The Design Council has announced a mission to upskill a million British designers in green design skills by 2030. Its ambition is to harness hosting the 2025 World Design Congress as a catalyst with a lasting impact for the UK, with a mass-upskilling legacy.
Over the next 12 months, the Design Council will convene education and training stakeholders and designers themselves to co-design what these green skills are and what the upskilling programme needs to look like.
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As children around England complete their design and technology GCSE exams, and in a first step towards the mission, the Design Council has partnered with 20 leading design and education organisations to launch a set of policy recommendations for a crucial revision of the design and technology GCSE course.
The World Design Congress will gather members of the global design community at London’s Barbican Centre in September 2025 to propel the Design Council’s mission to harness design’s power to tackle the climate crisis.
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In the face of twin climate and biodiversity crises, and ambitious government targets for decarbonisation by 2030, the UK has the opportunity to ensure that its two-million-strong design industry has the necessary skills to address the climate emergency. There’s currently a significant skills gap. The Design Council’s recently published research shows that while two-thirds of designers have worked on environmental projects in the last 12 months, and three-quarters of them think the demand for environmental design is going to grow, only 43 per cent think they have the capability to do so. Skills and knowledge are critical enablers of change, yet only half of UK designers believe their education has equipped them to design for planet.
The aim of this new mission is to equip designers to use their skills to fuel the green transition and position the UK as the global leader in designing for planet. Design is a ‘frontline’ green skill in the way it creates products, buildings and places that use fewer resources, reuses them or even grows them, as well as being a ‘hearts and minds’ green skill in the way that it makes sustainable living the easy and desirable choice.
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This mission will include bid partners such as the Design Museum, Creative Industries Council, DBA, AHRC, Innovate UK and leading universities that are World Design Organisation members, including RCA, Westminster University and the University of Greenwich.
Key to the mission will be a cross-industry alliance made up of those working in schools, further and higher education, industry, business, government and philanthropic funding. The Design Council aims to develop a curriculum from the classroom to the c-suite, and drive government support and private sector funding.
The path to one million starts in schools. The Design Council has partnered with 20 design and education organisations, including the Design and Technology Association and the National Society for Education in Art and Design, exam boards AQA, Pearson and OCR, engineering bodies IET and EngineeringUK, and creative bodies RIBA, Crafts Council and the Design Business Association to publish a blueprint for the renewal of the design and technology (D&T) GCSE course to advise government on an essential curriculum change.
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Currently the creative industries talent pipeline in blocked: fewer and fewer children can access a great design education. Since 2010, British D&T GCSE entries have fallen by 67 per cent, and the number of D&T teachers has more than halved. At the same time, industry is crying out for people with creative problem-solving skills, critical thinking, adaptability and resilience.
Design and technology is one of the few spaces in the school curriculum where science and creativity meet, and students are asked to solve real-world problems in innovative ways. The subject risks falling into the margins of the curriculum at the time when it’s most needed. The Blueprint for Renewal unites 20 design and education organisations behind a shared set of recommendations to put design at the heart of a regenerative and creative curriculum.
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The recently launched Blueprint for Renewal: Design and Technology Education is a guide for government. It outlines recommendations for how to overhaul the current GCSE course – the first step in the plan to create the channels and environment for achieving a million upskilled designers for the future.
‘The World Design Congress in 2025 provides a rare opportunity for the UK government and the design industry to show global leadership in harnessing the power of design for the green transition,’ said Minnie Moll, CEO of the Design Council. ‘Design is a core green skill. That is both “frontline” design skills of using, and re-using, natural resources more efficiently, and indeed replenishing them, and “hearts and minds” design skills, making regenerative lifestyles the easier, attractive and inclusive option.’
‘We were the first nation worldwide to recognise the importance of design and technology education as part of a forward-thinking curriculum,’ said Tony Ryan, CEO of the Design & Technology Association. ‘While we have allowed teacher numbers and exam entries to fall in recent years, countries worldwide have taken our lead and built upon it. I welcome this paper and its content and fully endorse the role that a high-quality design and technology education can play in equipping our young people to step confidently into society and to play a positive role across the design workforce.’
The Blueprint for Renewal: Design and Technology Education can be viewed here.