Scotland is seeing the highest demand for “green jobs” than any other part of the UK according to new findings from PwC.
The research from PwC’s green jobs barometer also found the country is also best positioned to maximise the benefits of green investment.
The barometer provides an analysis of the movements in green job creation, job loss and carbon intensity of employment.
When data from all five pillars used to create the barometer were collated, Scotland comes out as the part of the UK best-placed to benefit economically from the shift towards a green workforce.
PwC said transformation to a net-zero economy is beginning to feed through to the Scottish employment market, accounting for 1.65% of total advertised jobs, higher than in any other part of the UK.
One reason for Scotland’s higher proportion is believed to due to its strong presence of energy and utilities roles, in particular renewable energy.
Agriculture put in a strong performance
However, Scotland also leads the UK in green job creation within agricultural and professional services sectors.
Scotland has the greatest relative composition of green jobs within agriculture – at 17.5%.
This makes the demand for green jobs within Scottish agriculture seven times the UK average.
In professional services, the density of green jobs in Scotland is almost double the UK average at 7.2%.
The creation of green jobs also leads to knock-on effects on wider sectors of the economy with each new green job generating a further 1.4 jobs, for example through increased demand for goods and services in the supply chain.
This rises to six jobs for sectors closely aligned to the energy transition.
Transitioning economy
The findings also point to some challenges ahead for the Scottish economy with the country projected to have the largest share of regional job losses as a result of the transition.
It’s predicted 9.4% of so-called ‘sunset jobs’ could go with a switch to a net zero economy.
However, stepping up the pursuit of two million green jobs by 2030 will help offset any losses.
In addition, the survey highlighted that Scottish employers are amongst the lowest performing for delivering workplace training, education and communications associated with the greening nature of the economy.
Higher than average CO2 emissions
The findings stated tonnes of CO2 currently emitted per job are also higher than average in Scotland (sitting at 10.4 tonnes per employee compared to 9.1 tonnes per employee for the UK as a whole).
But unlike other high performing regions such as London, it contains a relatively higher number of jobs within the energy, utilities and mining roles, a greater relative density of manufacturing industries and more carbon intensive transport sector.
Matthew Hall, PwC Scotland net zero leader, said: “The findings from our green jobs barometer highlights the significant opportunity for Scotland’s labour market as we transition towards a net zero economy, and emphasises the critical role Scotland must play in contributing to a greener and cleaner world.
“This opportunity will not happen by itself.
“Having seen the passion around COP26 in Glasgow last month, the will to deliver is absolutely there but we need targeted investment, training and policies, and collaboration between government, business and education providers, so that a green future delivers fair opportunities for everyone.”
The UK picture for green jobs
Overall, 1.2% of advertised positions in the UK were ‘green’, equating to 124,600 new jobs, for the year to July 2021.
The barometer shows that disparities are already arising in how the transition to greener jobs is affecting different parts of the UK.
Yorkshire & the Humber, Northern Ireland and Wales are the lowest ranking regions across all aspects of the report.
At the other end, London is behind Scotland as the top performer.