The CCSA has today published a new “Workforce & Skills Position Paper”.
This position paper has been produced by the CCSA Skills & Training Task Subgroup, operating under the CCSA Supply Chain Working Group. Its purpose is to present the CCSA’s stance on and understanding of the skills and workforce challenges that are currently facing the Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) sector. It offers a high-level overview of the existing skills and training landscape for the CCUS and low carbon hydrogen workforce, encompassing jobs across the entire value chain from capture to transport & storage during the construction and operational phases. This includes an examination of the skills and training obstacles faced by the current workforce, as well as those who are currently in the education system and will constitute the future workforce.
The UK CCUS and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) enabled low-carbon hydrogen sector is encountering a scarcity of skilled personnel, particularly in design and engineering construction. This shortage has the potential to significantly impede the timely completion of CCUS projects and have adverse effects on the UK’s Net Zero objectives. The competition for skilled labour not only exists within the CCUS sector but also extends to other large-scale infrastructure projects who require the same skilled workforce to deploy across the UK within similar timeframes. The need to replace or re-train an ageing and non-diverse workforce, along with the challenge of attracting a significant number of school and college graduates to an industry that may not be perceived as glamorous, further intensifies the urgency of attracting and training new workers. The position paper outlines a series of crucial recommendations that are key to ensuring the availability of resources to facilitate the transition to Net Zero through the implementation of CCUS.