The UK has entered a decisive decade for clean energy. Billions of pounds of investment are already flowing into offshore wind, hydrogen, nuclear, carbon capture systems and electrified transport. The Great British Energy Bill signals a renewed national commitment to energy security and decarbonisation. But where will the skilled workforce come from to deliver it?
The National Energy Skills Consortium, which represents colleges, universities, industry bodies and major inward investors, sees an urgent need for a different kind of conversation.
The UK does not simply need more training. It needs a coordinated national skills ecosystem, built on long-term planning, employer collaboration and a strategic role for the FE and skills sector. Without it, the UK’s transition risks delay, escalating costs, unmet net zero commitments and missing its most compelling opportunity to re-industrialise.
Whilst NESC members welcome the October 2025 publication of the clean energy jobs plan, retaining and retraining the existing energy workforce is one imperative, but the acute skills shortage makes attracting new talent a matter of urgency if we are to get out of the blocks.
The scale of the challenge is already clear. PwC analysis shows a green energy skills gap of around 400,000 workers, with only 200,000 transferable workers available from oil and gas as retirement accelerates. And ONS data shows rapid growth in green jobs, with numbers in 2022 8.4 per cent higher than estimates from the previous year, and 19.9 per cent higher than 2020 estimates.
Investments of £50 billion between 2021 and 2022 demonstrate what happens when policy ambition is matched by capital, but investment alone cannot build turbines, commission hydrogen plants, or run nuclear facilities. Only people can do that, and the UK does not yet have them at scale.
This is where the FE and skills sector becomes national infrastructure. NESC’s members, stretching from the South West to North East Scotland, see the same pattern: employers are ready to grow, the investment environment is improving and communities stand to benefit enormously. But specialist technical training capacity, capital equipment and the pipeline of trainers are not keeping pace with the needs of clean energy employers.
The UK needs a model that goes beyond individual providers or isolated partnerships. We need to build a national clean energy skills ecosystem, a coordinated network that connects colleges, universities, industry, specialist trainers and government through shared strategy and investment.
We know the regions with the potential to usher in the transformation, so it’s time to stop talking ‘hot spots’ and make this a reality.
This ecosystem demands:
1. A long-term, government-led skills for renewable energy strategy.
Whilst a jobs plan is to be applauded, true workforce planning requires more; NESC strongly supports the creation of a national strategy, aligned with the Great British Energy Bill and developed jointly with Skills England, to plan the workforce needed for hydrogen, offshore wind, CCS, nuclear, electrified transport, clean heat and more. The current landscape is fragmented. A single, coherent plan with milestones, forecasting and accountability is essential to prevent bottlenecks and ensure inward investors have confidence in the UK’s talent pipeline.
2. Regional plans within a national framework.
From Humberside and Teesside to East Anglia, Scotland and the South West, each area has distinctive strengths across wind, nuclear, hydrogen and CCS. NESC advocates for regionally tailored renewable energy zones supported by national investment in training, apprenticeships and upskilling, mirroring successful approaches in local skills improvement plans but with dedicated green-energy funding streams.
3. Colleges and universities can only scale provision if they have the right facilities and critically the right trainers. NESC is clear: without a funded plan to recruit and retain industry professionals into teaching, the UK will not secure the workforce needed for a net zero future. The gap between school, industry and FE pay rates makes recruitment difficult. Specialist technical areas such as nuclear, offshore wind and hydrogen already face acute shortages. If we are to scale to meet the demands the transformation requires, we need a national programme to attract, train and reward the vocational educators who will train the next generation.
These shifts matter for the UK’s wider ambitions: inward investment, productivity, regeneration of our former coastal industrial powerhouses and the creation of high-value careers accessible to people in every community. A strong skills ecosystem is itself a magnet for global investors. It signals readiness, reduces risk and accelerates deployment.
NESC’s college members already deliver world-class training in clean and renewable energy technologies, nuclear operations, offshore safety, hydrogen systems and more. But the message we send collectively is this: the UK can only meet its ambitions if national policy, regional planning and FE investment move forward together.
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