Meeting the Scottish Government’s ambitious climate change targets requires a significant increase in the deployment of energy efficiency and low carbon heat measures in domestic and non-domestic buildings over the next decade.
To deliver this, the Scottish supply chain needs to be fit-for-purpose, with the capacity and skills to deliver this scale of deployment.
ClimateXChange commissioned Changeworks and LCP Delta to research the retrofit supply chain. Our analysis report reviewed the current capabilities and skills along the supply chain of the energy efficiency and low carbon heating technologies in Scotland. It identified the skills gaps and assessed the potential options to fill these gaps to meet the targets set out in the Heat in Buildings Strategy.
Changeworks’ role in the project was to lead on qualitative research.
Research methods
- Interviews with fifteen industry stakeholders about current employability trends, qualifications, time to install technologies and skills gaps
- Qualitative analysis of the interviews
Read the full report below
Future workforce requirements
To meet the Scottish Government’s statutory climate change targets, we estimate that the peak full-time equivalent workforce required for energy efficiency and low carbon technologies by 2030 would be between 4,500 to 5,400 installers of thermal insulation, assuming a linear growth in the number of installations.
The study explored three scenarios of heat network uptake, alongside heat pumps and direct electric installations. The middle scenario requires 4,600-11,400 heat pump installers, 320-4,000 heat network installers and 530-1,100 direct electric installers.
Other key findings
The view of the respondents was that there are current shortages in the energy efficiency and low carbon heat workforce. This adds to the challenge of attracting the required future workforce numbers.
Respondents thought that the funding landscape to support upskilling and re-skilling was very complex. Smaller businesses struggled to find and apply for appropriate funding.
Employers require confidence to invest in their future workforce as they will need to play an important part by bringing in new workforce to this field. For certain roles the route in is to take on apprentices and offer them employment after completing their apprenticeships.
There is also a need to attract and upskill new entrants for roles who do not have an apprenticeship route. Ways to bring in more new entrants will need consideration, and companies must be prepared to invest in training them.