Policy update: Building skills for a sustainable economy

7th August 2014


Related Topics

Related tags

  • Qualifications ,
  • Skills ,
  • CPD ,
  • Training ,
  • Knowledge Centre

Author

Su Min Kim

Josh Fothergill, policy and practice lead at IEMA, discusses how we are working to deliver a sustainable economy

A sustainable economy is one that works over the long-term to deliver economic, social and environmental stability. To build towards delivering such an economy, governments and organisations must review their approach to ensure they are contributing to delivering high employment and improved equality, while responding to the challenges of climate change, resource constraints and biodiversity loss.

To deliver a sustainable economy will require a different mix of skills, knowledge and competences from those in the current system. IEMA has identified three key catalysing actions to get the ball rolling: a national strategy on skills for the sustainable economy; a wide coalition of business and institutional support for action; and collaboration across this agenda between government and business. The Institute has chosen to tackle this challenge head-on by developing an outline strategy in our forthcoming position statement, Skills for the sustainable economy, which will launch in December.

Alongside this, IEMA is working with businesses and wider organisations to generate a broad campaign of action to demonstrate what is being achieved already by those leading the way on embedding sustainable skills across their business. IEMA’s position statement will highlight the actions and support needed from the government and wider institutions to enable a high-performing economy that drives social improvements and does so within environmental limits.

Member engagement is central to developing IEMA’s position statement and this consultation began in July. Wider consultation will take place in September, with a number of regional workshops on developing organisational capabilities to deliver sustainability. If your organisation is interested in supporting this initiative, email me.

Subscribe

Subscribe to IEMA's newsletters to receive timely articles, expert opinions, event announcements, and much more, directly in your inbox.


Transform articles

It's all in the mind(set)

In the first of three articles, Garry Warhurst assesses the initial approach to sustainability auditing and compliance

2nd August 2024

Read more

IEMA-commissioned research suggests that career advisers should target young people at an earlier age than they often do. There are risks but also significant opportunities for the green economy, writes Chris Seekings

2nd August 2024

Read more

Rachel Cooper and Beth Chaudhary explore how colleges can cultivate the next generation of innovators

2nd August 2024

Read more

IEMA and the Diverse Sustainability Initiative (DSI), partners with the University of Strathclyde to develop mentoring that supports People of Colour working as sustainability and environmental professionals

2nd August 2024

Read more

The UK government has launched Skills England to identify and address skills shortages across the country over the next decade.

31st July 2024

Read more

Aghogho Egbo AIEMA, project manager, knowledge transfer associate, University of Hull

30th July 2024

Read more

How the University of Bath has integrated experiential learning into MSc curricula

30th July 2024

Read more

Rebecca Turner reviews the past year for the Green Careers Hub

30th July 2024

Read more

Media enquires

Looking for an expert to speak at an event or comment on an item in the news?

Find an expert

IEMA Cookie Notice

Clicking the ‘Accept all’ button means you are accepting analytics and third-party cookies. Our website uses necessary cookies which are required in order to make our website work. In addition to these, we use analytics and third-party cookies to optimise site functionality and give you the best possible experience. To control which cookies are set, click ‘Settings’. To learn more about cookies, how we use them on our website and how to change your cookie settings please view our cookie policy.

Manage cookie settings

Our use of cookies

You can learn more detailed information in our cookie policy.

Some cookies are essential, but non-essential cookies help us to improve the experience on our site by providing insights into how the site is being used. To maintain privacy management, this relies on cookie identifiers. Resetting or deleting your browser cookies will reset these preferences.

Essential cookies

These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website.

Analytics cookies

These cookies allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors to our website and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works.

Advertising cookies

These cookies allow us to tailor advertising to you based on your interests. If you do not accept these cookies, you will still see adverts, but these will be more generic.

Save and close