A greener workforce for a greener future
1st March 2023
Climate change is one of the biggest issues facing our world today, and at British Gas we recognise that we have a key role to play in the fight against it. Our Climate Transition Plan lays out how we’ll tackle it – and a key part of this is building a greener workforce.
Fortunately, there’s no shortage of young people who want to be part of a green workforce. A recent poll of 15-25 year-olds, which we commissioned to mark National Apprenticeship Week 2023, found that 71% of them want a career that won’t have a negative impact on the planet. Of these, 94% want to help protect the future of our natural environment, and 72% liked the idea of a job that helped people to live their lives more sustainably.
It’s great that so many young people want to take care of the planet. Working with cutting-edge renewable technology is so rewarding, knowing it will make a real difference to people – I feel I’m doing my bit to reach net zero.
Upskilling our workforce to drive the green homes revolution
Did you know that 40% of the UK’s carbon emissions come from our homes? Staggering, isn’t it? This means to reach net zero by 2050, the UK needs around 2,000 households and 500 businesses to achieve net zero every day. It’s an enormous challenge. But as the leading energy provider in the UK, with millions of customers, we’re in a great position to make a difference.
Green upskilling is a major initiative in our drive to net zero. Many of our engineers are already smart energy experts and are installing smart meters to help customers have full awareness on how they use and save energy in the home. We also have a huge upskilling drive for engineers to fit EV chargers and heat pumps, making it easier for our customers to make green choices.
There are already hundreds of thousands of jobs in the UK involved in our transition to net zero. Not only is that good for our economy, but that expertise is helping other countries to make the transition.
Hiring 3,500 new recruits in our fight against climate change
We’re also looking for bright new talent to train in green skills so the next generation can help us drive forward on the journey to net zero. We’ve committed to recruiting 3,500 new apprentices by 2030 and they’re going to play a pivotal role in providing the green skills we need as a country.
Apprentices will receive extensive technical skills training at one of our award-winning British Gas training academies. Once qualified as Smart Energy Experts, they can be upskilled to install and maintain carbon-efficient technologies - like electric vehicle charging points and heat pumps.
It’s incredibly important that our engineers learn to install these new technologies with the highest levels of safety. Equally, they’ll need the expertise and people skills to help customers understand how to use these products, and how to maximise on their energy-saving capabilities.
We’re creating thousands of highly-skilled and well-paid British jobs to ensure that we have a workforce that can help to make the transition to low carbon both hassle-free and affordable for our customers and to support the Government’s ambitious targets to make net zero a reality.
Join our team and you could have a more sustainable future too
If you’re looking for a career for life and you believe in a greener future, then why not apply for a job or an apprenticeship with British Gas? It’s an exciting time to be working in the energy market, there’s a huge amount of investment in sustainability solutions - and that means great opportunities to progress your career.
Your apprenticeship will just be the start of your journey and since completing mine I’ve developed within many different roles.
A dynamic and diverse workforce is important to us, and we set ourselves the goal of 50% of our apprentices being female. We think it’s important to reflect the customers we serve and the communities we work in, which is why we’re always striving to recruit from a wide range of backgrounds.
I want to represent women and play my part in showing people that anyone can work in engineering. The job has variety, it’s different every day and you can grow and progress your career which motivates me to do my best.
We really believe that anyone can work in engineering. So, if you’d like to join our team, whoever you are, you’re welcome.