The Net Zero transition promises to create a vast number of good, green jobs for the British public. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the views of young people, who will spend their careers in a rapidly changing economy and are the generation that will deliver Net Zero.

The Prince’s Trust asked Public First to explore this issue in order to inform their own work with young people and the wider policy debate about how Net Zero should impact the UK’s skills landscape.

To do this, we conducted an analysis of which jobs will see the most growth in the transition to Net Zero, where these are located and what skills they require. We then carried out a national poll of young people aged 16-25 and ran five online focus groups in the West Midlands, Teesside and Fife, which are all due to see a large number of new green jobs, in which we tested attitudes to these jobs and the green economy.

Our report Generation Green Jobs? Exploring young people’s readiness for the Net Zero skills revolution suggests that young people’s lack of awareness of and interest in green jobs presents a serious risk to the UK meeting its ambitious Net Zero targets, which depend on training and retraining hundreds of thousands of workers.

Key findings include:

• Young people are less likely to be interested in many of the green jobs that will be most in demand in the future.
• Young people that live in the areas which will see the most investment in the green economy are no more interested nor aware of these jobs.
• Young people feel strongly about environmental issues, but environmental purpose does not make jobs more attractive
• The advantages young people associate with green jobs – such as having a positive impact – are not influential in their career choices. Conversely, green jobs are not seen as offering the advantages – such as good pay and rapid progression – which young people say are most important to them.
• Terms such as Net Zero remain poorly understood and most young people have little sense of how Net Zero will transform the economy or what kind of new jobs it will create.
• Green jobs are seen as being for those who take an academic route, which limits how many young people feel confident they can access them.
• Young women are less aware of and less interested in green jobs – which risks perpetuating existing gender disparities in the industries that will be key to Net Zero.

Our research suggests that politicians, policy makers and business leaders should not assume that their optimistic view of green jobs is shared by young people.

Given the pace at which Net Zero targets must be delivered, particularly in the energy sector, urgent work is needed to boost the pipeline of young people prepared to enter jobs in the green economy. Our research suggests several meaningful steps employers, government and educators can take towards this.

A link to the polling tables can be found HERE, and you can read the full report HERE.

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