A radical workforce shake-up is needed to deliver our ambitious energy transition

4 min read15 October

Labour’s plan to reach net-zero by 2030 has the power to transform the health and wealth of our country. But we will only achieve this ambitious target for a green economy by an equally radical shake-up of workforce.

In the last decade, the UK has fallen behind its peers. We have lost out on investment, green manufacturing jobs, and failed to train the engineers we need to power the green energy sector. Recent data from Make UK showed the decline of UK manufacturing exports has placed us outside the global top 10 for the first time on record.

The challenge of delivering the green transition and the UK’s skills deficit in key sectors are inextricably linked. We must skill-up a generation of workers, equipping young people for jobs in new industries and supporting workers with lifelong learning opportunities to allow them to transition to new roles in emerging industries.

In the first 100 days of taking office, we saw the launch of Great British Energy, a green light for onshore wind farms, and a major shake-up of planning rules to get green schemes off the ground. Potential for new green jobs abound, but we need a skilled workforce to take up those opportunities.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told Parliament that the capacity to generate jobs in clean energy depends on whether we can provide the skills to match demand. The creation of the Office for Clean Energy Jobs will focus not only on making the UK a global leader in renewables but on supporting a green-skilled workforce.

The workers of the first industrial revolution had to wait a century for fair terms and conditions. As former climate lead at the Bank of England, and former deputy general secretary of Prospect, the union for science and engineering specialists, we are determined to see a just transition built into the government’s workforce plans from the start. Employers need direction from government to attract not only young people but mid-career professionals from outside the sector. To achieve this, we must make upskilling and apprenticeships more attractive to all workers, taking another look at apprenticeship wages and future earning potential to ensure steady recruitment.

Framing will be key to success. Politicians and those in the climate space often refer to ‘green jobs’ but to attract people to these opportunities, we need to speak in the same way that people talk about their own careers: stability, pay, job progression.

We must also avoid the gender disparity we have historically seen in construction, engineering and heavy industry. When we talk of turning blue-collar jobs green, we need to consider how to encourage women to consider these careers too.

Change has already begun. The closure of the UK’s last coal-fired power plant marked the end of 140 years of coal powering British electricity.

We are confident in Labour’s vision and encouraged by the running start the government has made.

Across the country, colleges are already taking the initiative to deliver green apprenticeships in areas like heat pump installation, energy efficiency and electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure. New plans for Skills England will oversee reform of the apprenticeship levy and better post-16 education, to provide the opportunities our future workforce need. Devolving the delivery of green skills to business and local government means communities in every corner of the country can help shape the future mix of jobs in their area.

We are confident in Labour’s vision and encouraged by the running start the government has made. However, we need to acknowledge the need for investors to have confidence that climate action will be supported by multiple governments and across party lines, ensuring continuity in ambition beyond single parliamentary terms.

We will continue to collaborate with colleagues to ensure any ambition for climate is matched by an equally ambitious skills agenda, to ensure the UK economy, communities and workers themselves benefit from the opportunities of the transition to net-zero. Through this we can build a future for Britain that leaves our planet, and our people, better off.

Alistair Strathern - Labour MP, Hitchin; Environment APPG chair

Andrew Pakes - Labour-Co-op MP, Peterborough; Apprenticeships APPG chair

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