A new report from the Future Energy Skills Programme – led jointly by Centrica and the GMB Trade Union – calls for bold action to reform the UK’s skills system and create the workforce needed to reach net zero by 2050
Technical and vocational training provision must be completely overhauled if the UK is to meet its net zero obligations, according to a new report from a group of leading voices from business, trade unions and academia that lays out key priorities for achieving an independent and carbon-free future for the country.
The Skills for a Jobs Transition report from the Future Energy Skills Programme – which is co-headed by Centrica CEO Chris O’Shea and Gary Smith, GMB General Secretary – provides a 50-point plan designed to create the skills and careers the UK needs as it accelerates towards energy independence, while ensuring a fair and inclusive transition for the workforce of today.
The report was produced with submissions gathered from parties including the Climate Change Committee, National Grid, Energy Systems Catapult, JCB, Rolls-Royce and the Association of Colleges.
The document calls for a properly funded and more flexible education system that will allow new qualifications to be developed around emerging low-carbon technologies and sets out the need to destigmatise vocational training – particularly apprenticeships – to improve the status of green skills.
The report makes the case that the path to net zero requires a fair jobs transition in which no jobs are lost but are repurposed or retrained.
The Future Energy Skills Programme also call for clearer government strategy on hydrogen, home heating, small nuclear, and carbon capture utilisation and storage.
Gary Smith, General Secretary at GMB, said: ““The UK must transform our skills agenda, from the classroom to the frontline of energy delivery, to secure a successful climate jobs transition to net zero.
“The scale of the challenge is clear, and the price of failure is staring us in the face with the offshoring of hundreds of thousands of good jobs and tens of billions of pounds in investment over the next generation to the rest of the world.
“To win a better future we need an active and supportive state working around the table with employers, educators, and unions.
“This is a timely and far-sighted report, offering just the sort of credible proposals our country needs to turn aspiration into delivery.”
Chris O’Shea, Group Chief Executive of Centrica, said: “Across political parties, industry and society there is now a consensus for the move towards net zero – but our ability to get there, and to do it in a way that is fair and affordable to everyone, needs to be examined.
“An ageing workforce, lack of apprentices, inadequate and inflexible vocational training, and a lack of diversity in the energy industry are just some of the challenges standing in the way.
“Meeting the UK’s energy ambitions requires bold action, and we must move with urgency to create the next generation of well paid, skilled jobs while ensuring that no worker or community is left behind on the path to a greener future.”
The report was produced with submissions gathered from parties including the Climate Change Committee, National Grid, Energy Systems Catapult, JCB, Rolls-Royce and the Association of Colleges.
