Energy company Drax has made a commitment to improve green skills, education, employability and opportunity for one million people over the next five years.
Its new ‘Mobilising a Million’ initiative aims to boost the “social mobility” of people and improve their employability as part of its Opportunity Action Plan.
It is in partnership with the Social Mobility Pledge, led by former Education Secretary Justine Greening, who said: “Achieving true social mobility in Britain and levelling up our country is a huge challenge but one that businesses are rising to.
“Businesses like Drax have a crucial role to play in levelling up and ensuring that our country’s net zero targets and ambitions are not just met but delivered in a way that created opportunities and levels up communities like Selby, Ipswich, Northampton and in Scotland where Drax has its operations.
“In publishing this Opportunity Action Plan and marking its ambition to improve skills, education, employability and opportunity for one million people – Drax has demonstrated its commitments to making a positive social impact.”
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Drax has converted its power station in Yorkshire to use sustainable biomass instead of coal, transforming the business to become the largest decarbonisation project in Europe and the biggest single site, renewable power generator in the UK.
It plans to go further by using bioenergy carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technology to become carbon negative by 2030, which means it will permanently remove more CO2 from the atmosphere than its operations create.
Clare Harbord, Drax Group Director fo Corporate Affairs added: “Drax, along with other businesses, has an important part to play in making sure we have a future workforce with the skills to deliver the new technologies needed to decarbonise the economy and meet the UK’s net zero target.
“By boosting education, skills and employability opportunities for a million people, we can start to level the playing field and build a more diverse workforce. This will make the energy sector stronger and able to make a more significant contribution to the UK’s green recovery from COVID.”