Green Jobs and Skills in Central London

This report, produced with the Institute for Employment Studies for Central London Forward, presents analysis of the green economy, green jobs and skills in the central London sub-region (representing Camden, the City of London, Hackney, Islington, Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth and Westminster, and associate member boroughs Haringey and Lewisham). The report builds on previous analysis from the cross-London report, taking a closer look at the sub-regional level and engaging with local authority and industry stakeholders to inform the local context. It considers the potential scale and nature of green jobs in the central London sub-region now and in the coming decades, as well as the implications this will have for skills.

Our analysis finds that by 2030, in a central scenario there could be 335,000 green jobs in the sub-region (a net increase of 25,200 jobs) reaching 732,000 by 2050 (a net increase of 9,800). This is up from our 2020 estimate of 147,200 green jobs. Central London’s green workforce will be predominantly made up of jobs in Green Finance, Power, Low Carbon Transport and Homes and Buildings.

This represents substantial opportunity for the local economy and population, but there is also an urgent need to consider the necessary changes in education and skills provision to enable the uptake of these jobs and ensure central London residents can fully grasp the opportunities of net zero. We also consider the equalities and distributional challenges presented by a transition to net zero in the central London context, and the opportunities a green transition offers if coupled with the right skills provision and support for those out of work or in at-risk jobs, to ultimately build a stronger and more inclusive economy.

To develop these estimates and projections, we use a range of official and proprietary data sources and supervised machine learning, we quantify the number of green jobs in West London currently and project potential green job growth in 11 key sectors over the next three decades, highlighting where West London is well placed to seize these opportunities (detail about the data and methodology can be found in the previous cross-London report.). We also engaged with stakeholders across the boroughs and local skills providers to understand the context of the current green economy and how this might shape the green economy of the future.

You can read the report here. A summary slide deck can be found here.

Published March 2022.