Thousands of jobs in danger if UK fails to behave now on North Sea power transition | EUROtoday

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The UK will fail to realize a “just and fair” transition by 2030 until the federal government works proactively to maintain offshore power trade jobs and funding, a examine has discovered.

Experts at Robert Gordon University analysed greater than 6,560 pathways for the trade between now and 2030, concluding that political choices relatively than market forces will affect the dimensions of the workforce.

Of the hundreds of eventualities analysed, lower than 0.3 per cent might be thought-about a “just and fair” transition, their report discovered.

If Scotland is profitable with its power transition targets, the offshore power workforce may improve by an estimated 25 per cent.

However, if Scotland doesn’t benefit from all of the potential alternatives within the offshore power sector, the workforce may shrink by almost half, dropping to roughly 48,000 jobs by the 12 months 2030.

Professor Paul de Leeuw mentioned Scotland could be disproportionately impacted with modifications within the offshore workforce and provide chain, as a excessive variety of offshore jobs are concentrated round Aberdeen.

Underlining the size of the problem, he mentioned that to ensure that the workforce to be sustained at present ranges of simply over 150,000 in 2030, the set up of recent offshore generators would wish to extend to roughly one per day.

In addition, the UK would wish to proceed extracting round 500,000 barrels of oil equal per day.

The whole put in capability of offshore wind technology would wish to extend to round 40GW, up from 15GW on the finish of 2023.

Oil and gasoline manufacturing is at the moment anticipated to say no by round 40 per cent by 2030.

Prof de Leeuw mentioned: “The UK still has a unique opportunity to create a new energy future.

“Accelerating the re-purposing of the North Sea as a world-class, multi-energy basin will ensure the sector can power the country for decades to come. The prize for the UK to get this right is enormous.

“But to deliver this requires action and urgency, which means faster planning and consenting and access to the grid.”

He continued: “While there is consensus across all stakeholders including governments, politicians, industry organisations and economic development bodies that we need to realise a ‘just and fair’ transition, a far more agile and joined-up approach is required to address how the country can best secure its energy ambitions, while addressing the cost-of-living crisis, managing energy security and delivering on the net zero agenda.

“The latest research reinforces the need for urgent alignment across the political spectrum to agree the short-term actions that will deliver a just and fair transition, maintaining the workforce to 2030 to deliver a long-term net zero future and the associated economic benefits for the country.”

Scotland’s Net Zero and Energy Secretary Mairi McAllan mentioned: “Scotland’s energy transition presents an era-defining opportunity for our economy and people: delivering on our climate obligations, safeguarding our energy security and ensuring a fair and just energy transition for our workforces and the communities they support.

“By working together, with absolute clarity of purpose, we will unlock the vast potential. Indeed, the transition is already happening with Scotland fast becoming a renewables powerhouse.

“The Scottish Government is determined to play its role in maximising these benefits – and negotiating the challenges – not least through the publication of our Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, which will set out our vision for a future energy system that delivers affordable, secure, clean energy and delivers economic benefits to every part of the country.”

The UK Government mentioned offshore wind is vital to its power transition plans.

A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesman mentioned: “The UK is the first major economy to halve its emissions, and we are leading the way in our transformation of the energy industry, with £100 billion investment in green industries supporting up to 725,000 jobs by 2030.

“Much of the transferable expertise from offshore energies such as oil and gas will be crucial for the transition to net zero – and our Green Jobs Plan will ensure we have the sufficient skills to tackle emerging and future workforce demands across the economy.”

Mike Tholen, sustainability and coverage director on the trade group Offshore Energies UK, mentioned: “The UK energy transition has the potential to provide tens of thousands of new jobs in the next few years and many of them will require the skills and expertise of the UK’s oil and gas sector.

“Our manifesto published ahead of this year’s election has highlighted research demonstrating £200 billion of investment potential in the UK energy sector.”