In this article, Raquel Noboa outlines the massive shift underway in education, as organisations rush to understand green skills and embed them into programmes and qualifications alike, and how green skills need to go beyond emissions and renewable industries.The UK government has pledged £4.5 billion over the next five years until 2030, in an effort to attract investments in strategic manufacturing sectors. This includes £2 billion for zero-emission automotive projects, £975 million for aerospace, and £520 million for life sciences, with an additional £960 million allocated for the Green Industries Growth Accelerator focusing on offshore wind, electricity networks, nuclear, CCUS, and hydrogen.But are renewable industry investments the most critical part to the Climate Change Crisis?When we think of green jobs, often people’s minds will leap immediately to solar panels for example, or electric cars, windmills etc.However, are we forgetting about the thousands of roles that don’t fall under areas such as the renewables industry sector?Should they continue with, “business as usual”? With no thought process or framework created to include sustainability within their own operations?Let me give you an example – A commercial kitchen oven can use 38 kWh of electricity to operate. The decision of when that oven is turned on or off is made by a chef who may or may not be aware of the co-relation between using that piece of equipment, the cost to the organisation and the cost to the environment. Keeping this oven off for just 1 extra hour per day, every day over the space of a year, will reduce the kitchen’s electricity usage by 13,870 Kw, reducing CO2 emissions by 4.5 tonnes and generating potential cost savings of £3,700.It is a win for the planet and a win for the organisation that uses that oven for its daily operations. Why are green skills not being viewed a priority?Knowing what we know about the climate crisis and remembering the chef’s behaviour in my above example, the question that comes to my mind is: “Why are sustainability and resource efficiency not a priority in our education curriculums?”“The 1.5-degree limit is only possible if we ultimately stop burning all fossil fuels.Not reduce.Not abate. Phaseout – with a clear timeframe aligned with 1.5 degrees.”– António Guterres, Secretary-general, United Nations, opening speechThe abandonment of fossil fuels really means the relinquishing of our global economy as we know it, which will require a change in the way we live and the way we work, transforming into a circular fossil fuel free society.Change is difficult, particularly when it is required on such an enormous scale. Education and training is the only tool we have to make this change occur in a harmonious way.As per an article written by City & Guilds in October:In November 2020 the UK Government announced the Green Jobs Taskforce which was then followed by the 2021 Net Zero strategy. These were both introduced with the goal of helping to prepare businesses and individuals for the changes they would need to make to meet decarbonisation targets.However, a couple of years on there are still many organisations whose employees are not ready to do the “greener jobs” they will need to do to meet environmental targets.In 2021, UNESCO released a report stating that “Education is not giving students sufficient knowledge to adapt, act and respond to climate change.” They urged for our education curriculums to include environmental education worldwide by 2025.The study analysed educational plans and curricula frameworks in close to 50 countries across all regions. More than half made no reference to climate change, while only 19% spoke about biodiversity. The study noted a lack of attention to socio-emotional skills and action-oriented competences that are central to environmental and climate action.In an on-line survey of 1,600 teachers and education leaders conducted for the study, one third of respondents indicated that e...

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