Green Jobs and Skills in the South London Partnership Sub-Region

This report, produced with the Institute for Employment Studies for South London Partnership, presents analysis of the green economy, green jobs and skills in the South London sub-region (made up of Croydon, Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Richmond upon Thames and Sutton). The report builds of previous analysis from the cross-London report, taking a closer look at the sub-regional level and engaging with local stakeholders to inform the local context. It considers the potential scale and nature of green jobs in the South London Partnership 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 38,000 green jobs in the sub-region (a net increase of 3,900 jobs) reaching 65,000 by 2050 (a net increase of 1,700). This is up from our current estimate of 19,200 green jobs. South London’s green workforce will be predominantly made up of jobs in Power and Homes and Buildings sectors, with significant growth in Low Carbon Transport and other sectors.

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 Local 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 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 London currently and project potential green job growth in 11 key sectors over the next three decades, highlighting where 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.