“The potential for innovation, scientific discovery and business investment and growth is enormous…the very act of solving climate change can unleash a new and benign commercial force to take the action forward, providing jobs, technology spin-offs and new business opportunities, as well as protecting the world we live in.”
Tony Blair

The environment has become a global political issue, with climate change affecting our water supplies, health, ecosystems and economies. But the environment is not only of social and economic importance; it provides employment in safeguarding our environmental assets and securing a sustainable future.

The environmental sector in the UK employs over 400,000 people in 17,000 companies and has an annual turnover of £25 billion – roughly the same as the pharmaceuticals and aerospace sectors. These figures are even larger when considering the 500,000 volunteer workers in environmental and land-based organisations and the million people working for the food chain and rural sectors, which use about 80 percent of the UK’s total landmass.

Driven by tighter environmental regulation, increased development and scarce natural resources, the UK market for environmental industries is likely to grow to £34 billion in 2010 and on to £46 billion by 2015. The global market in environmental goods and services is expected to rise from £278 billion to £410 billion by 2015. And the International Energy Agency predicts that £8 trillion of investment in new energy sources will be required over the next 15 years.

For graduate employment, the sector can be divided into agriculture and science (over 220,000 businesses); animal-related (55,000 people in employment); environmental conservation and rural management (56,000 people working for around 5,000 businesses, plus 200,000 volunteers); fresh produce (expected to grow to £9.8billion by 2010), nurseries and garden centres (£5.18billion per annum in 2005); and gardens, landscape and design (140,000 people in employment).

Most environmental organisations also need the services of non-environmentally trained specialists, such as lawyers, accountants, human resource managers, public relations, sales and marketing, conference organisers and fundraisers. Becoming qualified and experienced in one of these areas may well set you on the path to a career in the environment.

There are many opportunities, challenges and rewards for people who pursue a career in the environment. The sector has a myriad of appointments available, and although you are unlikely to become a millionaire, job satisfaction can be immense.