The Burning Glass Institute’s Post

⏰There's still time to sign up for Tuesday's virtual discussion! 🌎 We're talking about the increasing demand for digital skills in the green economy. 💡Tune in for insights from a new report from IBM and The Burning Glass Institute. ⬇️ Details below⬇️ #greenjobs #digitalskills #climateresilient WorkingNation

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to guest lecture at my alma mater, the Yale School of the Environment, yesterday. I joined Professor Dan Esty's Corporate Sustainability Strategy and Management class to discuss the intersection of business model innovation and sustainability technology. 🟢 We delved into two projects close to our my heart: CircularNet, Google's AI model for waste identification, and the ongoing effort to integrate recycling information into Google Maps and Search. 🟢 The discussion highlighted how these technologies can be powerful tools for both environmental impact and business success, driving efficiency, reducing waste, and creating new opportunities. 🟢 When making my slides, I had the opportunity to reflect on the nature of environmental innovation: by starting with (1) what we're "good at", (2) what our partners/users need, and (3) what the global environment demands, we've got the opportunity to innovate with a more defensible "business case" for sustainability that benefits multiple parties. The Masters students' questions were insightful and challenging, reminding me of the passion and flat out sharp intellect Yale YSE & Yale School of Management students possess that will serve them well as they become sustainability leaders. #sustainability #technology #innovation #circulareconomy #recycling #YaleEnvironment

Why do people still pretend the circular economy is new? It's not. We are simply hindering progress through ignoring all the learning, insights, knowledge we've gleamed about making this a reality over the past few decades. The concept has been around for centuries & in its current form it has been written about since the '60s. Even I, as a naive 20 year old, first wrote about the importance of closing resource loops in 1989 for my undergraduate thesis at University of Limerick. The image is an excerpt from the conclusion section. Can we just get on with changing the system? #AuthenticLeadership #SystemsDesign #CircularEconomy

Every day we are told about new jobs that are emerging due the increased digitalisation of the economy. The same is true due to the drive towards net zero and the adoption of circular economy principles. The Skills Disruption Index (Burning Glass and Boston Consulting Group) reveals the rate of change across 680 occupations, and we see those in engineering and manufacturing featuring strongly as ones changing most (about 36 of the 60 changing most). But what is this meaning for education and training. First, it means there is a lag between skills needed in the workplace, and those captured in qualifications. Second, if students (of all ages) can best acquire their skills be some form of combination of the classroom with the workplace (e.g. the learning factory). Third, we need to have competence recognised in a different way other than just a qualification. Fourth, for all students to make a full contribution and to build their careers, they need to acquire more than just technical skills but the whole range of enabling and support skills that cover career development through to project management, working with complexity, working collaboratively and co-operatively, etc. One response we have seen to these demands for skills is the Bootcamp Skills Policy which seeks to provide responsive, intensive, industry relevant skills, and be a bridge to employment. You have to ask though if the approach could be strengthened if two things were to change: make the Bootcamp approach a natural part of a college's normal way of operating (and be a part of their annual budget), and, if all students' competences are recognised in a common way to allow retrospective certification and awarding of qualifications. There are a number of quality assurance bodies that could provide the link between competence development and practice and the gaining of recognised qualifications. As the labour market changes, and new skills emerge, particularly in the green economy we on The Green Edge - https://lnkd.in/d7GEyYpc - will be tracking them through our weekly posts and podcasts (now listened to in over 50 countries), a monthly round-up of reports, and a data portal. We continue to operate on a fully open access and free subscription basis. #labourmarket #greenskills #burningglass #growingthefuture #netzero

Our CHI paper won an award! 🥳 My co-authors Luiz Augusto Morais Georgia Panagiotidou, Tatiana Losev, Rebecca Noonan and Uta Hinrichs and I conducted research into sustainability practices within data physicalization… and our paper was awarded a Best Paper Award at ACM CHI 2024 🙌 If you’re interested in checking it out, it’s called “From Exploration to End of Life: Unpacking Sustainability in Physicalization Practices" - you can read it here: https://lnkd.in/eD5EWmgf

This recent GreenBiz Group article examines the challenges 239 companies face as they miss the deadline to submit science-based targets. However, there is much more to the whole story. Many large brands are actively pursuing ambitious targets, but are finding that scope 3 emissions are a virtual Pandora’s box of obstacles that are made more complicated by the fact this category often accounts for between 80 to 90% of total emissions. Scope 3 emissions are the hardest to quantify and mitigate because they are indirect and generated outside a company’s direct control through their supply chain as well as customer product use and disposal.   Smallholder Data Services (SDS), along with partners like VeriFi Data Corp. and Terra Genesis, are working with several large brands including VF Corporation to address these specific scope 3 challenges. In the process we have identified two areas that are key to streamlining the process.    The first challenge focuses on data availability and quality. Corporations struggle to get access to reliable data from external sources, especially if their suppliers are smallholder farmers in the global south that lack robust emissions tracking capacity. Even if data is available, its accuracy can be questionable, making it difficult to get a clear picture of a company's true footprint. VeriFi’s solution turns farm-level data into a farm product that is verified and sold on behalf of farmers directly to the companies that need this data for both reporting and customer transparency.   The second challenge is that measuring and reporting scope 3 emissions requires expertise and resources. Companies often do not have the dedicated staff or internal knowledge to handle the complex calculations and data analysis involved. VeriFi and SDS work together to handle these calculations and analysis at the same time as VeriFi validates its accuracy. The result is data that has been designed to meet the company’s full range of reporting requirements.   If you’re one of the 239 companies, such as Unilever and Walmart, that missed the deadline, we’re here to help you land your deadlines in the future. Let’s get started; contact us on LinkedIn or at [email protected].

We are looking at ways to reduce the environmental impact of our research. In this blog post Chin Yang Shapland and Hayley Wragg PhD discuss some of the things we are thinking about as we work to make our computing processes more sustainable. https://lnkd.in/eEKjH9wb

COGNITION CONTINUES CARBON REDUCTION JOURNEY! Having achieved our Carbon Neutral Company certification for the third year running, Cognition is now focussing on further definition of our emission sources, with the aim of identifying greater opportunities for carbon reduction. With more rigorous government requirements around Scope 3 emissions capture on the horizon, Cognition will focus on more detailed mapping of our Scope 3 emissions, particularly in relation to those of our supply chain. In addition, we will be amending our purchasing policy to ensure this supports the most sustainable choices for Cognition, our projects, and our clients. If you would like further information on our carbon reduction improvement measures, please speak with our Environmental and Sustainability Manager, Tomaz Vernik. #sustainability #carbonreduction #carbonneutral #certifiedcarbonneutral

Ever wondered what systemic skills are necessary for circular economy (CE) researchers aiming to trigger societal change?   CE skills involve understanding systems, requiring researchers to have a broad perspective and a mix of disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge.    Researchers play various roles—analysts, moderators, knowledge custodians, and process mediators—going beyond traditional scientific tasks.   In last year’s most downloaded article, “Challenges and Paradoxes in Researching in Circular Economy”, Prof. Dr. Marlen Gabriele Arnold dives deep into the three core CE pillars for researchers and decision-makers. It involves the 13 R design principles, action points, and the skills needed for researchers.   Want to learn more?   Read it here: https://lnkd.in/dK_zDc54   #circulareconomyskills #circulareconomy #systemsthinking #CEresearch #sustainabilityinsights #societalchange #CEpillars #knowledgeleadership