ECITB Board member Jane Cooper is one of the key industry figures invited to join a new UK Government green jobs taskforce looking at the workforce and skills requirements to support the Energy Transition.
The taskforce which is being jointly chaired by Ministers Kwasi Kwarteng at BEIS and Gillian Keegan at DfE follows discussions with both departments in the summer looking at the challenges facing a green recovery. With forecasts suggesting the current roster of 400,000 green industry jobs will expand to over 2 million by 2030, the new taskforce will play a key advisory role.
ECITB Board Member Jane Cooper
In her role as Head of Stakeholder Relations & Regulatory Affairs for Ørsted in the UK and a Chartered Mechanical Engineer by background, Jane Cooper is well placed to contribute to the work of the Green Jobs Taskforce. Running from November to March, the new body will feed into the UK Government’s NetZero strategy, which will be published ahead of COP26 in summer of 2021.
Jane Cooper said: “Creating a strong, sustainable pipeline of talent is essential if the UK is to successfully deliver the transition to a low carbon economy and meet our Net Zero commitments by 2050.
“From the skills requirements for a green recovery to the need to attract the next generation of talent into engineering roles, the taskforce will tackle some of the most vital challenges facing UK industry and I look forward to contributing to this effort.”
The taskforce will look at challenges involved in energy transition, including skills for a green recovery, the pipeline of future skills and talent for net zero, quality of green jobs and a diverse workforce and the transition and retraining of high carbon workers.
Chris Claydon, Chief Executive of the ECITB, said: “I’m delighted that Jane has been invited onto this taskforce. Her expertise, particularly in the area of offshore wind, and enthusiasm for skills will be valuable to the Government as it develops its plans to build a green recovery.
“The ECITB has been calling on Government to accelerate decarbonisation projects in response to the impact of the pandemic and we are working with a range of partners to identify net zero skills needs and solutions, so I’m pleased Jane will be leading this dialogue with Government on a matter of crucial importance to the future of our industry.”
Find out more about the Government’s Green Jobs Taskforce here
