Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to how the education system might be used to broaden public awareness about actions that individual members of the general public are able to make in line with the target to reduce the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The department recognises the contribution it can make to help create a sustainable future through education, developing the skills needed for a green economy, and supporting sectors to reach net zero targets.

Topics relating to climate change are included throughout both the science and geography curricula and in GCSEs. Through the citizenship programmes of study, pupils are taught how to explore political and social issues critically through evidence, debate, and reasoned argument. Pupils are taught that resources can be allocated in different ways and that these economic choices affect individuals, communities, and the sustainability of the environment. A new environmental science A Level was introduced in 2017, which will enable pupils to study topics that will support their understanding of climate change and how it will be tackled.

In further and technical education, the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education has convened a Green Apprenticeships Advisory Panel to encourage trailblazers to align apprenticeships to net zero and wider sustainability objectives.

The Department for Education and Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy launched the Green Jobs Taskforce in November 2020 to help the UK deliver the skilled workforce needed to reach net zero emissions by 2050. The taskforce, working in partnership with business, skills providers, and unions will develop an action plan to support 2 million good quality, green jobs and the skills needed by 2030, and so support the UK to transition to a net zero economy.