Green Jobs Barometer

Regional findings

Scotland is the top ranked region in the UK according to the barometer. The share of green jobs created is higher here than in any other part of the UK, and the nation is well positioned to maximise the benefits of green investment.

Northern Ireland has the highest CO2 emissions per employee in the UK, at 13.6 tonnes. This is predominantly because there is limited availability of natural gas in this area, which results in combustion of more carbon intensive fuels instead, such as coal, burning oil, and gas oil. It is least likely to be impacted by ‘sunset’ jobs due to concentration of workforce in low carbon intensive roles, e.g. human health, services and public administration.

Although our survey suggests that jobs in the North East are slightly more environmentally friendly than the UK average, 9% of survey respondents from this region believed their jobs would not exist following the transition to net zero. This means both Government and businesses need to set out a vision for how people in such jobs can be retrained and transition to greener, higher paying roles.

At 1.5%, the North West has the second largest proportion of jobs adverts that we found are green - after Scotland. However, it’s green jobs don’t create as many additional jobs compared to other regions (11th out of 12). The North West should therefore seek to identify higher value green jobs which help build a wider green ecosystem.   

Yorkshire and the Humber ranks 10th out of the 12 regions in our overall barometer. This region ranked lowest in the perceived environmental friendliness of their jobs, a finding which is consistent with the high regional composition of hard-to-abate industries. It will require greater support as it transitions away from its historical reliance on heavy industries.  

Similar to Northern Ireland, Wales also has a higher proportion of emissions from ‘other’ fuels than the rest of the UK, though to a lesser extent. Wales has the 2nd highest CO2 emissions per employee in the UK, at 12.3 tonnes, and a low proportion of new jobs which are green. Therefore, the focus needs to be on identifying and developing green industries which complement its existing clusters and skills.

Each green job in the electricity and gas sectors generates 6 additional jobs in other sectors of the East of England economy. With offshore wind resources and a planned new nuclear power station at Sizewell, the East of England can support the shift to low-carbon power generation sources. 

The East Midlands is third in its employees perception of the environmental friendliness of their workplaces and is the fifth highest region in the proportion of job adverts that are considered green (1.2%).

The West Midlands has not been producing a particularly high proportion of new jobs which are green, but those jobs are creating an above average number of additional jobs. This is likely due to the region’s strength in advanced manufacturing, which typically draws upon an extensive supply chain. 

London has a varied performance across our barometer. It performs strongly on employee perceptions on environmentally friendly jobs and on creating a high number of additional jobs from each new green job. Due to its large number of service sector employees, London doesn’t create as high a proportion of new jobs which are green compared to other regions.

The South East has the 2nd largest share of ‘sunset’ jobs and a low rate of only 1.1% of new jobs which are green. With a diverse range of industries and communities, the South East needs to establish which green industries can serve its large population base.   

The South West is consistently one of the highest performing regions across each pillar, and is accordingly ranked as the third strongest performing region at the aggregate level. It has strengths in engineering, technical testing and analysis which are particularly useful in the early design stage of developing new green products and processes.