09/11/2025
STUC report on Scotland’s low carbon and renewable energy economy
The STUC has released a new report looking at renewable energy jobs figures and it makes for stark reading! You can read the full report on the link below but these are the stand out findings:
- Low carbon and renewable energy jobs increased from 26,000 in 2022 to 33,500 in 2023. The majority of the increase is within energy efficiency and low-emissions vehicles and infrastructure, not renewable energy.
- Employment in wind is concentrated in the manufacturing and construction phases, rather than during their operational lifetime, and Scotland is failing to capture the jobs benefit due to the lack of a domestic supply chain.
- Just one job is created in offshore and onshore wind per £1 million pounds of turnover. By contrast, energy efficient products (5 jobs per £m), energy efficient lighting (18 jobs per £1m), low emissions vehicles and infrastructure (21 jobs per £m) have far higher jobs per million pound of turnover. Previous research suggests that every £1 million of investment by the oil and gas industry generated 14.2 jobs in 2022 and 13.4 jobs in 2023.
- Community owned windfarms return more than a hundred times more per MW than privately owned windfarms (based on comparing a community owned windfarm in Tiree to a Scottish Power windfarm). We need a change in the market-led approach to wind deployment if Scotland’s workers and communities are to benefit from our renewable resource.
- The low carbon sectors creating the most jobs are engaged in work to do with people in Scotland’s everyday life and spending; the cars we drive and where we refuel, the lightbulbs, windows, and insulation being installed in our buildings, and the heat pumps and solar thermal providing heat to homes and businesses.The Scottish Government should reform their approach to industrial strategy, to recognise the everyday parts of our economy which will change in meeting climate targets.
Read more - https://rmt-offshore.uk/reports.html
🛜 www.rmt-offshore.uk
Reports from Platform, Greenpeace, Just Transition Commission, Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC), and Systemiq on the latest issues affecting the offshore energy sector workers
