Summary of the Challenge
There is historic concern in just transition policy, politics and scholarship for understanding the impact of sustainability transitions on the nature of work as industries develop and change over time.
The impacts of transitions will be socially and geographically uneven with direct consequences for our communities and places as some industries decline and others develop.
However, there are also opportunities to support employees to retrain in green sectors (e.g. retrofit) to ensure continued employment opportunities for transitioning industries. It is also essential to ensure that the region has a skilled workforce to power new green industries, supporting the transition to net-zero, regional productivity and local economic growth.
Our Response
The project aims to understand how sustainability transitions will affect work and workers in South Yorkshire across different sectors and places. This builds on previous collaboration with the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority on employment and skills opportunities and challenges relating to low carbon energy.
It will provide important policy learning by building a detailed understanding of opportunities and challenges in different types of sectors across the region.
Our research asks some important core questions:
- How is and will the nature and demand for work be affected in different types of South Yorkshire’s economic sectors?
- What will changing nature and demand for different types of jobs and skills mean for workers and those hoping to access work in those sectors?
- What does the changing nature and demand for work in sectors mean for wider impacts on places?
- What do workers think about sustainability transitions in their workplace and what are their aspirations for work in a net-zero South Yorkshire?
Our research will focus on three key sectors within South Yorkshire to explore these questions:
- Industrial decarbonisation in the steel industry - what will it mean for skills and work as this high emitting sector undergoes transformation to decarbonise?
- Infrastructure decarbonisation focusing on the retrofit of buildings – how will this growth industry impact the existing construction and maintenance industry? How could it contribute to the local economy and the creation of local jobs?
- Agri-food decarbonisation - how changes to what we eat and where and how it is grown affect the local economy and job market?
Our research will produce recommendations for policy and decision makers to inform how the region’s can best support work and skills in transitioning industries and build the green workforce needed to drive change initiatives such as a retrofit programme rollout.
