Low carbon tech set to generate 26,000 UK jobs

A trio of exciting new low-carbon technologies are set to generate 26,000 new UK energy jobs by 2030, according to research by Robert Gordon University (RGU). Many of them would be in coastal communities stretching around the UK from East Anglia, north-east England, north-east Scotland and down to Merseyside and north Wales.

RGU’s Energy Transition Institute looked at the potential benefits of three new fast-expanding energy technologies.

The RGU research was commissioned by OEUK under the North Sea Transition Deal, a 2021 agreement between the offshore oil and gas industry and UK government. The deal recognises the role of the sector in providing secure supplies of oil and gas while also enabling offshore oil and gas companies to deliver low-carbon energy production, also including offshore wind.

Depending on investment levels, this represents 8,000 - 26,000 new energy jobs created by 2030 because of activities related to the NSTD such as CO2 processing, transport, and storage. In the same best-case scenario, it would also represent an investment in UK-based activities of over £14bn by 2030.

There are, however, likely to be many more jobs created by activities related to the NSTD but outside the scope of offshore industries, such as CO2 capture, imports of CO2, construction of some facilities and, especially, exports of UK technology and expertise.

The Energy Security Bill, published by the government last week, included a factsheet which said: “The proposed CO2 transport and storage facilities supported by this Bill will establish a new CCUS industry across the UK which could support up to 50,000 jobs by 2030.”

The RGU research predated the Energy Profits Levy, the implications of which are not captured in the study. OEUK has, however, warned that the levy will cost the industry at least £5bn this year alone and so risk discouraging the investment needed for new technologies in years to come.

She said “This study shows that the offshore energy workforce in the UK is at the heart of the energy transition. The North Sea Transition Deal has the potential to harness the expertise of our oil and gas workforce to realise the cleaner energies that will help us reach our climate goals. However, the new Energy Profits Levy proposed by the UK government does threaten to undermine this.

“More than ever, we need long-term thinking and a political and investment environment that is predictable and stable.”

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