A new report by Robert Gordon University (RGU) has revealed that the UK will fail to achieve a ‘just and fair’ transition by 2030 unless there is urgent alignment across the political spectrum to sustain UK offshore energy industry jobs, supply chain investments and the economic contribution of the workforce.

Just to sustain the UK’s 154,000 direct and indirect offshore energy industry jobs at 2023 levels, the UK must deliver close to 40GW of installed offshore wind capacity and maintain around £10bn spend by 2030.

In Delivering Our Energy Future, RGU analysed over 6,560 pathways for the UK offshore energy industry between now and 2030. The report concludes that UK political decisions, rather than energy market economics, will determine the size of the workforce and supply chain.

Professor Paul de Leeuw, director of the RGU Energy Transition Institute, said: “The prize for the UK to get this right is enormous. But to deliver this requires action and urgency, which means faster planning and consenting and access to the grid. We also need more flexible electricity pricing mechanisms to avoid project delays or cancellation and a proactive focus on building UK content so we can design, manufacture, install, commission and operate some of the critical new infrastructure required.”

For the purpose of its analysis, RGU used the United Nations definition of a ‘just and fair’ transition: ‘ensuring that no one is left behind in the transition to low carbon and environmentally sustainable economies and societies’.

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