Every Job should be a Green Job by 2038

Every Job should be a Green Job by 2038 - Groundwork

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Why every job should be a ‘Green Job’ by 2038 to meet the UK’s environmental commitments

Whilst many of the key components needed for a healthy community felt discontinued in the midst of Coronavirus, time for reflection was gratefully forced upon us, leading to this current point in time where we try to best understand how to recover from a pandemic that has touched everyone’s life in one way or another.

Such impacts like redundancies and furlough showed for harsh reading at the start of the new year with 4.7 million people on the government scheme in January 2021, though for pre-existing problems like climate change, could a collision between the two spark the perfect opportunity to build back better; creating and transforming all jobs into Green Jobs?

2020 was initially hailed as the ‘defining year for climate action’ by Boris Johnson himself, with the government announcing its 10 point plan to mobilise a £12 billion investment; creating and supporting up to 250,000 green jobs and accelerating our path to net zero, as well as wider climate commitments that would forge new alliances at COP26.

With the event now re-scheduled for November 2021, COP26 President-Designate Alok Sharma more recently said: “It is not a choice between cleaning up our environment and growing economies. We can do both at the same time. Indeed, we have done both at the same time.” So – where are we now?

Where are we now?

To meet the UK’s environmental commitments, thousands of new green jobs need to be created across multiple sectors, from energy generation to nature conservation. This includes green job roles in high skilled manufacturing but also entry-level jobs in horticulture, environmental management and home energy retrofit. The ultimate, long term goal must be to protect the planet, the immediate priority is doing this in a way that protects and enhances lives and livelihoods.