Evidence in this inquiry has revealed the scale of the challenge
to create the UK workforce to deliver the Clean Energy Mission
and to de-carbonise homes and businesses. While estimates of the
roles needed and that can be created vary, the UK requires a
rapid and lasting transformation of the construction sector:
industry-wide investment in skills, far-reaching skills reform,
and an unprecedented recruitment and upskilling
drive.
Witnesses have described the potential of the “highly
transferable” skills of existing oil and gas workers but warned
that, large as it is, that workforce will not be enough to
deliver net zero, nor able to fully re-skill on the right
timeline.
Others noted that building a green workforce and moving at-risk
carbon workers to new jobs “are in fact separate initiatives that
may not always involve overlapping worker groups."
Improvements to existing buildings to reduce their energy demand
would represent a 13% increase in the current size of the
workforce. A coordinated home retrofit programme in England could
sustain over 400,000 direct jobs and 500,000 indirect jobs by
2030, and more than 1.2m direct jobs and 1.5m indirect jobs by
2050.
To meet the target of 50GW of offshore wind, the current offshore
wind workforce of 32,000 must increase to more than 100,000 roles
by 2030. Large numbers of workers will have to be trained or
retrained.
But the current picture is of a decline in skills in sectors
critical to the transition. Investment and participation in adult
education more broadly have been decreasing and even with a
recent boost, total skills spending will still be 23% below
2009–10 level. Employers generally invest less today than they
did in the past, and major energy companies have been forced to
train engineers in-house due to little progress on the wider,
dedicated low carbon vocational training necessary to support a
strong talent pipeline.
In the first evidence session of this inquiry the Committee heard
about the complexity of even defining green jobs - or green
careers as some witnesses have argued they must be seen
– much less supporting skill development across all the sectors
involved and aligning that with industrial and commercial need.
The Committee will now turn to unions, trade associations and
construction assurance bodies and the education sector for a
closer look at the reality of “green” jobs and skills on the
ground.
On Wednesday 26 March 2025
at 3pm:
- Brian Berry, Chief Executive at Federation of Master
Builders
- Simon Ayers MBE. Chief Executive Officer at TrustMark
- James Fotherby, Senior Policy Officer at Aldersgate
Group
- Anna Markova, Senior Policy Officer at Trades Union
Congress
From approximately 4pm:
-
CBE, Chief Executive
Officer at Association of Colleges
- Andrew Hockey, Chief Executive Officer at Engineering
Construction Industry Training Board
- Tim Balcon, Chief Executive Officer at Construction Industry
Training Board
- Katy Heidenreich, Supply Chain and People Director at
Offshore Energies UK
