This blog is written by Jen Roberts, the newest member of the Geoscience for the Future Team. Jen is a researcher and lecturer at the University of Strathclyde. Her work is increasingly about the social element of energy transitions. She studies rocks, greenhouse gas emissions, and people. Get in touch with her on Twitter @the_JenRoberts.
I didn’t mean to talk about inequality. I often do mean to talk about it, but this time I really didn’t. I was preparing a talk on ‘Geoscience for the Future’ for the GeoScience and GeoEnergy Webinar series. I planned to talk on the role of the subsurface in meeting Net Zero climate targets, and in sustainable development. I planned to talk about rocks (geoscientists like to talk about rocks). And while I did at least mention rocks and fieldwork, as I was putting the talk together, I noticed a gap. A very glaring gap. A gender gap. And if geoscientists and the geoscience sector don’t take responsibility to address this gap, then our future will not be sustainable, because it won’t be fair. Let me explain.
The great transition
The energy sector is transitioning. It is moving away from centralised fossil fuel powered generation and towards decentralised low carbon energy systems. The UK electricity grid is on track to be zero carbon by 2025. We’ve seen transitions in the past: geological skills, knowledge and assets were key to the transition to coal, and then to hydrocarbons. These skills, knowledge and assets are now key to the current Net Zero carbon transition.
As the energy sector is transitioning, how we use the subsurface is changing. New technologies are coming on board. Instead of using the subsurface mostly for fossil fuel extraction and natural gas storage, we will be extracting geothermal heat, storing different forms of energy such as hydrogen or heat, and disposing of CO2 through Carbon Capture and geological Storage (CCS). CCS includes capturing CO2 from industries that are difficult to decarbonise such as steel or cement. It also includes capturing CO2 from air, hoovering up CO2 in the atmosphere to lock it away in rocks.
To meet global climate goals, we will be injecting 5-28 Gigatonnes of CO2 into the subsurface per year globally by 2050. That’s a larger annual volume than the oil industry currently extracts. According to the most recent estimates, we are currently injecting only 0.5Gt/yr worldwide: geoscientists have got work to do. Many of the geological skills, abilities, technologies, software, databases and knowledge developed for oil and gas applications are important for these low carbon technologies. The same can be said for the mining sector, which must also transition to sustainably resource a low carbon future. Geoscientists are adapting to these transitions, just as we have before.
The shapes and styles of the energy transition will vary according to regions, resources, and of course economic, social and political factors. The transition path may differ but the destination is shared: net zero emissions by 2050. Geoscientists will play a part in reaching that destination. However it is not clear at this point what these transitions mean in term of job markets, employment prospects, skills gaps or re-skilling needs in different regions and different countries as we transition the global energy sector. And where policy and markets fit.
Which brings us to the sustainability of the geoscience job markets.
A sustainable transition?
It is important that the transition to net zero is sustainable. Being low carbon does not mean being sustainable. The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set a shared global agenda for 2030, for a future that ‘leaves no one behind’. A sustainable future is one of a thriving and biodiverse planet. A sustainable future is one of good health, zero poverty and hunger, access to clean energy and water, and good employment and opportunities for all. A sustainable future is one of sustainable communities and innovation and progress with zero waste and without environmental or social harm. It is one of peace.
It sounds lovely.
The SDGs are not only lovely, they have influence and power. They are directing policy, funding, education, you name it; they are driving change.
Understanding how geoscience fits into the SDG framework is inspiring and illuminating – and important. Because we have to get it right. The Geological Society of London has a brilliant Geoscience for the Future poster showcasing the range of geoscience applications for society, and the social purpose of our field. And when you really look at the poster, it makes your brain whir. Geoscience research is connected to everything sustainable! The poster makes geosciences look as lovely as the SDGs. But… There’s a general tendency to look at how a technology or a policy or a sector contributes to sustainable development, rather than hindering it. We wear ‘green tinted spectacles’ to look at our sector. But that does not help deliver a sustainable future. We need to reflect critically on the geosciences, and the geoscience sector as a whole, to understand where activities or incentives might inhibit sustainable development objectives and indicators.
The IEAGHG commissioned a study to cast a critical eye on how CCS technologies progress or hinder the SDGs. The report and its outcomes are interesting. For example, the conclusions of the study call for more research on life cycle assessment of CCS, the economic impacts of CCS, and the employment aspects of CCS compared to other low-emission technologies. But the study explicitly decided not to look at SDGs such as zero hunger, gender equality, reduced inequalities, partnerships and quality education. It was determined that these SDGs are not directly related to CCS. In fact, if you look again at the Geol Soc’s Geoscience for the Future poster, the gender equality (SDG5) and reduced inequalities (SDG10) goals are linked only to geoscience communication and research institutions.
An equitable transition?
Well, I hadn’t noticed this before. And when I did, preparing the talk, I got all fired up. There are deep inequalities in the energy and, by association, the geoenergy sector. The International Energy Agency reports that the energy industry is one of the least diverse economic sectors in terms of gender – globally. In Scotland, reports published this year from the Scottish Government Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP) and the Just Transition Commission have identified labour market inequalities across age, gender, ethnicity and geography. They conclude that these inequalities limit accessibility and innovation in the energy sector and highlight that research is needed to ensure a diverse workforce, opportunities exist for a changing energy workforce, and that low carbon opportunities are accessible and fair. A ‘Just Transition’ means moving to a low carbon energy system in a way that ‘leaves no one behind’. But, right now, people are left behind, notably women and minority groups, at the detriment to the geoscience sector and to the detriment of our Net Zero ambitions.
A ‘Just Transition’ means moving to a low carbon energy system in a way that leaves no one behind. But, right now, people are left behind, notably women and minority groups, at the detriment to the geoscience sector and to the detriment of our Net Zero ambitions.
A new book ‘Geoscience and the Sustainable Development Goals’ was launched the day before I gave my webinar. The book is excellent. Each chapter boldly examines a particular SDG and the relationships with geoscience, key challenges, and opportunities for progress. Each chapter concludes with clear recommendations to the geoscience community. It is so refreshing. There are clear recommendations for geoscience – and the geoenergy community to support gender equality – the first of which is to raise awareness of gender inequality in the geosciences! Well, I’ve picked up that torch here – and will continue to do so. There are also clear recommendations for geosciences to reduce inequalities, for example through open access publishing, and supporting and valuing knowledge exchange. There are a number of initiatives, forums, networks and large research projects around enhancing diversity in STEM, diversity in geoscience, diversity in geoenergy, diversity in CCUS, even. Conferences and events are adopting and enforcing code of conduct to support equality diversity and inclusion. And there’s an open access movement. All these align with sustainable development. We must support and align ourselves and our sector with them.
The many applications that geoscience underpins for Net Zero are deeply embedded in issues of social and environmental justice – and we can’t and shouldn’t disentangle our work from that. And in fact, tackling and resolving some of those challenges for geoenergy really is what we need geoscience to help with for the future
It is important to tackle this head on: this is a problem for the geoenergy sector going forward, or, rather, an opportunity for our sector going forward. We need to own it. I would like the geoscience sector to explicitly commit to – and action – gender equality by 2030. To reduce inequalities. To support a thriving and diverse workforce. And to capture the full range of talent out there. Because, whoa, do we need it. The Net Zero transition requires ‘all hands and all brains on deck’ for innovation, transformations, and new ways of living, working and doing. Inequalities within the geoscience sector and system therefore put our sustainable future at risk.
Feature image: Photo by Nikola Johnny Mirkovic on Unsplash