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Environmental professionals warn of burnout due to high workloads and low pay
Seven in ten climate and nature workers in the UK believe their teams are understaffed and struggling to attract talent, raising further questions for the Government about planning to close the green skills gap.
Trade Union Prospect has this week revealed the results of a survey of 500 professionals working in expert nature-related roles across the UK. These include employees of public bodies like the Environment Agency and Natural England, as well as staff at NGOs and within the private sector.
Of those surveyed, 69% believed that the staffing levels for their teams were too low. Four in ten stated that their team sizes had been cut within the past year.
This has, for many, increased workloads. More than one-third (35%) of those polled said their workload had increased “significantly” over the past 12 months.
‘A sign of the times’: Fossil fuels hit record low in EU electricity mix
The amount of electricity generated from fossil fuels in the EU plummeted by almost one-fifth in the first half of the year – bringing the share of coal, oi land gas in the electricity mix to a record low.
That is according to new data on Europe’s power sector and its associated carbon emissions from think-tank Ember.
Ember tracked a 17% fall in fossil-fuelled electricity generation between January and June 2023, compared with the previous half. The fall was steepest for coal, with 23% less coal-fired electricity generated.
This is proof, Ember has concluded, that Europe’s increase in coal during 2022 was temporary. As it continues to implement interventions to get off of Russian fossil fuels, the focus will be on reducing demand and on scaling clean energy rather than finding alternative sources of coal.
All in all, electricity generation from fossil fuels was the lowest in the EU since 2015 – the first year for which monthly data was recorded. Ember thinks it very likely that the last time fossil fuel generation was this low is actually 2000.
Seven EU member states saw their lowest total fossil generation on record for the first half of 2023 – Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Poland and Slovenia.
UK Government’s investment in Sizewell C nuclear plant passes £1bn
The UK Government has confirmed that it will funnel an additional £341m into the Sizewell C nuclear power plant, on top of £870m already announced to date.
Nuclear Minister Andrew Bowie announced the new funding on Tuesday afternoon (29 August), stating that it will be allocated to prepare the site in Suffolk for construction works to begin.
Funding will also be set aside to develop and grow the project’s supply chain and to ensure that there are enough skilled workers in Britain to deliver the plant. On the skills piece, the funding will support the construction and staffing of training facilities for 1,500 apprentices.
The funding has been announced just one month after Whitehall confirmed £170m for pre-construction preparations at Sizewell. This initial investment had a focus on materials and components.
Bowie said the additional funding “is a clear demonstration of the government’s commitment to this vital project, and will mean the site will be shovel-ready, and work able to start, much more quickly”.
As part of our Mission Possible campaign, edie brings you this weekly round-up of five of the best sustainable business success stories of the week. In this week’s edition, the replacement of Spain’s largest coal plant with renewables, and much more.
Published every week, this series charts how businesses and sustainability professionals are working to achieve their ‘Mission Possible’ across the campaign’s five key pillars – energy, resources, infrastructure, mobility and sustainability leadership.