Employers investing in skills and training within the low carbon market were last night celebrated at a reception in Parliament.
The Green Skills Alliance (GSA), made up of Asset Skills, ConstructionSkills and SummitSkills, held the event to mark the culmination of a two year programme to develop infrastructure to support employers involved in the energy efficiency market. This included a range of new green training, awareness raising events and communicating best practice from exemplar organisations that are at the cutting edge of market innovation.
Backed by the Employer Investment Fund, the GSA has been working to make sure built environment employers are able to get the best from government schemes like Green Deal and the Energy Company Obligation (ECO).
Hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Renewable and Sustainable Energy Group (PRASEG), the event included speakers from the Department for Energy and Climate Change, the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, and leading employers.
Sarah Bentley, CEO of Asset Skills, commented: “The Green Skills Alliance programme has worked to support employers to better understand this emerging market and how to take advantage of opportunities. For Asset Skills this means making sure that energy assessors and Green Deal Advisors have easy access to information on policy, skills and the marketplace, which is why we developed the Green Info Hub as part of this programme.”
Alan Whitehead MP, PRASEG chair, commented: “This event was all about championing employers who have supported the energy efficiency agenda for the past two years. The success of schemes like Green Deal and ECO rely on a high quality workforce with the right training and skills to make customers feel confident in the improvements they make.”
William Burton, interim chief executive, ConstructionSkills said: “Sustainability has become an important focus for firms throughout the supply chain, and this picture is set to continue in 2014 and beyond. This project has gone a long way in providing them with the right information to help them seize the opportunities – for those with the right knowledge and qualifications, the opportunities and profits will be there for the taking.”
Nigel Hollett, general manager of SummitSkills commented: “As the current chair of the Green Skills Alliance I’m delighted to have welcomed over a hundred leading organisations to learn more about the key work we have been involved in over the last couple of years. There is a renewed optimism about the low carbon agenda and the time is right for companies to now consider training their workforce to take advantage from emerging opportunities that we hope will arise this year.”