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12 | DECEMBER 2020 | UTILITY WEEK Voices of the Future that will hopefully make the industry a bit more accessible to people." Diversity Diversity is a topic the energy sector has long grappled with. According to the repre- sentative ONS Labour Force Survey, Janu- ary-December 2018, of the 572,000 people employed by the sector and its supply chain, just 5 per cent identify as BAME compared with the 12 per cent average for other sectors. Additionally, the sector is also over- whelmingly male – just 17 per cent iden- tify as female compared with the 47 per cent average of other sectors. In addition to acknowledging the need for greater inclu- sion, the five point to other factors, such as age, which should not be overlooked. Patel says: "Probably the only thing I've been pre-judged about is my age because I look about 12! For me, I've worked in the UK and Sweden with Siemens and it's been really inclusive, I've never once had any sort of issues with my ethnicity or my skin tone." Williams raises the point of the average age of the sector, saying: "People stay in energy for a long time and you'll meet people in our organisation who have worked there for almost 30 years. "Where I think the issue may lie is that you don't necessarily see people from diverse groups progressing in the organisation. Yes we are seeing people from diverse back- grounds get into the organisations, we are seeing that pipeline of graduates getting into the energy industry, but then when you look at an organisation and you look at the differ- ent layers of leadership and you go towards the top it does become very white and male. You don't necessarily see many female engi- neers or people of colour in leadership posi- tions. And then the same would apply to other lenses of diversity when it comes to LGBT or ability." As a woman, Harvey-Cole has experi- enced first-hand of entering a very male- dominated sector. When she joined the sector a decade ago, she was the only female in her team. While she says things have got better since, her experience points to the need for more female role models. "It didn't put me off but it put a barrier there. There wasn't anybody to look up to at that stage in my career. They were all white, male, late 40s, it was a little more difficult. Now it's changing considerably, there's a lot more women in the profession than there was so you have those peers you can go to. It's great the sector has recognised that there is an issue that needs to be addressed. "Obviously diversity and inclusion needs Analysis to be at the heart of the recruitment process. If we are going to achieve net zero we need the broadest pool of talent. To achieve that we need greater emphasis in schools, we need more STEM events. We are getting there but we are not there yet." Young warns of the dangers that uncon- scious bias can play in recruitment. "I think the way recruitment works in our industries, because they are dominated by men and white men at that, unconscious biases come into play and people are more likely to hire those who look like themselves. So, I think there needs to be a change in the way we do procedures, make sure we have diverse panels and anonymise CVs. And I think companies need to work on how they develop diverse talents." Singh says: "Even now, depending on the situation, a lot of times I might be the only woman in the room or the only person of colour, and that needs to change. Especially when we are bringing in new talent, we want to bring in millennials, Generation Z. It would be great for them to see themselves represented at senior levels, to see the diver- sity to show how inclusive the energy indus- try can be. "The second thing I would say I've noticed, and I think this a positive trend, is that companies are now setting targets for senior levels in terms of improving represen- tation, whether that's gender, diversity and beyond. I think it's a fantastic move but at the same time I think these targets need to trickle down to the other levels. We need to focus on mid-management and lower man- agement levels as well." Shaping the future The YEP represent the generation that will take the UK over the line in terms of its com- mitment to net zero emissions by 2050. The task that lies ahead of them is great and all are acutely aware that time is quickly run- ning out to make the target. Patel says: "If the transition needs to take place, it needs to take place quickly and it needs to take place at a large scale. Other- continued from previous page wise we are probably going to get compla- cent. We really need to start pushing these points across otherwise we could fall behind too quickly." Harvey-Cole agrees there is no room for complacency. She says: "I think Covid has heightened the awareness that we need to start doing something now. The air quality improvements that we have seen while we were in lockdown proves there is an issue that we need to address and we need to address that now. We can't continue in the way that we have been. "National Grid implemented a removal of single use plastics from all offices last year, which is a great thing. It's really positive. Small things like that will help significantly but there's so much more that we need to do. We need approximately 60,000 charging points for EVs; we need to increase the low carbon electricity generation by 50 per cent; that's a staggering amount that we need to do in 30 years." "This is something we needed to start working on yesterday," Singh insists. "There are three things that need to happen in con- junction. The first is decarbonisation, not just in the energy sector, but transport and homes. The second is more cross-sector col- laboration, different industries are coming together that haven't traditionally worked together, and the third is when we create this new system it needs to take into account the change in customer needs." Young describes decarbonisation as "the most pressing issue our sector has to deal with", adding: "I almost question whether 2050 as a target is ambitious enough. We are going to be past the tipping point as soon as we get to that stage so it is crucial we invest now. I think there is a need to not only invest in the infrastructure but in a way that makes this really palatable to consumers as well. It takes a while for public opinion to shi and I think we are getting there." New technologies New technologies are going to be crucial in reaching the net zero target, so the panel was asked to consider what needs to be done to encourage the take-up of EVs, smart meters, solar panels and other green measures. The five point to how the industry will rebuild following the pandemic. Again, the issue of diversity is raised, with a recogni- tion that different communities need to be included within the transition in order for it to be a success. Williams says: "Weaving this massive piece of work that we need to do around net zero into that narrative of building back bet- ter and achieving this net zero goal is some- "If the transition needs to take place, it needs to take place quickly and it needs to take place at a large scale." RAJAN PATEL, UK ONSHORE PROJECT MANAGER, SIEMENS ENERGY