Labour's plan for economic growth must mean green growth – but there is a green skills gap looming

With the Labour Party winning a landslide General Election, the Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment (IEMA) has urged the new Government to focus on boosting green skills across the UK workforce to drive increased productivity and economic growth.

The first two of the Labour Party's five missions outlined in their Manifesto focus on "kickstarting economic growth" and "making Britain a clean energy superpower" – two issues that should be intrinsically linked.

IEMA CEO, Sarah Mukherjee MBE, said: “Kick-starting economic growth is the number one mission of the incoming Labour Party but that growth must be green.

“Growth will only come with increased productivity and that requires a highly skilled workforce.

“Yet there is a green skills gap looming because the demand for green jobs in the UK is growing twice as fast as the growth in green talent.

“We would urge Labour to develop a specific plan to accelerate the uptake of green skills, to ensure we have a diverse workforce that can deliver a green economy fit for the future.

“The bones of a plan focused on net zero and environment jobs already exists, developed over two years with a cross-sector group of employers, skills bodies like IEMA, unions and academia. So rather than starting from scratch we would urge the new government, in the interests of acting with speed, to work with what’s already there.

“Taking action now, particularly with the launch of Great British Energy, will also mean that workers currently employed in fossil fuel intensive sectors can transition into cleaner roles.

“If unaddressed, the green jobs and skills shortage will compromise efforts to achieve not-only economic growth, but also our legally-binding carbon and environmental targets.”