Results:

Britain used to be an energy powerhouse. We built technologies that brought jobs and prosperity across the country. We have a once in a generation chance to build on that prosperity and growth, but only if we double down on our advantages. If we delay, or fail to seize the available opportunities, other countries will win the race for these industries of the future. Clean energy is that future and a perfect fit for the UK's strengths.

The UK has major growth opportunities in Clean Energy Industries. We are a coastal nation, a scientific and innovation superpower, with strengths in high-value manufacturing and a skilled energy workforce to match. With our world-leading renewable energy deployment, and deep capital markets, Britain is the natural home for Clean Energy Industries. We can deliver investment in manufacturing and deployment that will have significant spillover benefits for innovation, services, and skills across the country, leveraging the clean energy transition to turbocharge growth.

Clean energy investors are clear that they want to grow in the UK and to invest billions here, but they cannot do this on their own. They need certainty, they need stability, they need a partner to take the first step with them in developing new technologies, and they need an incentive to expand supply chains. This is our plan to secure that growth, to back those Clean Energy Industries and unlock billions more in investment. To break down barriers to projects, to invest alongside industry where necessary, to ensure we create good jobs, to incentivise companies to build it in Britain.

This is the global economic opportunity of our time, and in an uncertain world, the Government's Missions to Kickstart Economic Growth and make the UK a Clean Energy Superpower are sending a clear message that we are unwavering in our commitment to these industries and to energy security. The net zero economy is already growing three times faster than the wider UK economy and we have seen over £40 billion of private investment in clean energy announced since July. Our Clean Industry Bonus smashed expectations, with £544 million for offshore wind developers to prioritise investment in regions that need it most, leveraging billions more in private investment, including in traditional oil and gas communities, ex-industrial areas, ports, and coastal towns.

Delivering Clean Power by 2030 will protect the economy and billpayers from the rollercoaster of fossil fuel prices, the cause of half of recessions since 1970.4 By harnessing the potential of AI, automation and advanced technologies we can optimise how energy is generated and consumed. The resulting modern, affordable, and secure energy system is fundamental to building a stronger and more productive economy. The UK will build an energy system that will bring down bills for households and businesses for good, bringing certainty, stability, and growth.

Growing our Clean Energy Industries and boosting domestic supply chains is fundamental to supporting wider industry to decarbonise. Growing our Clean Energy Industries and boosting domestic supply chains is fundamental to supporting wider industry to decarbonise. Foundational industries such as steel, chemicals, critical minerals, composites and other materials such as glass, provide critical inputs to enable growth in Clean Energy Industries.

The clean energy transition is the defining economic opportunity of the twenty-first century and the UK is uniquely positioned to lead it. The government's Plan for Change set out our ambitious mission to make Britain a clean energy superpower, which will kickstart economic growth and break down the barriers to opportunity as we create a new generation of good jobs across every corner of the country to deliver energy security.

Someone is going to win the global race for the clean energy jobs of the future and we are determined that it should be the UK. The job opportunities on offer are huge, with roles available across a range of skill levels and occupations, from plumbers to production managers, engineers to electricians, and technicians to welders. This presents a significant opportunity to revitalise our industrial heartlands and ensure that our existing home-grown energy workforce can move flexibly into good clean energy roles.

Clean energy is already providing good jobs to hundreds of thousands of people across the UK. Jobs in Wind, Nuclear, and Electricity Networks all advertise average salaries of over £50,000, compared to the UK average of £37,000. For young people, these jobs can offer higher levels of pay across occupations, with entry-level 'green' roles commanding a 23% average pay premium in around 60% of occupations. These jobs also provide the security of a rapidly-growing sector, as new and emerging green jobs are less likely to be automated and have had more resilience in demand than the wider jobs market in recent years.

However, we know there is more to be done. While the clean energy workforce is growing rapidly in the UK, by around 8% and 10% per year in 2022 and 2023 respectively, other countries have far more jobs per capita. For example, in 2023 Germany had almost 3 times as many renewable energy jobs per capita as the UK; Sweden and Denmark almost 4 and 5 times as many respectively. Across the economy, industry investment in skills has been falling in recent years with evidence suggesting significant underinvestment in the UK compared to our European peers.

The government's recent significant programme of investment in clean energy, alongside the Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan and this Jobs Plan, shows our firm commitment to ensuring Britain leads the world in the clean energy transition and creates the conditions needed for industry to accelerate investments in the skills system.

This annex describes the experimental approach taken to assessing the growth required in the clean energy workforce from a 2023 baseline to 2030, where opportunities are likely to be located, and the types of occupations likely to be in high demand and relatively more difficult to fill.

Clean energy technologies encompass power generation, transmission and distribution, greenhouse gas removals, clean heat, and energy efficiency. The full list of sub-sectors is provided in Table 1 below. Clean energy jobs are measured as the number of jobs that are supported by the deployment and operation of clean energy technologies and their supply chains. This analysis covers both direct and indirect jobs, these employment categories can be defined as:

Induced jobs are excluded from this analysis; employment resulting from the spending of wages by workers in direct and indirect employment, leading to increased demand in other sectors.

This analysis does not measure net additional jobs across the economy. Much of the increase in workforce across clean energy sectors will involve workers who have transitioned from other sectors or will displace high carbon energy jobs; however, these effects are not accounted for as the evidence is not available. The analysis also does not capture replacement demand - i.e., the workers required to replace workers that leave the clean energy workforce.

There is inherent uncertainty in estimating the size of the 2030 clean energy workforce. The future size and geographic spread of the clean energy workforce will be dependent on delivery and final location of the pipeline of projects out to 2030, the ability to recruit into the sector, cost assumptions, any assumptions made about the ability of UK businesses to export overseas, and the validity of the assumptions made around the workers required to deploy a particular amount of technology. These estimates do not represent precise predictions; they are indicative of the orders of magnitude the clean energy workforce will need to increase by 2030 to meet demand in UK clean energy sectors and their supply chains (where possible, both domestic and global demand has been considered - see Table 1 for details).

The government has five national missions, to:

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) leads on the government's mission to Make Britain a Clean Energy Superpower, working in close collaboration with other departments (see Section 1.1.3).

Research, development, and innovation (hereafter 'R&D') are critical enablers for achieving both pillars of the Clean Energy Superpower Mission (CESM): delivering clean power by 2030 and accelerating to net zero by 2050. They provide the robust scientific evidence base for policy decisions and delivery, enable the successful innovation and scaling up of necessary technologies, and enhance productivity and economic growth. As estimated by the International Energy Agency, approximately 35% of the global emission reductions needed in 2050 to reach net zero rely on technologies that are not yet commercially available.

Areas of Research Interest documents (ARIs) set out research questions and evidence needs of government organisations. They are a key tool for shaping the research landscape - helping to align academic, industry, and public sector efforts with government priorities. This ARI document sets out the R&D needed to deliver the CESM, based on cross-government consensus. It captures the breadth of challenges and opportunities across both mission pillars and seeks to encourage more structured dialogue and collaboration with external stakeholders.

This ARI document is intended to support collaboration between government, academia, industry, and other research organisations. It sets out both the full thematic breadth of research areas relevant to the CESM and a focused set of priority R&D challenges where coordinated effort is most urgently required. Together, these provide a strategic framework to guide research investment, shape funding programmes, and inform policy development.

It can be used to:

This ARI has been intentionally developed at a strategic level. While it captures the full breadth of research areas relevant to the mission, it does not aim to provide detailed R&D requirements. Instead, it offers directional guidance on the research considered most valuable at the time of assessment, rather than an exhaustive specification. As part of our future plan, we will define what success looks like and develop approaches to measure progress.

Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) will reduce the risk and cost of the UK's transition to a low carbon energy system, according to this report delivered by the Energy Systems Catapult for the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI).

'Still in the mix? Understanding the role of Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage', takes into account recent cost reductions in renewables and the latest ETI modelling on CCUS costs. The report reaffirms previous ETI work on the importance of CCUS deployment by 2030 and ETI analysis that if CCUS is not developed at all before 2050, the 'national bill' for low carbon energy that year would be circa £35bn higher - equivalent to circa 1% of expected GDP.

The report highlights gas power with CCUS (up to 3GW) as an effective low carbon electricity option that can be deployed cost-effectively before 2030 within an electricity generation mix that meets the 5th carbon budget. The report concludes that early investment in gas power CCUS in favourable locations for a CCUS industrial cluster represents the most straightforward, deliverable and best value approach to early deployment of the technology.

Key points:

The ETI has spent 10 years carrying out extensive research on the deployment of CCUS and for this report commissioned analysis from Baringa Partners and Frontier Economics. Baringa explored cost-optimal pathways for decarbonising electricity out to 2050 with a focus on the pre-2030s. Frontier Economics produced illustrative analysis against a baseline scenario informed by the assumptions constructed by Baringa's work.

As the UK intensifies efforts to decarbonise heating, Gas Distribution Networks (GDNs) are grappling with growing uncertainty about how rapidly low-carbon technologies - particularly heat pumps - will be adopted and how this will influence future gas demand. Recently, the Welsh Government has adopted Local Area Energy Plans (LAEPs) to help Local Authorities (LAs) navigate such uncertainties and coordinate local energy transitions using a whole-systems approach.

Designed to support net zero objectives and guide infrastructure investment, LAEPs align national and local ambitions while reflecting the specific characteristics and constraints of each area. They outline energy supply, demand, and storage needs, along with renewable deployment targets that illustrate how local energy systems might evolve.

This report, produced following a six-month placement with Wales and West Utilities, examines the implications of LAEPs from a GDN's perspective. It first assesses the scale of heat pump deployment required to meet LAEP targets, then considers the challenges that gas networks will encounter as heating becomes increasingly electrified, with a focus on the visions for the future of heat delivery outlined across the LAEPs.

The analysis indicates that, without an immediate acceleration in deployment, heat pump roll-out will need to surpass the current rate of gas boiler replacements in many regions, if LAEP heat pump deployment targets are to be met. Furthermore, delays in progress will widen the gap between natural boiler replacement cycles and the rate required to meet LAEP goals - making the transition more difficult to manage sustainably.

By estimating the associated reductions in gas demand, the study also identifies when heat pump uptake is likely to begin significantly affecting the gas network. Results suggest that the 2031-2036 price control period will be a pivotal phase, as heat pump installation peaks. Without sufficient flexibility from the regulator (Ofgem) to address resulting system inefficiencies, GDNs could face substantial financial strain.

The report discusses all of the outlined implications in detail and concludes with recommendations for how energy planning processes could be refined to better achieve their desired outcomes.

The decarbonisation of heat remains one of the most complex and uncertain challenges in achieving the UK's net zero targets. For Gas Distribution Networks (GDNs), the future of heat delivery is unclear, leaving limited indicators to guide long-term investment and operational planning. Among the few available signals are the heat pump deployment targets established through Local Area Energy Plans (LAEPs).

In Wales, the Government has formally adopted LAEPs to support a whole-systems approach to net zero, aligning local decision-making with national objectives. This executive summary condenses a report which was produced following a six-month placement at Wales & West Utilities, to assess the implications of LAEPs from a GDN's perspective. It explores the deployment rates required to meet LAEP targets and examines how these trajectories are likely to influence future gas demand.

The analysis shows that meeting LAEP targets will require a sharp and immediate increase in heat pump installations, with annual deployment rates often surpassing current gas boiler replacement levels. If similar trends are seen across the UK, overall deployment would be higher than what is targeted in the Seventh Carbon Budget. What's more, the longer substantial progress is delayed, the more difficult deployment will be to manage sustainably, as roll-out rates will have to exceed natural replacement cycles.

The findings also highlight the 2031-2036 price control period as a critical turning point when heat pump deployment is expected to peak and begin to significantly reduce gas throughput. These shifts are likely to create new operational and financial challenges for GDNs. Without sufficient flexibility from the regulator (Ofgem) to manage transitional inefficiencies and cost recovery, networks may face increased risk and reduced utilisation.

The report concludes with recommendations for how energy planning processes could be refined to better achieve their desired outcomes.