Key factors shaping this issue

The UK skills and employment systems were not designed for the scale or pace of a complex transition like Net Zero. While the focus of this mission is on the creation of 650,000 jobs and reskilling 4 million workers—more than one-eighth of the UK workforce—by 2030, in reality, the UK is a long way short of having the workforce required to meet these ambitions, with an emerging deficit of more than 200,000 green-skilled workers in the energy sector.

There are four main challenges contributing to this issue:

1. An exclusionary green talent pipeline

   Information and communication failures at key decision points in the education system leave young people subject to a perceived "lack of prestige" of apprenticeships and trade-based careers that are essential to the clean energy workforce.⁷

   This creates a range of social barriers, especially for women and those from marginalised communities, to accessing or considering clean energy opportunities⁸,⁹—ultimately excluding a large percentage of the population from entering the clean energy workforce.

2. Decreasing skills investment

   An overly complex landscape, with a lack of support for businesses to navigate it, has made it increasingly difficult to identify and use appropriate training programs, leading many to disengage from the system entirely. This has resulted in UK employer training expenditure reaching its lowest level since 2011¹⁰, with far fewer workers having access to essential green skills training¹¹, making it difficult for workers to progress to higher-skilled green energy roles.

3. Difficulties accessing and retaining talent

   Inadequate coordination between employment services and employers has made it more difficult than ever to access talent¹². Instead, businesses rely on informal relationships over formal pathways because of the negative perceptions of candidates. Given the higher pay demands of green jobs¹³, with a smaller pool of talent to choose from, businesses must risk losing talent to those with more resources, hiring under-qualified workers—worsening the UK's skills mismatch¹⁴—or miss out on clean energy projects entirely.

4. An inability for long-term workforce planning

   Businesses' ability to engage in long-term workforce planning has been undermined by historically confusing and inconsistent policy messages and actions¹⁵. This has resulted in a lack of investment in the capabilities needed for green processes and requirements as employers are unsure of the skills and talent required.

Option 1: Business as usual

• Growth and Skills Levy: Cooperate with DfE and Skills England to identify training programmes for the expansion of the existing Apprenticeship Levy into a Growth and Skills Levy to incentivise employer training spend with a more flexible offering.
• British Jobs Bonus Fund: Reward clean energy developers who offer ‘good’ clean energy jobs with the "British Jobs Bonus Fund" to drive clean energy job creation in the UK.
• Net Zero and Nature Workforce Action Plan: Have the new Office for Clean Energy Jobs release the previously announced Workforce Action Plan (2024), engaging with industry partners, national and local government, and educational institutions.

Risks: Incentivises training spend, creates clean energy jobs, and promises an action plan for the future workforce but addresses symptoms, not root causes. Does not guarantee training will be 'green' skills or that job creation will improve a transition to a just green-talent supply.

Option 2: Announce a generational 20-year Net Zero skills and workforce action plan

• An ambitious 20-year vision: Collaborate with DfE and DWP to launch an ambitious 20-year vision of how the UK will deliver a next-generation workforce that will be the foundation of clean energy by 2030 and Net Zero by 2050.
• 5-year action plans: Detail a series of 5-year action plans that prioritise and direct resources based on past and present contexts on risks and the interventions are at effective at addressing them. Review every 5 years.
• Net Zero skills assessment: Kickstart the ambition with an in-depth national, and local, Net Zero skills and workforce assessment with Skills England. This assessment will require clear, simple definitions for clean energy jobs and skills, ensuring they are interoperable and harmonised with other approaches, nationally and internationally.

Risks: While long-term strategy enables consistent decision-making, it faces scrutiny for lacking immediate results. Challenges exist in defining 'green' jobs and skills¹⁵*, and previous skills assessments have struggled with implementation framework*¹⁶.