The UK government has revealed its ambition to create 2 million green jobs by 2030 and has launched a Green Jobs Taskforce to help reach that goal as part of the government’s plan to build back greener and achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
According to the official press release, the government has established the taskforce to set the direction for the job market as the UK transitions to a high-skill, low carbon economy.
The Green Jobs Taskforce will focus on the immediate and longer-term challenges of delivering skilled workers for the UK’s transition to net zero. This includes, among other things, making sure the country has the immediate skills needed for building back greener, such as in offshore wind, and supporting workers in high carbon transitioning sectors like oil and gas to retrain in new green technologies.
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 also create an action plan to inform on what support is needed for people in transitioning industries.
Chaired by Energy Minister Kwasi Kwarteng and Skills Minister Gillian Keegan, the Green Jobs Taskforce 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.
“Today’s announcements form part of wider efforts to ensure the UK meets its legally binding target to reach net zero emissions by 2050, whilst creating thousands of jobs as we build back greener from coronavirus” , the UK government states in its press release.
“The launch of today’s Taskforce builds on the £200 billion support package that has been provided to safeguard jobs in every region and nation of the UK, with support now extended until March 2021. Over the past 8 months of this crisis, the UK government has helped millions of people to continue to provide for their families as part of its Plan for Jobs to protect, support and create employment” , the government said.
As part of the new Build Back Greener plans, announced last month by the UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the country has also increased its offshore wind target for 2030 to 40 GW from the previously set 30 GW.
The government also earmarked GBP 160 million to upgrade ports and infrastructure to support the build-out of the increased offshore wind capacity in the next decade.