Commenting on the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP) Pathfinder report, Andy Witty, Director of Strategic Policy, Said:

“This is really timely report – each of the 24 colleges in Scotland are already contributing a huge amount towards building our green skills workforce and are keen to deliver more in the future.

“There is going to be huge demand for skills in engineering, construction, agriculture, energy and transport as the climate changes.

“With the appropriate level of investment, colleges would be able to increase their capacity to meet the needs of the current and future workforce. The climate emergency is absolutely driving change in our economy and across the countries from our rural communities to cities, but it comes against the backdrop of an ageing population and a changing labour market – there are lots of factors moving Scotland towards needing to urgently upskill and reskill the current and future workforce.

“I am pleased that in spite of the challenges, the report notes that colleges are contributing to growing Scotland’s talent base in skills aligned to the CESAP sectors.

“There is a huge opportunity for individuals and employers to engage with colleges and tackle the climate emergency together”.

Colleges are already delivering a large variety of green skills courses. In 2020/21, 27% of college enrolments (32,300) were aligned to CESAP sectors with the majority aligned to the Engineering (44.7%) and Construction (36.4%) sectors, highlighting the strong contribution of colleges to these sectors overall.

As well as delivering training for key renewable sectors, colleges are also embedding sustainability into mainstream courses through, for example, providing sustainability elements as part of hair, beauty, and hospitality courses.