Posts Tagged green jobs

First ever green job survey depicts a booming industry

June 5, 2009 at 10:51 am · Filed under ethical jobs, green jobs ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

Finally, in the midst of the plethora of ugly headlines about redundancies, high prices and overstretched public services, there has been some good financial news. Even better, it comes from the environmental sector.

Reuters published its first ever Carbon Salary Survey in early June, and boy does it look good. A whopping 68% of green job holders said that they felt an increased sense of job security in the past few years, going against the grain of most industries, where workers are clinging desperately to their careers.

Most respondents in the survey put this warm, fuzzy and secure feeling down to increased enthusiasm from governments and businesses to go green and tackle the effects of climate change.

Being secure in your job, in the midst of a recession, is plenty to be thankful for, but wait; there’s more! The average salary in the climate sector came out at around £47,000, which is a promising indicator of a healthy sector.

The rapid growth of the green industry is partly due to government agreements to tackle climate change. In the UK, green jobs were given a lift by the EU agreement in December 2008 to source 20% of its energy from renewables by 2020 and to cut its carbon emissions to 20% below 1990 levels.

Now for a little patriotic pride; the UK remains the hub of the green job sector, with 28% of green business headquarters located in Britain. North America was close behind at 26%, with Europe at a close third with 24%. At least the UK’s flagging Prime Minister Gordon Brown has managed to hit one target; his pledge to keep the UK as an international leader in green technology seems to be in sight.

The Reuters survey goes to show one thing; that an environmental career is the way to go for stability, great salaries and progression up the ladder. The only negative aspect that the survey revealed was the fact that women, on average, still earn around 18% less than men working at the same level. So, girls (and open-minded boys), there is only one thing to do; check out the job listings on JuicyJobs and correct the balance!

Author
Rachel Charman, a writer for JuicyJobs; Ethical Jobs UK – an environmentally friendly green job search board which offers free job listings to Environmental, NGO’s, NFP’s and ethical companies promoting green, fair trade services and support sustainable living.  For job seekers Juicyjobs can help you find the ideal ethical jobs in London.

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North leads the way in green job creation

May 29, 2009 at 5:48 pm · Filed under green jobs ·Tagged , , , , ,

The talk of green jobs by politicians and industry commentators is enough to convince anyone that an environmental revolution is taking place in the UK, but so far, very little evidence of action has emerged.

There is, however, an interesting trend in green job initiatives. A great deal of activity is happening in the North when it comes to green job creation, whilst down south, attitudes to environmentalism seem to rarely extend beyond composting organic, free-range egg boxes for the begonias and only driving the four-by-four when absolutely necessary.

It is hardly news that some of the most exciting and vigorous trade, retail and policy-making is happening in the north. Though many southerners regularly adhere to the outdated notion that “it’s grim up north”, the actual picture is very different.

That applies to green schemes too. Whilst Oldham recently became a leader in green jobs, investment and technology, in Durham, the County Council’s planning committee has just approved a £1 billion green business park.

The 76-acre Durham Green Business Park is likely to create 5,000 jobs in the region, and will positioned ideally in the middle of the country’s major road and rail networks.

The park is a project of millionaire property developer David Abrahams. OK; Abrahams was last in the news for making dodgy donations to the Labour Party, but at least now he’s doing something useful.

He said: “I want Durham Green to be a model of sustainable development and sustainable jobs in the 21st Century.

“I have already pledged that any profits I make from the development will go to charity.

“This is corporate and social responsibility in practice.”

There now, the sneaky millionaire is making good, and the north seems to be overtaking the snobby south in its environmental efforts. Similar investment countrywide would be a great next step.

Author
Rachel Charman, a writer for JuicyJobs; Ethical Jobs UK – an environmentally friendly green job search board which offers free job listings to Environmental, NGO’s, NFP’s and ethical companies promoting green, fair trade services and support sustainable living.  For job seekers Juicyjobs can help you find the ideal ethical jobs in London.

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Green Party claims it will create a million environmental jobs

May 29, 2009 at 5:40 pm · Filed under green jobs ·Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Election fever hasn’t quite hit the UK yet, as the general public is still reeling from how much MPs have spent on duck islands, moats, pornographic DVDs and so on. The political parties, however, are already rallying around in preparation for the General Election that must come soon, as well as campaigning for the European Elections on 4th June.

So, it comes as no surprise that parties are making all sorts of promises about green job creation. As mentioned in a recent JuicyJobs post, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has been doing his bit to raise the environmental profile of the “I would vote for them in an ideal world” party. The Lib Dems, however, could never be greener than, um, the Green Party, for obvious reasons.

Yesterday the Green Party launched its new manifesto, detailing its “New Green Deal”, which most importantly claims that if in power, the party would create a million green jobs.

How would it go about that? Well, the manifesto, charmingly entitled It’s the Economy, Stupid, claims that the Green Party will completely change the way in which Britain’s economic system works, focusing on improving public services, tackling climate change and dealing with the recession, all of which would be achieved through a massive increase in taxation on the public.

A spokesperson for the Greens said:

“A low-carbon economy will bring social benefits like stability, energy security, sustainable jobs, better health, hugely improved public transport and so on.

“Fixing all these things means changing how the economy works.”

It wouldn’t be high tax, low carbon forever, the Greens are quick to assert – after a while, policies would begin to pay for themselves and so the high taxation would decrease in time.

The Green Party’s ideas are hardly new; the credit crunch has proved that investing in oil and debt whilst allowing people to borrow money to plough into unsustainable things simply drains the economy, which will eventually collapse. A party that truly would bring in these measures would be a godsend for anyone looking for a green job. The snag is, however, that it would require asking British people to pay more tax, much more, and that is something that has never gone down well in the past. Can it ever happen? Only the electorate can decide!

Author
Rachel Charman, a writer for JuicyJobs; Ethical Jobs UK – an environmentally friendly green job search board which offers free job listings to Environmental, NGO’s, NFP’s and ethical companies promoting green, fair trade services and support sustainable living.  For job seekers Juicyjobs can help you find the ideal ethical jobs in London.

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The green job showcasing begins; General Election anyone?

May 29, 2009 at 5:27 pm · Filed under green jobs ·Tagged , , , , , , , ,

The MP expenses scandal can go down in one of two ways in the history and politics textbooks in years to come. It will either be the last twist of the knife in the ribs of the dying New Labour beast, or the clean-up operation that saves Labour for another fiver years in government.

Either way, the vultures are naturally circling, and green jobs and environmental investment are a ticket that every party is riding, breathless in anticipation of an election.

Just in case there is an election – and David Cameron has been calling for one for around three years now – party leaders are making a great show of support for green job schemes and investment in environmental business and technology.

Last week, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg tagged himself to an innovative green investment scheme in Bristol. Clegg, by the way, must be thoroughly enjoying the expenses scandal; since the Telegraph broke the story (and continued to smash it every day since), ordinary people have actually recognised him on the news.

The scheme is called the Green Bonds scheme, and is run by Bristol City Council. It allows people to invest in sustainable businesses by buying “Green Bonds” in organisations developing environmental technology.

Clegg, grinning from ear to ear, launched the project at Bristol University’s SETsquared Business Acceleration Centre. He said:

“Green Bonds will allow people in Bristol to invest in new green technologies.

“By supporting small businesses, Green Bonds will create new jobs and help create an infrastructure for a long-term, green economic recovery.”

So there you have it; a quiet nudge from Clegg to associate the Liberal Democrats not only with community engagement, but also investment, green jobs and environmental responsibility. Who knows? If the third party do get in at the next General Election, they may even provide the green jobs we all hope will shove us out of the recession.

Author
Rachel Charman, a writer for JuicyJobs; Ethical Jobs UK – an environmentally friendly green job search board which offers free job listings to Environmental, NGO’s, NFP’s and ethical companies promoting green, fair trade services and support sustainable living.  For job seekers Juicyjobs can help you find the ideal ethical jobs in London.

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New report calls for ethical jobs boost to care for climate change victims

May 15, 2009 at 11:43 am · Filed under ethical jobs ·Tagged , , , , ,

At the risk of sounding like a scaremonger, climate change is going to kill a lot of us. At least, that’s what a new report published yesterday by The Lancet and University College London has to say.

The report, two years in the making, outlines the serious health risks posed by the onset of climate change, which is a context the problem is not often considered in. Essentially, the report says that climate change, if it continues at its current rate, will bring floods, heatwaves and freakishly strong storms. As well as accidents and injuries, that means an increase in infections, skin cancer and a whole host of other nasty diseases, right here in the UK.

The current NHS system, given these future events, is clearly in for a struggle. A sudden increase in service users like that would put the system under unprecedented strain.

That’s just the UK. It’s in Africa, where drought, infection and famine already kill millions every year that the rising temperatures will really be felt. It’s in Bangladesh, where thousands are already killed every year by floods caused by climate change, will feel the rising sea levels.

The report calls for the NHS to wake up to climate change and plan strategically for the havoc that climate change could cause if we continually fail to meet carbon reduction targets. The system will need to create thousands of public sector jobs to expand the service ready for more needy service users.

Far greater than the requirements of the NHS, however, will be those of the aid agencies serving developing nations. Hundreds of locations around the world where people are already suffering from the combined effects of climate change, colonisation and harsh trading arrangements are already crying out for more and better trained aid workers. If aid agencies and charities take this report to heart, there will be a massive recruitment campaign to fill the ethical jobs gap that will only become felt more painfully in the next ten years.

Author
Rachel Charman, a writer for JuicyJobs; Ethical Jobs UK – an environmentally friendly green job search board which offers free job listings to Environmental, NGO’s, NFP’s and ethical companies promoting green, fair trade services and support sustainable living.  For job seekers Juicyjobs can help you find the ideal ethical jobs in the UK.

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