Energy giant SSE recently announced that more than one in five of its workers have given up their high-carbon jobs and switched to low-carbon alternatives.
This is very much in line with the company’s own shift in strategy to decarbonize its processes while also making an emphasis on leaving no one behind in this transition.
SSE has been on a mission to create green jobs to replace the carbon-intensive careers within the company. And as part of these efforts, the company has been investing billions of dollars in renewable energy sources, power networks and other infrastructure that is required to support the transition to net zero.
And results are already showing, as at least 1,500 of the company’s employees that were previously working across high-carbon projects are now involved in low-carbon roles. On separate sites, there is an even greater ratio of high to low carbon roles.
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For instance, at the Offshore Wind Farm site in the north of Scotland, about two thirds of the staff were previously employed as oil and gas workers.
Another example is SSE’s Peterhead Power Station that is a traditional gas-fired station but is planned to be included in the development of one of the UK’s first power stations with carbon capture technology.
The company is now busy collecting statistical data from its workforce that have already made the transition. And the data also includes some of the leading reasons for the employees’ career change, among which are better long-term career prospects as well as concerns for the environment.
Interestingly, the company’s own research established that high-carbon roles have very clear transferability of skills that can particularly be applicable in areas such as project management and health and safety.
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