There are too many reports and not enough connective tissue in our sector

Across the charity and funding sectors, we are often good at understanding problems. We are less good at solving them together.

We produce research, run consultations, hold webinars, publish reports, and craft recommendations. Much of that work is thoughtful, careful and useful. But too often, it sits alongside other thoughtful, careful and useful work rather than building on it. Different organisations ask similar questions. Similar groups of people are consulted. Similar barriers are identified. Similar recommendations are made.

I’m not saying that this work isn’t important. I’m saying that, despite growing talk of systems change, we are not yet consistently building on each other’s work quickly enough to match the scale of the challenges we face.

Let’s take just one of hundreds of examples – let’s say young people and “green jobs”. I should be clear, I have not read every word of every report. But having reviewed a significant number of reports, consultations and discussions over recent months, I am seeing a pattern across the sector on many topics.

Yesterday the government published Young People and Work: Interim Report. You’ll have seen it in the news and all the talk of NEETs (i.e. young people let down by the system to the point they are not in employment education or training). The report does not hint at, let alone mention, “green jobs” – not even a mention of a transition to an economy that is less damaging to the environment and to people’s lives and the incredible jobs benefits that is predicted to bring – for example see the ECIU’s The UK net zero economy and the transition to a competitive future launched today – saying the transition is already supporting 1.1 million jobs.

In the previous four months, there were four reports on young people and 'green jobs' from our sector that I know of. In January 2026, the Co-op Foundation published research to inform its Green Opportunities Fund, exploring how underrepresented young people can be supported into environmentally focused careers. In April 2026, NPC and Groundwork published Making Green Jobs Accessible for Everyone, examining how young people from low-income backgrounds perceive green jobs and the barriers preventing them from accessing opportunities. In May 2026, NEF published A Pathway to Work, exploring how to connect young people to green jobs, particularly those facing multiple barriers to employment. Later that month, on 20 May, Green Alliance published Work in Progress, which examined how young people can prepare for jobs in the 2030s and the skills and support they will need to navigate a rapidly changing labour market.

They tell a broadly consistent story - many young people do not know what green jobs are. Careers advice is not keeping pace, routes into work are unclear, access is unequal – plus transport, money, and geography issues all play their role. Recommendations are also similar - employers need to do more, funders need to think differently, supportive policy is important. Not to mention that the phrase “green jobs” sounds like jargon to many people.

That single example highlights how much potential there is to build on existing insight rather than repeatedly generating new evidence. Alongside generating new evidence, we need to invest more in the shared infrastructure, relationships and multisolving mindset needed to act on what we already know.

This isn’t a blog about young people and “green jobs” it’s a blog about the need for the sector to change how we work if we are serious about changing systems. We need to stop making separate outputs easier to fund, easier to manage and easier to communicate than shared action. It is easier to commission another piece of research than to align funding around what existing research already tells us. It is easier to publish a report than to build the relationships needed to act on it, or to consult young people rather than to give them sustained power in shaping what happens next. It is easier to point to recommendations than to ask who is responsible for making sure anything changes.

Change is happening, but not quickly or boldly enough to maximise the opportunities to improve lives through environmental action. What is missing is the connective tissue between organisations, evidence, funding and action. We need more people, networks and institutions whose role is to connect insights, align efforts and help turn recommendations into change.

If you're interested in working with me to connect evidence, build relationships and join up more dots then please get in touch. 

(P.S. yes there are a lot of reports on my website, yes, it is one part of how I make a living, yes I am part of the problem. I believe in working in the open, so I share resources in case somebody who would find them useful has the time to read them. I strive to support each and every client to challenge mindsets to support practical action)