Councils need a skilled workforce to deliver climate change commitments and sustainable local growth
As the pressures of rising costs and the impact of climate change become more visible for our communities, it is even more important that local government is enabled to deliver net zero.
As place leaders, we are greening our economies by putting net zero and sustainability at the heart of local approaches to levelling up and economic growth.
This can only be achieved if we have the skilled workforce to deliver these ambitions.
Not only will it help achieve net zero, but this will also provide an opportunity to create good employment prospects, which will contribute to the wider levelling up agenda.
The LGA’s People and Places and City Region Boards have been focusing on the development of green jobs and skills, starting with retrofit, insulation and other energy efficiency measures needed to help reduce energy consumption and bring down energy bills.
We know there is an opportunity to accelerate retrofit to deliver the long-term decarbonisation effort and stimulate economic growth, both locally and nationally.
However, this can only be achieved if national government enables local government by providing councils with the time and resources to develop the partnerships, private funding and careers pathways needed to grow the retrofit workforce.
There is a whole range of other green jobs that have the potential to level up our communities.
For example, LGA research has shown that there is the potential for 694,000 jobs in the low-carbon and renewable energy economy by 2030, rising to 1.1 million by 2050.
These jobs will be key to energy security in the future.
There are other ambitions – such as for land management, food production and sustainable tourism – which provide great opportunities to deliver jobs that achieve local growth, nature restoration and net-zero ambitions.
Local government cannot do this alone. It is essential that there is a strengthening of the partnership between national and local government, as councils can help bring together local educational and training establishments, regulators and businesses.
Top-down approaches have not worked, as they do not fully consider local decision-making and local labour market conditions.
We welcome the formation of the Government’s cross-departmental Green Jobs Delivery Group, which will gather evidence from a range of organisations to develop government policy on green jobs.
Local government has been included in that conversation, which provides the sector with an opportunity to influence national policy. The LGA is supporting the group’s local government representatives to maximise the diverse voice of the sector and ensure issues relating to capability and capacity are made effectively.
We know through our wider net-zero work that there is a lot of innovative practice already under way in local government to develop green jobs and skills.
We would like to hear about any additional innovative practices that local authorities may be undertaking, to help inform the working of the Green Jobs Delivery Group.
If you would like to contribute any ideas or case studies, please get in touch with [email protected].