In the fifth and final part of SB’s ‘As If people Matter’ series, Michael Townsend looks at the skills challenge – and how we might close the gap as we move towards a sustainable and low-carbon economy. Published in May 2012, but still needs to be addressed, through a strategic lens, today: we need to provide sustainable jobs, skills, opportunity and shared prosperity - for all.

1. Trends Corporate strategy 1/5
“How each nation addresses the
challenges of a resource constrained
world will increasingly determine its
future economic competitiveness.”
Aldersgate Group
Given what we already know about cli-
mate change, diminishing sources of fos-
sil fuels and increasing resource scarcity,
the transformation to a low carbon and
sustainable economy becomes an inevi-
table goal. It really is difficult to see any
other credible alternative, if we are to
survive and prosper in the face of these
fundamental challenges.
It almost goes without saying, that if
Green skills: time for joined-up thinking
In the fifth and final part of SB’s
‘As If people Matter’ series,
Michael Townsend looks at the
skills challenge – and how we might
close the gap as we move towards a
sustainable and low-carbon economy

2. we are to transform the UK to become
a leading low carbon and sustainable
economy, we need to mobilise the right
skills – in quantum as well as type. This
is not an easy challenge.
There has been some work in this field,
but I feel there is much more to do. I’m
not yet sure we have a clear, far-reaching
and shared vision for what a green, low
carbon and fully integrated sustainable
economy needs to look like, let alone
the skills needed to support this transi-
tion. The obvious question has to be:
skills for what, exactly? Forming such
a strategic view is fundamental, as this
context drives everything; it is not pos-
sible to define jobs and skills without
it, in any meaningful way. More work
is needed, and quite importantly, a new
lens through which businesses and poli-
ticians look at the challenge.
The UK Government’s recent publi-
cation ‘Skills for a Green Economy’ is
somewhat limited, offering a high level
view, arguably based on old economy
thinking, with perhaps a little ‘green’
injected, for good measure. On reflec-
tion it gives the appearance of little more
than a brainstorming exercise based on
what additional ‘green’ jobs might be
needed in the current economy, plus a
handful of generic green skills, rather
than a robust, meaningful and dynamic
approach to mapping skills for the future
economy; all in all, a fairly disappointing
exercise, given the rhetoric of decarbon-
ising the economy as a major opportu-
nity for economic growth.
Fundamentalquestionsbouncearound
my perplexed mind. What does a green
economy look like? In which sectors do
we need to be successful, primarily in
order to sustain ourselves, but also to
create and distribute wealth? What goods
and services will become important in a
resource-constrained world? How do
we ensure food and water security?
What sources of energy should we cul-
tivate? What should we make and keep
for ourselves, what should we be look-
ing to export, and what level of trade is
appropriate? What resources do we need
to support our economy? Should we re-
localise production, in readiness for the
coming energy and associated afford-
ability challenges? To what extent will
we end up on-shoring jobs and skills
again – perhaps creating a new form of
national self-sufficiency, as well as sus-
tainable opportunity for the current and
our latent workforce?
All these strategic questions, and many
more, will need to addressed before we
can even answer the question of what
skills do we need. Recent studies by
Aldersgate Group offer something more
substantial: ‘Greening the Economy’,
provides a strategy for growth, jobs
and success by integrating sustainability
principles through the whole economy.
Aligned with this is ‘Mind the Gap’,
which calls for a much deeper under-
standing of the nature of the transition
and of the skills that will be necessary
to transform our economy. This means
not just so called green jobs, but also the
skills that will be required right across
the economy. As Aldersgate Group also
points out, we need a skills policy aligned
with a more active industrialist policy.
Trends Corporate strategy 2/5
I’m not sure we have a
clear, far-reaching and
shared vision for what
a green, low carbon
and fully integrated and
sustainable economy
needs to look like

3. Trends Corporate strategy 3/5
Calls for establishing an industrial
strategy are less a throwback to the bad
old 1970s, but more a necessity in plan-
ning the inevitable economic transition.
Without a coherent plan in these volatile
times, we are lost. The call by Aldersgate
Group is not an isolated case, either.
Diane Coyle and Paola Subacchi made
a compelling argument in the Financial
Times last November, for a “modern
industrial policy taking a strategic view
of resources and assets, as well as the
challenges we are likely to face.”
They also point out, quite rightly, that
such an approach will also “help restore a
sense of common purpose and to ensure
that the economy develops in ways that
serve the British public in general.” I am
sure that many would welcome a long-
term view on (sustainable) industrial
strategy and jobs at this time of contin-
ued austerity.
But as economist Mariana Mazzucato
points out, the discussion needs to move
beyond the fear about picking winners
or losers, but to do something differ-
ent, in causing types of economic activ-
ity to happen that would otherwise not
happen – this role she describes as The
Entrepreneurial State – an exciting pros-
pect. Moving to the next level, there
are then the important questions to be
addressed within each sector of the sus-
tainable economy. If, for example, we
decide that the solar industry is indeed
a strategic sector: one that could create
national competitive advantage, as well
as provide an increasingly important
and affordable source of clean energy;
how should the sector be configured
for greatest advantage? What jobs and
skills will the solar value chain need to
include? And how should we mobilise
such skills?
Do we simply concentrate our efforts
on creating an army of installers, or
should we also consider the full range
of jobs required right through the value
chain, and how these may change over
time and with the lifecycle of solar
products. For example, should we also
be seeking to create solar manufactur-
ing jobs, and if so, how do we compete
against other countries, such as China,
with their relative advantage of lower
cost bases?
Perhaps we should also be think-
ing about innovation, and how we may
create the next generation of solar PV
technology, to generate cheaper solu-
tions, while reducing the dependency
on increasingly scarce resources, such as
copper, indium, gallium and selenium?
So, there are perhaps R&D jobs we also
need to invest in. And what of the jobs
and skills for re-use and recycling of old
equipment? We really do need to think
and plan ahead.
We also need to be mindful of how
jobs and skills will be change and evolve
in response to the range of challenges and
strategic drivers mentioned at the top of
this article. Let’s take the example of the
logistics and distribution sector: should
future jobs be configured for a conven-
tional industry, with perhaps an injec-
tion of greener transport, or should we
be thinking more radically about how the
sector might change, based on a different
post-peak oil world, with perhaps more
localised production, distribution and
Without a coherent plan
in these volatile times,
we are lost. There is a
compelling argument for
industrial policy taking
a strategic view of
resources and assets

4. consumption patterns? There is more to
this work than trying to inject a bit of
green into what we currently do.
All of which brings me to the main
point of this article, of what skills do we
need? When thinking about skills, we
naturally need to think through roles,
including: political leadership, business
leadership, management, and trade level
skills. Going further, sustainability skills
are not just linked to the delivery of busi-
ness activity, but also need to extend to
consumers – who directly or indirectly
impact on our ability to achieve a sus-
tainable and low carbon economy – what
awareness and skills do they need to buy
green and influence a sustainable future?
We also need to think about skills in
terms of an integrated approach, with
sustainability running right through the
middle (somewhat like a stick of rock),
rather than fragmented roles and bolt-
on skills. As with the Total Quality
Management movement, sustainability
should be everybody’s job. In any case,
many businesses (particularly SMEs)
cannot afford a separate CR/sustain-
ability department, but seek to integrate
skills in all that all people do, in all func-
tions of the organisation.
Let’s look at an example of an inte-
grated approach. When Apollo Motor
Group was looking to integrate a trio of
new sustainability technologies into its
operation, it quickly became clear that it
wasn’t simply a case of plugging in new
equipment, pressing the button, and
away you go.
They had to approach things in a very
different way to ‘unlock’ the potential
thesetechnologiesoffered.Thisrequireda
new ethos of ‘repair’ rather than ‘replace-
ment’ of damaged parts, representing a
complete change to the ‘throw-away’
culture that had emerged in the sector, as
well as in society at large.
Apollo found that sustainability skills
are as much to do with mindset as they
are with technology. This is an important
nuance, and one highlighted by Buddist
Monk Thich Nhat Hanh In his recent
podcast interview with Ecologist maga-
zine, where he suggests that we first need
to think and act with Mindfulness, before
our technologies will work to best effect.
This leads to a further example, this
time related to managerial skills. To ena-
ble its business to full embrace sustain-
ability, Gazeley recognised that “peo-
ple change, not organisations”. They
explored new ways of working and
how to improve their culture, through
developing emotional intelligence. For
Gazeley the challenge for developing
sustainability skills wasn’t about techni-
cal training, it was about raising the con-
sciousness of their approach; this way
people would seek out more sustainable
solutions on their projects.
There is definitely a worthy piece of
work for someone to model more robust
future scenarios for jobs and skills, inte-
grating sustainability principles. When
mapped out, I am sure this will reveal
significant gaps between future state and
current skills provision.
There is already evidence that one in
three firms in the environmental sec-
tor is being hampered by a shortage of
Trends Corporate strategy 4/5

5. Trends Corporate strategy 5/5
skilled staff, and one wonders what pro-
portion of the workforce in the conven-
tional economy has sufficient skills to
fully embrace and integrate sustainabil-
ity within their jobs?
And how will we close the skills gap?
If we simply let the market address this
fundamental challenge for us, while it
is an approach favoured by some, we
might have a long wait. As we have seen
in recent years the market is not always
so forward thinking, especially at a time
of uncertainty. And never has our talent
pool been so under-utilised, with cur-
rent unemployment reaching 2.5 million
in January, and predicted to rise by a
further 100,000 by the end of the sum-
mer, according to think tank IPPR.
Thepoolofdiscardedworkersincludes
people from all levels, and represents a
huge waste of talent, particularly wor-
rying for the younger generation (with
youth unemployment at 22%), as well
as driving increased social and economic
costs. Should we not be seeking to mobi-
lise the whole workforce in the urgent
move towards a more sustainable world?
I was recently reminded by Jonathan
Porritt about the important role that
Business Schools need to play in devel-
oping the skills required by our business
leaders and managers, and the kind of
core competencies that they need in this
area. He pointed out how important it
is for the HE establishment to open its
mind to what sustainable business mod-
els in a sustainable world really look
like. He is right. There may be a few
notable exceptions, like the Exeter One
Planet MBA, but mostly we see a chasm
between sustainability courses and the
mainstream business MBAs, which are
still largely based on 20th-century think-
ing. Even the Cambridge Programme
for Sustainability Leadership is separate
and distinct from the Cambridge Judge
Business School MBA.
What we need is a common and fully
integrated agenda for sustainable busi-
ness success in the 21st century. While
not impossible, I feel that meeting this
challenge will take bold leadership and
the ability to find a credible narrative
that works to the advantage of busi-
ness schools. As with any transforma-
tion, there are of course many barriers to
change, including a reluctance to invest
in skills – this has always been a thorny
issue for business. But behind this, per-
haps there is something more fundamen-
tal? Could it be what Frances Moore
Lappé describes as Thought Traps, the
cultural filters and assumptions through
which we see the world? Moore Lappé
calls for us to develop our Ecominds
and find alternative ways of framing our
challenges to effect real change. By tack-
ling this one, perhaps we may unlock the
enthusiasm to invest?
I have no doubt that we need a new
lens, to redefine our economies, our
businesses and how jobs and skills will
support the necessary transformation to
a sustainable and low carbon economy.
We won’t meet this challenge simply by
injecting a bit of green. Such a transfor-
mationrequiresarobustfoundation,syn-
thesising economic planning, industrial
policy, sector planning, business strate-
gy, sustainability thinking, and also jobs
and education planning. Allied to this,
lots of joined-up thinking and doing too.
Without a revolution in skills provi-
sion, the green economy will simply
remain a low-carbon pipe dream.
Michael Townsend is CEO of Earthshine
Solutions / @mike_earthshine /
earthshinesolutions.com /
sustainablebusinesslab.org