Green jobs: Meet the movers and shakers at the vanguard of the eco revolution

Three years ago, the Government's Stern Review proclaimed that tackling climate change would be a big business opportunity. But where are all those promised jobs? And has the economy really been stimulated? Robin Barton asks the dynamic go-getters at the vanguard of the new eco society how they have fared
Sunday, 15 November 2009

Green jobs. They sound good, don't they? First off, any job in a recession is welcome. Then you get the satisfaction of, well, let's not be shy about it, getting paid to save the planet. And finally there's the prospect of meeting all sorts of like-minded people and comparing tips on composting. Reality, of course, hits like a blast of biomass.
"We are on the edge of a low-carbon industrial revolution," claimed the Business Secretary Peter Mandelson in March – although he did scale back Gordon Brown's promise of 100,000 recession-busting "Green New Deal" jobs to just "tens of thousands" of new jobs in the approaching low- carbon economy. The definition of a "green job" is equally nebulous. At the executive end of the spectrum, they are jobs in sustainability and corporate responsibility. "Such jobs transcend all sectors of the economy," explains Andy Cartland, founder of leading recruitment agency Acre Resources. But a broader sweep might include cycle ' instructors and furniture restorers alongside hydrologists and climatologists. Indeed, you may already have a green tinge to your collar already without realising it.
As well as jobs in renewable energy, from installers of photovoltaic panels (or maybe you know them as solar panels) and wind turbines to scientists developing biofuel from algae (a technology in which the UK leads the world), there are green jobs in facilities management – has everyone switched off the lights for the night? – and the waste industry. In 20 years, chemical engineers currently employed to get oil out of the ground will be paid by governments to clean up after the oil companies. In the next 50 years, some believe many green jobs will be in climate-change mitigation, such as flood defences and carbon sequestration.
But that's all some way off. This summer, the green jobs revolution stalled on the runway when the Danish firm Vestas, the only major wind-turbine manufacturer in the UK, pulled out of the Isle of Wight. Citing the absence of a viable market in the UK and a growing market in the US, Vestas and its business logic can't be faulted: 425 jobs were lost in Britain but Vestas created 5,000 more in the US and China. The company decided it made greater economic and environmental sense to build its turbines close to where they would be used. Dan Ledger, a wind-turbine installer in the UK, explains further: "The irony is that the British public will be swamped with wind farms in the next five years and the seas off Cornwall will be covered in them, but they won't be made here. If the government had introduced new regulations five years ago during the building boom, it would have been different."
Legislation, says Cartland, drives much of the worldwide green jobs boom, from the £300m for green-jobs training provided by Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of February to the 285,000 jobs in Germany's clean-energy sector. Munich-based Siemens, Europe's biggest employer, expects to reap an additional £13bn worldwide over the next three years from assorted stimulus programmes, with green tech accounting for 40 per cent of ' the order book. But they see only 500 new skilled jobs in the UK's green sector. Instead, their factories will be in the Midwest of America, where the financial incentives are greatest.
There are lessons to be learnt from across the Atlantic. In a tale of two cities, Professor Joan Fitzgerald, an expert in green economic development from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, compares the fortunes of Austin in Texas, a high-tech city with a supportive political leadership and an educated workforce, with Ohio's Toledo, an old-fashioned, blue-collar manufacturing city. Which city is thriving today? After updating its industrial base, especially its glass manufacturing, Toledo now has 6,000 new jobs in 15 businesses in the solar-energy sector. Progressive Austin, a city that passed a renewable energy resolution a decade ago, is struggling. Expensively funded high-tech enterprises have delivered hundreds rather than thousands of jobs.
Back in Britain, Paul Cowley of Bristol's Sustainable Energy Installations is complaining how hard it is to find qualified workmen to fit photovoltaic panels: "They're few and far between, so most travel big distances." Yet, despite the recession and the botched introduction of a feed-in tariff, due next April, for home owners with wind turbines and solar panels to sell clean energy back to the national grid, Cowley believes the prospects for installers are good. By 2016, all new homes in Britain will have to be carbon- neutral, so, says Cowley, "the bread-and-butter work for electricians and roofers will change in the next few years."
Are we ready for the green industrial revolution? Although innovative companies such as Elektromotive (see box, page 9) manufacture in the UK, these sorts of stable, long-term jobs and their valuable hands-on skills are thin on the ground. "We are good at finance but aren't performing so well in manufacturing," agrees Cartland. And installers of green technology like Ledger complain they are wrapped up in red tape before they set foot on a ladder. But, with world energy consumption set to double by 2030 according to the International Energy Agency, perhaps it's time to brush off the CV and start swotting up on biofuels. n
The sustainability consultant
Imogen Martineau, 33, is a member of the UN Environment Programme's sustainability team, based in Paris. Her first job was in development at the Red Cross. She has also worked at car-sharing scheme Liftshare and sustainable development organisation Forum for the Future
"This year, for the first time, the UN will be publishing the carbon emissions of all its agencies. That's across 50 agencies and 513 buildings around the world plus all the flying that gets done. Next year the agencies will have to develop an emissions reduction plan; my team does the reductions bit.
"It's critical that the UN is seen to be practising what it preaches, so we ensure we get the greenest new buildings and that we use energy efficiently in both hot and cold climates. But you have to reconcile the need to be carbon-efficient without affecting the effectiveness of the organisation. You can't ask people to sit in a freezing office.
"I specialise in sustainability; I always wanted to do something useful and practical. Climate change is the biggest issue we need to deal with and it affects everyone, rich or poor. The shift to green lifestyles won't hamper economic growth anything like as much as climate change.
"There are many more job opportunities now, because there is more pressure from governments, voters and investors to be green. Public and private organisations are cleaning up their act; look at how corporations' branding has changed. Environmental responsibility is a source of competition now. The next challenge is to get sustainability embedded in mainstream disciplines. Architecture is there, but what about healthcare or finance?
"The older I get and the more organisations I move through, the more I see that younger people are much more literate, passionate and energetic about the issues than the older generation. People get fired up about it, which is such a good thing to be around and very stimulating. The green movement was started by volunteeers wearing hairshirts. Now there's a department at the UN dedicated to it. That's progress."
The entrepreneur
Calvey Taylor-Haw, 52, is managing director of Brighton's Elektromotive, which he founded in 2003 to provide charging stations for electric cars. Its charging station, the Elektrobay, was designed by technical director Greg Simmons, 35
"I was looking for a career change," says Taylor-Haw. "I liked mechanical things and I also had an interest in green things. We started the research and development in 2003 and in 2005 we sold the Elektrobay into Westminster City Council, which was the first authority in the UK to offer electric-car charging stations. There are now 100 in London and more than 200 in the UK.
"Because the stations are designed and built around Brighton, their carbon footprint is very small. Being locally manufactured also gives us control and enables us to respond quickly.
"The skills we use, from civil engineering to manufacturing, are well established in the UK and we believe there is a future in innovative manufacturing here – just look at how many Formula One teams are based here. The recession hit the automotive industry hard, so we're helping to fill the gap in a small way.
"Our future is linked to the availability of electric vehicles, but we're having to order more materials than before and our orders are getting bigger. When companies as big as Nissan have invested huge amounts in battery plants, you know the technology is here to stay. Now we're exporting to five European countries and have a shipment of 150 stations on their way to Saudi Arabia. There's a massive drive to change pool cars over to electric vehicles and sell charging stations into big companies. But to see what could be possible, you have to look at the US. The kind of funding available to clean-tech companies in the US makes the UK's support look like a token gesture. I know several British companies that think they'll find it easier to get funding in the US."
The farmer
Guy Smith farms the driest land in Britain, in St Osyth in Essex. He is a member of Natural England's Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) scheme, which subsidises farmers for managing their land in an environmentally friendly way
"About 10 per cent of our 1,200 acres is conserved for habitat and food for wildlife and birds. We plant certain varieties to provide food to the countryside during the leanest months, leave margins around fields to keep pollutants from waterways and encourage wild flowers.
"We have 12 post boxes for barn owls, which have bounced back since the 1980s, largely as a result of conservation work done by farmers, and we are in the process of launching our own, 'Skylark', bread flour.
"I believe in smart conservation; it's not enough to just let land go wild. Now we get 130 species of bird visiting the farm. With the HLS grants from Natural England, we get remunerated to a fair level and there's the sheer joy, which shouldn't be underestimated, of sharing what we do with the public.
"We crop conventionally but because we're in a dry part of the country, we concentrate on autumn cropping – the deeper roots are less dependent on rainfall. We don't irrigate because I can't see it being cost-effective or environmentally responsible.
"My father was of the post-war generation that was encouraged to intensify farming because the country was short of food. In my generation, we've managed to blend production with conservation. Our baby-boomer generation is more switched on to the conservation agenda, although there are obviously late adopters.
"At this time of year, I tend to get up at about 7.30am. The first job in the morning is making sure the wood pigeons aren't devouring my oil-seed rape. Their numbers have gone up fivefold in recent years, so more birdlife can sometimes be a mixed blessing."
The recruiter
Andy Cartland co-founded Acre Resources, a leading recruiter for mid- to senior-level environmental jobs, in 2003 after graduating with a degree in zoology. Turnover has increased by 20 per cent this financial year and Acre now employs 17 people
"The green-job market is just as diverse as the non-green job market, with roles for salespeople, strategists, managers, marketers. It is also changing rapidly. Look at the FTSE 250 companies – all will have a director of corporate responsibility now, which wasn't the case when we started.
We made our mark in corporate responsibility, which means something different to everyone. The ethical obligations of an oil and gas company will be to the environment, while those of a clothes manufacturer will be about social responsibility, such as not employing underage workers.
"The recession has caused a couple of changes: candidates are more hesitant and companies are working harder to retain their best people. But candidates have also changed – we're being approached by many more senior people, CEOs, people with business backgrounds looking to transfer into the green space. We're seeing more entrepreneurial, innovative start-ups. One reason for this is that the green sector has become legislated; where climate change becomes a fundamental issue of compliance, jobs will be created and there will be a huge amount of innovation.
"There are two types of green jobber. The 'dark green' will have a degree in sustainability and will be working in climate change or energy. The 'pale green' is the larger market: the CEO who is not a green expert but their job prospects are underlined in green: environmental lawyers; sales; human resources. There's potentially massive expansion here. Five years ago we were placing green specialists; now we're placing people with law degrees. That's a big shift."
The businesswoman
Bukky Adegbeyeni, 31, was appointed Tesco's head of environmental, property services, earlier this year. She has a degree in mechanical engineering and a MSc in built environment
"I look after the team responsible for Tesco's climate-change strategy, which includes halving our carbon footprint across our 2,300 stores, distribution centres and offices by 2020; [The Tesco chief executive] Terry Leahy wants us to be a carbon-zero business by 2050 – no offsets allowed.
"All the ideas for reducing emissions come through us; we assess how good they are for Tesco and the customer and how they'd work for the estate, then we research and develop the best, from low-energy technologies to sustainable building materials and methods. We spent the past 12 months developing a bespoke natural refrigeration system.
"When I first talked to Tesco it was clear they were committed to sustainability, which is what attracted me to the role. We're one of the few departments that doesn't have to argue for things to be done; the pressure to do things comes from above.
"The high point of my job has been working on the zero-carbon store in Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, which generates as much energy as it uses. We halved the materials used in signage and installed the UK's first LED-lit car park.
"Understanding the physics of buildings and the efficient use of resources is key to my job: why spend more time, money and energy doing something than you have to? My family call me an eco-warrior but I'm not, although I can't help working out my water usage while I'm brushing my teeth."
The installation engineer
Daniel Ledger is self-employed and has been installing small-scale wind turbines in Cornwall for almost three years. The most popular turbine he installs is a 6kw model, suitable for home use
"I come from a farming background but I got into turbine installation because it brings together the mechanical and the electrical. I've always tinkered with things; as a kid I'd have dismantled my Christmas presents by Boxing Day. I thought it would be a growth industry. And it is... but much more slowly than I expected. It's been a struggle.
"I'm a one-man band, so I don't have the economies of scale of larger companies and I am on the cusp of either investing more money to be accredited or getting out. The accreditation will cost £1,000 in membership a year plus a £700 fee, on top of my electrician certificates. This year I've shifted three turbines; I'd need to sell 10 a year to make it worthwhile.
"My typical customer is in their early fifties, has retired early, paid off their mortgage and has money and time to play with. They can be quite nerdy about it. At the other end, you've got organisations such as schools that have been given a grant to go green and just know they want a turbine without understanding why they may not work. You get there and they're sitting at the bottom of a valley...
"Money will drive renewable energy. When one billion Chinese start driving cars, the cost of oil will rocket. A home turbine can be profitable somewhere that's windy, such as Cornwall. You'll cover the cost in four years and then make £2,000 to £3,000 a year on top of the energy savings.
"But the government has introduced uncertainty with the switchover from a grant to a feed-in tariff [the money earned by selling power back to the national grid]. The bureaucracy is unnecessarily complicated: it took longer to work my way around that than learn how to put the things up. For every green job in the south-west, there must be five public-sector jobs administering red tape.
"There's a satisfaction in installing a whole system and knowing I've done a good job – although I've come to realise that small wind turbines won't save the planet."