A fair energy transition must put workers first
4 min read
The Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan aims to make the UK a global leader in clean energy by 2035. Yet Shadow SNP Spokesperson for Work and Pensions, Kirsty Blackman, cautions that this will only be achieved if workers are properly reskilled and supported through the transition
Aberdeen has been the oil capital of Europe for more than 60 years. Aberdonians have literally powered the UK, and our city has built an industry that has supported families across the North East, Scotland and the rest of these isles. Rather than respecting this contribution, the transition away from oil and gas is being managed in a way that puts jobs, skills and even energy security at risk.
While the government promises a modern industrial strategy and a clean energy future; that same strategy continues to disadvantage and drive away the workforce needed to achieve those goals. The Energy Profits Levy (the windfall tax) has created uncertainty, delayed investment, and already cost thousands of jobs in the sector.
The rate of tax on our energy sector now stands at 78 per cent, higher than in almost any other country. Businesses in Aberdeen and across the North East of Scotland have been clear: these extra taxes discourage investment and are pushing skilled people out of the industry or into jobs abroad. Continuing the levy until 2030 risks deindustrialisation and mass unemployment − echoes of Thatcher during the 1980s.
The UK is importing more oil and gas from overseas, often from countries with higher carbon footprints and fewer worker safeguards. It is bizarre that the Labour party, the party of workers, would encourage this. It’s also economically incoherent to look at the political state of the world right now and believe in increasing our reliance on imports.
This incoherent energy policy has massive repercussions for communities like Aberdeen, where direct employment in oil and gas has fallen by a third since 2014, household income has dropped and poverty has increased. Some 14,000 workers in our region will need to move to other roles or sectors by 2030. Sadly, the new jobs in renewables are not appearing quickly enough. The government is failing to manage the energy transition and that failure will cost growth, skills and livelihoods.
The government has pledged to create 400,000 new jobs in the clean energy sector by 2030, and workers in Aberdeen need to know when and where those roles will appear, and how they will be matched with those already facing redundancy. Folk working in this sector cannot wait for distant job growth while the industry that sustains them contracts. How are our engineers meant to sustain their families while they wait?
This is a government following the decades-old pattern of exploiting Scotland’s energy to balance their books, with no thought to the long-term consequences.
Scotland has the potential to lead the world in renewable innovation; however, we can’t build the renewables future we need while Westminster’s policies hold us back. Scotland, and indeed the rest of the UK, must have a plan that coordinates the managed decline of oil and gas with the rapid growth of clean energy, a plan that protects jobs through reskilling, and supports local economies through confidence and investment.
That means building renewable industries that are sustainable, publicly controlled and rooted in local communities. We should take equity stakes in projects, mandate fair work and trade union recognition; set rules for overseas investment; focus on local supply chains across energy, transport, construction and manufacturing; and invest in training and support for oil and gas workers through a roadmap and jobs register.
Our renewable energy sector is a potential economic bonanza. With North Sea oil and gas declining, we need to support our highly skilled workforce so they can move into green industries and use their expertise to drive innovation. But to realise our ambitions the government must stop paying lip service to the transition with GB Energy and provide real support, so that our energy workers can help build the green energy future we need.
Scotland has the ambition and the investment − through the Scottish government’s Just Transition Fund − to become a global leader in net-zero and create good, skilled jobs. Westminster must not stand in the way of that opportunity. The people who powered the UK’s energy past are best placed to power our energy future.
