Pale, male and stale : To what extent does achieving the UK’s carbon budgets rely on greater diversity within the energy sector?

• Main Author: Jones, Alexandra
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Linköpings universitet, Tema Genus 2019
• Subjects: renewable energy; fossil fuels; decarbonisation; energy sector; extraction; climate change; Environmental Humanities; ecofeminism; Queer theory; workplace diversity; intersectionality.; Humanities and the Arts; Humaniora och konst
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-157998

With increasing recognition that reducing carbon emissions from energy in the UK will make a significant contribution to the mitigation of anthropogenic climate change, and with carbon budgets forged following the Climate Change Act 2005 looking unlikely to be met, it is clear that sectoral changes are required to catalyse the decarbonisation process. Alongside the need for this industry to be at the forefront of decarbonisation, the energy sector needs to diversify and employ more women, Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME), LGBT and disabled people, as well as those from different social classes and varied educational backgrounds. In short, the energy industry in the UK presently has a diversity issue that transcends being an image problem; it is hampering progress. This masters’ thesis explores how the dual aims of decarbonisation and diversifying the workforce can aid one another, and the extent to which greater diversity within the energy sector could actually be the key to decarbonisation. Using transcripts from the interviews I conducted with eight individuals, as well as meta- analysis of existing data that examines the impacts of diversity in various industries, the ways in which greater diversity in the energy sector has the potential to be positive for decarbonisation are explored. Further, this paper also examines barriers to diversity, proposing a series of recommendations for industry and policy makers in order to create an energy sector that is more diverse. These recommendations can be found in the next steps section of the paper, which aims to provide guidance for those wishing to make the composition of their organisation more representative of wider society.