08/03/2020

RenewableUK rising star becomes UK’s Global Ambassador for Women in Wind

08 March 2020 - RenewableUK press release


RenewableUK’s Policy Analyst Alicia Green has been appointed UK Global Ambassador for Women in Wind as part of a new initiative announced by The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) on International Women’s Day.


The Global Ambassadors are part of the Women in Wind Global Leadership Program, organised by GWEC and the Global Women’s Network for the Energy Transition, to support greater diversity in wind energy.


Ms Green is one of the first wave of 8 Global Ambassadors; more will be appointed in the coming months. They will engage with politicians, the media and a wide range of organisations on the importance of gender equality and addressing barriers faced by women in the clean energy sector.


Research by the campaign group POWERful Women shows that 42% of the top 80 companies across the UK energy sector have all-male boards, and just 6% of Executive Board members are female.  


Ms Green played a key role in setting up the Switch List, a crowd-sourced database of women working in the energy sector to speak at events and conferences on their field of expertise. 430 have signed up so far. RenewableUK ensures that at least 30% of the speakers, panellists and chairs at its events are women. Last month she was named Rising Star 2020 at the Women Powering Smart Energy Awards in London.  


Earlier this year RenewableUK launched a Shadow Board to provide a greater range of views on key issues to the organisation’s main Board. Three-quarters of the Shadow Board members are women.


Alicia Green said:


“Becoming the UK’s Global Ambassador for Women in Wind is an exciting opportunity to work with colleagues around the world, sharing ideas on how to attract more women into the rapidly-expanding wind energy sector, and to ensure that decision-makers understand the importance of gender equality and take actions to support it. Although this sector is making good progress, more needs to be done to ensure that women are fully represented at Board Room level. We also need to provide opportunities for women in middle management positions so that they can grow their careers, and ensure that women entering the industry are able to identify role models and mentors.


“The renewable energy industry is attracting women at all levels from new apprentices to skilled workers transferring from other sectors because they want to work in an industry which is making a real difference – one that is playing a central role in tackling the climate emergency. It’s right that this modern industry in particular should reflect the diversity of talent we have and take steps to attract the widest range of gifted women in the future”.  


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Notes


RenewableUK’s members are building our future energy system, powered by clean electricity. We bring them together to deliver that future faster; a future which is better for industry, billpayers, and the environment. We support over 400 member companies to ensure increasing amounts of renewable electricity are deployed across the UK and to access export markets all over the world. Our members are business leaders, technology innovators, and expert thinkers from right across industry.


More information on the Switch List is available here.


Details of RenewableUK’s Shadow Board are available here. 


More information on the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) is available here


More information on the Women in Wind Global Leadership Program is available here.


For further information, contact