Tackling the challenges of a net zero workforce through place-based approaches
By Professor Zoe Robinson, Professor of Sustainability in Higher Education, Keele University
The net zero economy is already a significant driver of growth, innovation and productivity in the UK1. The UK’s net zero economy generated £83.1 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) and grew 10% in the past year1. With this growth comes the opportunity for high paid, high skilled work in jobs that have genuine purpose in the 21st century. Employment within the sector has seen growth of over 10% over the past year, with net zero businesses supporting the equivalent of nearly 1 million full-time jobs1. These jobs are typically better paid than the UK average, with average earnings of £43,076 per year1, compared to median gross annual earnings in early 2024 for full-time employees across the UK of £37,430 2. Each full-time net zero role generates £105,500 in economic value, 38% above the UK average1.
The Climate Change Committee, that advises UK government on greenhouse gas emissions reductions and climate adaptation, state that between 135,000 and 725,000 net new jobs could be created in low carbon sectors by 2030, particularly in the building retrofit, renewable energy generation, and electric vehicle sectors3. They also state a range of opportunities that a net zero workforce could bring, including growth in areas with historically low employment to diversifying the workforce of core net zero sectors, where there is an acknowledged lack of diversity. Enabling the scale and speed needed to achieve net zero targets requires significant changes in the workforce in terms of size, average age, and skill, and will widely benefit from the building of a more diverse workforce4.
Unlike other historic significant societal shifts, the net zero transition is one that we can prepare and plan for, and a key element is ensuring an adequate supply of skilled workers and managing potentially disruptive impacts on communities where there may be losses of jobs through supporting retraining to ensure a just transition. The net zero transition does not just require technical skills, but also ‘softer’ skills, such as those to be able to effectively support end users. The Energy Systems Catapult has highlighted that knowledge and skills gaps in the customer engagement/care field are not covered by existing apprenticeship standards in the built environment sector4. Similarly, end users and wider society, would benefit from increased understanding of net zero and low carbon technologies and how a net zero society can positively impact their lives, particularly to be able to navigate misinformation.
A place-based approach to green skills development can address the unique opportunities and needs of a specific location while leveraging existing local initiatives and skills provision. This approach can help develop a comprehensive locally-based green skills ecosystem that supports regional growth and accelerates the transition to net zero.
Keele University is committed to supporting its local region in developing a green skills economy through a range of green skills initiatives. Working with Staffordshire County Council, Keele University is carrying out research into projections of green skills needs to achieve the County’s net zero ambitions linked to a net zero roadmap for Staffordshire5. Addressing these skills needs requires effective partnerships between local authorities, businesses and education providers across the further and higher education sectors, as well as schools and careers education, and alternative providers. It also requires flexibility in skills development approaches that goes beyond traditional training formats.
At Keele University we have developed a reputation for outstanding provision of green skills delivery through our Net Zero and Smart Energy, and our Place-based decarbonisation Skills Bootcamps6, as well as trialling alternative methods of green skills development, working directly with local authorities and local Chamber of Commerce. We also acknowledge the role that we have in ensuring that all our students graduate with a sustainability lens that they can apply to their future professional (and personal) lives. Alongside embedding sustainability into the curriculum of all our programmes, we offer innovative interdisciplinary pathways where students from different disciplines work together to explore the Sustainable Development Goals, through our Global Challenge Pathway programmes7 that they study alongside their main subject. Keele University is also one of nine regional ‘Climate Ambassador’ hubs, working to connect volunteer, expert ‘climate ambassadors’ to support educational settings to tackle decarbonisation, adaptation, biodiversity and green education and careers8.
At Keele University we also recognise our responsibility as an anchor institution and a trusted, honest broker, in our local region, in helping shape the net zero dialogue and supporting the wider community to embrace the needs and opportunities of the net zero transition. We have worked extensively with industry and local authorities in the West Midlands to amplify the community voice in place-based net zero developments as well as work with the community to support them with their own transition to more sustainable households and communities through the Zero Carbon Rugeley9 and Net Zero Neighbourhood10 projects, through our specialist work in community-centric design.
The net zero transition provides an opportunity to address the imperatives of climate change, while contributing to economic growth and improved lives. However, to do so we need to ensure that we have the appropriately skilled workforce, as well as a wider society able and willing to respond to the changes we all need to make across our lives. To achieve this we need multi-sector partnerships, across business, education providers and government, taking a holistic approach to plan and deliver the breadth of net zero skills development that the transition ahead of us requires.
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1 Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit (2025) UK net zero economy grows 10% in a year, finds new report.
2 ONS Employee earnings in the UK: 2024.
3 CCC (2023) Net Zero Workforce report (PDF).
4 Energy Systems Catapult (2022) Domestic Retrofit: Market Intelligence & Skills Assessment.
5 SBEN (2025) Staffordshire Green Skills for Growth.
6 Keele University (2025) Skills Bootcamps at Keele University.
7 Keele University (2025) Global Challenge Pathways.
