Employers in the energy sector should be looking overseas to fill a projected skills gap that could slow the UK's drive to net zero in the coming years.

A new report this week by PwC predicts that the UK will need 400,000 workers to create a net zero energy infrastructure, however, around 20 percent of the existing energy workforce is predicted to retire by 2030. In the last year alone the number of green jobs advertised trebled.

The energy sector is already experiencing a skills shortage and immigration experts are advising companies to recruit from overseas to fill roles, or risk lagging behind. Another report from Offshore Energies UK, the leading trade body for the UK's offshore energy industry, points to the labour issue, and reveals a decline in the total number of oil and gas workers since 2010.

The PwC Green Jobs Barometer report says: "There is a significant skills gap in the UK. It cannot be addressed from the existing energy workforce alone: Given the scale of demand and the one in five workers in the sector retiring by 2030, the UK faces a significant green skills gap, needing 400,000 people to create a net zero energy workforce. Without government intervention, there will be an insufficient supply of the skills needed to meet the UK's impending decarbonisation targets."

Yash Dubal, immigration expert and director of A Y & J Solicitors, has worked with several energy firms to help them employ skilled workers.

He explained: "This is a problem that has been getting worse over time. The demand for skilled workers is outstripping the rate at which they are being trained domestically and with so many current workers due to retire in the next seven years, it is a problem that is only going to get worse. Certainly, the energy industry and government need to bring in incentives and fast track training to keep up with net zero commitments, but it doesn't make sense to rely on a hypothetical domestic workforce of the future. Energy companies need to be looking at talent from overseas and investigating the visa options open to them, such as skilled worker visas."

The PwC report points out that many roles in the green energy sector could be filled by oil and gas workers, however, new trainees are being put off by 'a lack of coherent labour force planning, a lack of engagement with educational institutions and negative perceptions of the energy sector among young people'.

The report also highlights that one in five green jobs created are in London and the Southeast, whereas the large pools of workers with transferable skills based in and around the North Sea oil and gas fields.

SNP MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast Karen Adam said: "We need 400,000 workers to deliver this transition and while current oil industry workers should transition across to fill a large number of these highly-skilled jobs, we will need additional support from elsewhere to make this work if we are to hit our targets.

"Another alarming trend emerging from this report is that one in five of these new green jobs being created are based in London and the south east of England – a full 400 miles from the city of Aberdeen and the centre of our just transition from oil and gas to renewables."

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