CHAMBER NEWS
Hear about Scotland’s opportunity to create tens of thousands of green energy jobs in the latest podcast for the Sustainable Scotland series, brought to you by the Scotsman and Skills Development Scotland
Scotland has a huge opportunity to create tens of thousands of jobs in the green energy economy – but the skills system has to adapt quickly and flexibly to ensure the maximum number of people benefit from the shift. That’s one of the key messages in the latest podcast in The Scotsman’s Sustainable Scotland series, Green Skills: Two Little Words, One Massive Opportunity, we hear from Jenny Macdonald, Sector Development and Skills Planning Manager for the Oil and Gas Transition at Skills Development Scotland and Lauren Braidwood, National Energy Skills Accelerator Project Manager at Energy Transition Zone Ltd. Lauren Braidwood made the shift herself after nine years in oil and gas. She said: “Over nine years, I witnessed a few ups and downs in the industry – more than
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one downturn. I was a lucky individual, not to lose my job, but it was very hard to watch colleagues and friends being made redundant and going through that anxiety and stress. So often they would say ‘What do I do next?’. Jenny Macdonald empathises with Lauren’s experience. She said: “It is really personal in a lot of regions. People know their brother, aunt or uncle is working in the sector and that there are big changes. Industry, government bodies and the skills system must make sure this is as planned as possible, that there are pathways and routes
for people because regions like the North-east have got great jobs that we need for this energy transition.” Supporting people to make the shift means looking afresh at the skills system and offering a wider range of options.
Listen to the full episode here