The government has launched a new Green Jobs Taskforce to support the creation of two million green jobs by 2030.
To be chaired by Energy Minister Kwasi Kwarteng and Skills Minister Gillian Keegan, The Green Jobs Taskforce, the group focuses on the immediate and longer-term challenges of delivering skilled workers for the UK’s transition to net zero, including:
- Ensuring the country has the immediate skills needed for building back greener, such as in offshore wind and home retrofitting.
- Developing a long-term plan that charts out the skills needed to help deliver a net zero economy.
- Ensuring good quality green jobs and a diverse workforce.
- Supporting workers in high carbon transitioning sectors, like oil and gas, to retrain in new green technologies.
Apprenticeships and Skills Minister Gillian Keegan commented on the announcement: “It is now more critical than ever to make sure people get the skills they need to progress and that will help our economy to recover.
“I am very much looking forward to co-chairing this important taskforce so we can create more, high quality green job opportunities, levelling up our economy and delivering on our commitment to be net zero by 2050.”
The Green Jobs Taskforce, which includes representatives from the Construction Industry Training Board, Engineering Construction Industry Training Board, East London Institute for Technology, Retrofit Works, Edinburgh University and National Grid, met for the first time this week.
It will assess how the UK jobs market and the skills sector will adapt to support net zero, developing ideas and solutions for how the UK can deliver the green jobs of the future.
The taskforce will create an action plan to inform on what support is needed for people in transitioning industries.
