City & Guilds launches partnership with The Green Edge

We are excited to announce a new collaboration with sustainable business analysts, The Green Edge, to produce a bespoke podcast series, designed to help us respond to the latest developments in green skills markets

07 September 2023

The move comes shortly after the release of our Bright Futures report, placing a spotlight on decarbonising the energy workforce.

The new partnership will help us focus on relevant training solutions for the next generation of energy, construction, transport and manufacturing engineers, with the skills needed to support the UK’s transition to Net Zero. We have already seen a surge in demand for green skills qualifications with an estimated 5,000+ courses completed this year - more than a double compared to 2019.

The new podcast aims to highlight the positive contribution that green skills make to society while looking at how we plan to tackle the current skills shortage in the UK.

We already promote a broad range of green skills, including high demand retrofit and electric vehicles (EV) infrastructure installation qualifications. As a `voice for skills` we have also called out the need for green skills if the country is to take advantage of opportunities to meet the transition to a low carbon economy through a shift to EV.

Recognising the need to train the global workforce with the green skills required to help build a sustainable future and forging this partnership with The Green Edge, forms part of our commitment to progressing our Green Skills Roadmap, to equip workers to deliver skills needed for green markets.

The new fortnightly podcast series, produced by The Green Edge, will run throughout the rest of 2023 and into 2024 for City & Guilds colleagues, with special editions produced for an external audience. 

Find out more about the podcast series

Faiza Khan MBE, Executive Director Corporate Affairs and Foundation, City & Guilds, said: “The global green economy is evolving at a rapid pace, with new technologies, sectors and skills requirements coming on stream with increasing frequency. This is why we have taken the positive step of collaborating with The Green Edge, who will help us to broaden the range of green skills training that we offer.

“City & Guilds already promotes qualifications that meet the green agenda, but if we are to keep pace with the fast-evolving green economy, our course offering needs to expand to respond to the needs of learners and employers.

“This is an opportunity for learning providers like City & Guilds, to get closer to green economic developments, and ensure that our course content is driving the skills needed for the green jobs."

Dr Michael Cross, Co-Producer of The Green Edge, said: “We’re thrilled to be working with City & Guilds to help shape and inform its green skills training offer, as one of the leading training providers in the UK.

“We expect sustainability to one day become a consistent and explicit presence in training programmes and qualifications for all occupations, much like health and safety is today. Which is why it’s vital that, as a leading training provider, City & Guilds is seen to be spearheading this transition to a green skills-based economy.”