How WPI Economics mapped the UK’s Green Economy

Founded in 2016, by Matthew Oakley WPI Economics is a specialist economics, public policy, and data insights consultancy. They conduct research and analysis to help people shape policies in different areas, like achieving net zero emissions, poverty, and financial services.

While they were working on their report ‘Green Jobs and Skills in London’ They needed a data solution to more accurately map new and emerging sectors, such as the green sector. This led them to collaborate with The Data City to build a new sector classification for the green economy.

WPI Economics faced a significant challenge in measuring the green economy due to the limitations of traditional government datasets. As green jobs and new technologies like carbon capture and green hydrogen began to emerge, existing datasets did not fully capture these innovations. Traditional sector definitions were insufficient to map the new and emerging roles that were crucial for achieving net zero goals.

They needed a more comprehensive and dynamic data solution to define and quantify these sectors accurately.

In a partnership with The Data City’s Data Services team, WPI Economics developed a custom industrial classification to define and measure green jobs.

By using The Data City’s platform, they leveraged machine learning, website text analysis, and Real-time Industry Classifications (RTICs) to build a bespoke classification system. This allowed them to measure and track the green economy, identifying specific green sectors previously missed by traditional methods.

Through their collaboration with The Data City, WPI Economics were able to accurately map and define the green economy, including emerging sectors like carbon capture and green hydrogen. They have since used this classification to measure the green economy in other parts of the country, such as Surrey and Hampshire.

From this they were able to deliver more precise analysis using real-time data and strengthen their position as thought leaders in their sector

The project has had lasting impacts, and WPI Economics continues to use The Data City’s platform to explore new sectors and drive data-driven policy insights.