City of London educational institute hosts parliamentary events covering green skills

City & Guilds – the educational institute associated with the City of London Corporation – hosted a parliamentary event on Tuesday 11 July where green skills gaps were raised with cross-party politicians. IEMA's Digital Journalist Tom Pashby reports.

The event focused on skills gaps more generally and with a focus on the skills and training needed to deliver the transition to a net zero economy.

Kirstie Donnelly, CEO, City and Guilds, said: “We have now reached a critical point in the development and implementation of skills policy in the UK, particularly in the green sector, where there is a real risk the UK will get left behind in the productivity race, if we don’t harness skills for growth. 

 “Now, more than ever, City & Guilds has a critical role to play in this economic recovery, in ensuring that workers are trained and sufficiently upskilled to be able to take on jobs vital to the successful transition to an emerging green economy and achieve the UK’s Net Zero ambitions.” 

City & Guilds used the event to draw attention to its report Bright Futures: Decarbonising the UK’s energy workforce, which looked at how to upskill the existing engineering workforce.

IEMA is calling for green skills and training to be a major focus at the UN climate summit COP28 in the UAE at the end of 2023.