Submission to the National Energy Workforce Strategy

Australia will need to grow its clean energy workforce by 40% by 2050 to around two million workers to meet the challenge of the net zero transition (Jobs and Skills Australia 2023), providing a huge opportunity for career transitions in communities that have traditionally supplied the fossil fuel energy workforce. The clean energy workers of Australia’s future will be shaped through training and retraining Australians, and 
from skilled migration. Immigration can be a useful tool to address acute skills shortages but won’t meet the workforce demand, particularly considering the expected global shortage of seven million green energy workers by 2030 (BCG 2023). This increased global competition for green energy workers will also put pressure on Australia’s workforce through rising demand for Australian workers.

To turn this to an advantage, Australia can prioritise investing in building its domestic clean energy workforce and inspiring the next generation of local workers to join the clean energy workforce – to fill domestic needs and create a potential export pipeline for expert international energy services. This massive workforce shift will require significant increases in the number of engineering students, as well as increases in those trained through the vocational education system in skills central to the energy sector – such as electricians and other technicians. The challenge is urgent: it takes at least several years to train and upskill new workers. To meet its own obligations and create opportunity, Australia must start this work of training and re-training now.

ATSE recommends the following actions to help build Australia’s clean energy workforce:

Recommendation 1: Identify major forms of current and emerging clean energy technologies and develop specific plans for workforce development for each.

Recommendation 2: Ensure the National Energy Workforce Strategy includes investments in evidence-based diversity and inclusion programs in alignment with the Pathway to Diversity in STEM Review.

Recommendation 3: Work with State and Territory Governments to develop and implement a national strategy to increase the cooperation and integration of vocational education with high schools and the university sector.

Recommendation 4: Invest in green energy workforce development for communities built around coal and gas, including upskilling current energy workers and inspiring and educating the next generation in those communities to pursue clean energy careers.

Recommendation 5: Include in the National Energy Workforce Strategy provisions to better recognise and utilise the skills of migrant workers in the Australian workforce.