at Ark Globe Academy. This school is on a mission to prepare students for university and to be leaders in their community. 57% of their students come from a low-income background, 85% have Black, Asian or Mixed ethnic heritage and 43% have English as an additional language.
Before joining Year Here, Roxana spent three years running Croft Carbon College (part of Earth in Common), a centre in Edinburgh that raises awareness about climate change. She used this experience to inform her innovation project within Ark Globe Academy and launched an enrichment class to teach children about climate literacy. As she promoted this class, Roxana became aware that students rarely had a lot of knowledge about climate change but were passionate & quick to spot how they could be involved.
Two students shared what Roxana’s class has made them realise and aspire to. “This is a great opportunity for young people like myself to have different ways that we can make a change to our society […] change starts with me,” said Ebi. This experience helped Ebi understand how much the green transition will impact who she is and her livelihood, as well as what it could mean for her as part of an organisation. Luciano combined what he learnt with his existing aspirations to go into aerospace engineering; he now wants to build a carbon-neutral rocket.
“Working with students like Luciano brought to life for me how any job can be a green job,” said Roxana. But it has also shown her and her business partner Kathy the barriers young people can face from teachers and their families.
“Schools limit what students see as a ‘successful’ job, and this was often in more traditional careers like business, healthcare, law. Ark Globe had Procter & Gamble come in to do a marketing project with the students — which is great — but there was no similar exposure to green alternatives,” reflects Kathy.
Roxana added, “often, the students at Ark Globe are the first in their family to go to university, and their carers may not see the green economy as offering stable careers with the same status or prestige as being a doctor or banker. Parents need more reassurance that this is a good option for their kids.”
How are Year Here Fellows developing innovative solutions?
Building on her professional background as a teacher plus her insight from Modern Synthesis, Marisa is launching a social business targeting young people to feel confident about their career opportunities. “My time on Year Here made me think about a venture that could educate teachers and students about jobs that people could do in the future and support young people to develop transferable skills which are so important for the future of work.” Her venture, HireHer, looks specifically to support young women from low-income families to develop skills which enable them to access the future jobs market.
Roxana’s innovation project at Ark Globe was nominated for a Fair Education Alliance Award in 2021. From this, she has gone on to launch Climate Minded, a social enterprise widening access for young people from ethnic minorities and low-income backgrounds to participate in the Green Economy by teaching them about climate literacy, green skills and green jobs.
Roxana was on the Year Here Incubator and pitched her venture at Crowdbacker, securing £1,250 of funding from Royal London. “Without this Royal London support, I wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing with Climate Minded now,” commented Roxana. This includes bringing in Kathy as the Head of UK and enabling Roxana to adapt the course to a different social, political, economic and cultural context to deliver it in her home country of Bolivia.
Climate Minded is starting to work with schools offering their programme as an extracurricular activity. “Our target age group of 16–18-year-olds-doesn’t have much opportunity to explore diverse subjects and interests — for A-Levels, you have to decide what you’re doing within quite a narrow scope. That’s why Climate Minded is so important; it offers young people the chance to think beyond the school curriculum,” says Kathy.
Both of these ventures are still in the early stages and would welcome support. You can contact Roxana, Kathy and Marisa directly with any offers.
