Northwest needs to ‘green’ a quarter of its workforce

Greenwise Staff

22nd June 2010

England’s northwest will need to 'green’ the skills of up to a quarter of its workforce by 2020 if the region is to meet its objectives of developing a low carbon economy.

A study into the skills required for a low carbon northwest reveals that 748,000 employees across the region are going to need some level of low carbon up-skilling to equip themselves for the economic transition ahead, while more than half (422,000) will need professional or industrial training to meet the changes.

The report, 'Assessment of the Skills Need and Provision for a Low Carbon North West’, says in particular sustainable expertise will need to be learnt across areas such as procurement, construction, renewables, energy efficient product design and specialised environmental service advice.

The 422,000 workforce requiring professional and industrial level training will be mainly employed in automotive manufacturing, construction and building services, as well as the public sector, the report said.

No less than 70,000 employees will need training of some kind every year for the next 10 years in the region, the report concludes.

"It is no longer viable to ignore the future of the region’s economy in relation to the challenge of climate change," said Dan Griffiths, head of Climate Change at the North West Development Agency, which commissioned the report.

"Our findings will allow key stakeholders in education and training provision for post 16-years olds to begin to respond and help the northwest continue its mission to become an international centre for climate change by 2020."

The NWDA is the lead regional development agency (RDA) on delivering climate change targets across the nine English regions. Under an agreement signed last year with the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the RDAs are committed to developing low carbon, energy efficient regional economies, with secure and sustainable energy supplies.

Meanwhile, in April, the Labour Government launched a consultation on the how to skill-up people for a low carbon economy.

The future of the RDAs, however, remains uncertain following deep cuts to their public funding announced by the new Coalition Government.