Transcript
SALLY HAYNS
Our climate is changing, and having people with the right skills to manage our adaptation to climate change is going to be crucial to society’s future. So, we’re going to need to give people the right skills to deliver a sustainable economy and a sustainable society going forwards. That’s going to require investment in areas of skill development that will embrace new technologies and new ways of working. People are going to need to understand the environmental impact of the current ways in which we do things, and how we then need to address them. So, understanding the science and technology between the way in which our economy works and the finance that fuels our economy is going to be essential so that we can make the right decisions going forwards. People are going to need skills in critical thinking, analysis and interpretation of data, ways of using new technologies, understanding how we decarbonise our manufacturing and our technology and how they can be part of that.
LEIGH-ANNE PERRYMAN
The skills that people need are related to both adaptation to the effects of climate change and the climate crisis, but also skills in relation to mitigation against it.
SIMON BEHRMAN
I think the most important skill that is needed for addressing the climate emergency is the ability to think laterally, to think and to explore the question on multiple levels. Very often we talk about climate change as being a super wicked problem, and what that means is that the impacts of climate change have a multiplicity of impacts in terms of migration, in terms of living standards, in terms of work, in terms of food supply, I could go on and on and on. And therefore, to try and better understand the impacts of the climate emergency it’s important that we’re able to think about how all these things are linked together.
SALLY HAYNS
One of the areas of developing green jobs that’s going to be really important in the future, are green jobs for nature. We can mitigate against climate change by using what’s known as nature-based solutions, nature’s answer to reducing the release of carbon, and reducing the impact of climate change. So for example, creating more meandering rivers and floodplains rather than hard-engineered solutions.
But that’s going to need more people coming into our profession and our industry to deliver green jobs for nature, whether that be directly as ecologists or as conservation workers or in supporting roles like HR, finance, administration. This is a growing area of skills need. We’ve recently launched a website, a new website, called www.greenjobsfornature.org, which tells you all about the roles available delivering green jobs for nature, who the employers are and how to get those jobs, the career entry paths, as well as a bit of a reality check.