Workforce Requirements for Net-Zero: Transport and Construction

Description

The University of Edinburgh (UoE) is conducting a procurement exercise to secure specialist services for the research and reporting of ‘Workforce Requirements for Net Zero: Transport and Construction Sectors Lot 1: The University of Edinburgh (UoE) is conducting a procurement exercise to secure specialist services for the research and reporting of ‘Workforce Requirements for Net Zero: Transport and Construction Sectors’ on behalf of ClimateXChange (CXC). CXC seeks to commission research to assess future workforce needs in the transport and construction sectors in support of net-zero goals. A key deliverable of this project will be a report presenting the research findings, which will be shared with the Scottish Government. Scotland has a statutory target to meet net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. Meeting this target relies on the renewal of our infrastructure across all sectors of the economy, and this will require a large and multi-skilled workforce. We know that the skills and workforce requirements across all sectors will be different in a net zero economy. However, for each sector, we don’t know to what extent this will rely on the development of new skills within the current workforce, and the degree to which additional jobs will need to be created to carry out this work. We also have limited information on where jobs are likely to be located, or the timing or sequencing of these jobs. These unknowns present risks for government, industry and workers. Government needs to understand the drivers and triggers for industry to build the workforce and understand where policy and other public sector interventions can best support skills development to meet net zero. Industry has been calling for a clear timeline, such that they have confidence to plan and scale sufficiently, and to take advantage of the economic opportunities of net zero. Workers need clarity over career pathways and potential opportunities, including to organise to improve conditions in these sectors.