3. The climate crisis — green jobs and green skills

Research carried out by YouGov has found that people of all ages, from all regions across the UK, are “looking for a job with environmental purpose”. More than eight in 10 women and seven in 10 men have said they are keen to play their part in tackling climate change. Over half of adults are specifically looking to work for an organisation that is helping the UK to achieve its climate goals.

However, new figures published in January 2020 by the Office for National Statistics show there were 11,100 fewer green jobs in 2018 than four years earlier in 2014 — 224,800 green jobs in the UK in 2018, compared to 235,900 in 2014.

Although there was a small increase between 2017 and 2018, the TUC says that the fact there were fewer green jobs in 2018 than 2014 is an “appalling failure”. And the more recent annual progress is still far too slow.