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In 2017, the think tank Policy Exchange attempted to measure the ethnic diversity of occupations in England and Wales, finding that ethnic diversity has been unevenly distributed across different sectors. The study, ‘The two sides of diversity’, used data from Office of National Statistics research to develop a ranking of ethnic diversity across occupations in the UK, finding that ethnically diverse occupations can be seen as two distinct groups: 1. highly skilled, professional occupations or 2. low skilled jobs.

This analysis found ‘environment professionals’ to be the second least diverse profession in the UK (the least diverse being ‘farmers’). By comparison, the most diverse occupations are ‘taxi and cab drivers or chauffeurs’ and ‘dental practitioners’. In response to this finding, NUS, IEMA and The Equality Trust formed a partnership with the intention of shedding further light on the findings of the Policy Exchange’s analysis through further research. The project has sought to consider two perspectives:

• Further detail on the diversity of organisations working across the environment sector, including ‘environment professionals’ but also those working for organisations focused on achieving environmental sustainability.

• Insight into the perceptions of the sector amongst future potential employees (students currently in higher and further education) to understand where different experiences and views exist according to ethnicity.

Three elements of research have been delivered to gather data against each of these perspectives, including reviewing existing datasets, collecting equality, diversity and inclusion information from organisations working across the sector and surveying current students on their perceptions of the environment sector.

Further details of each research element can be found in section 2 of this report. The aim for this report is to provide a tool for further discussions within the sector, and ultimately for commitments for collaborative action to achieve a more inclusive workforce across the sector as a whole.

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