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Two drastically different trends in energy careers are taking place on either side of the Atlantic Ocean. While the Trump administration pulls back billions of dollars in clean energy funding and seeks to prop up coal careers, the United Kingdom is rolling out a plan to add 400,000 clean energy jobs to the national economy. Just this week Edward Miliband, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change of the United Kingdom, announced a national plan to train hundreds of thousands of plumbers, electricians, carpenters, welders, HVAC installers, and more as part of a scheme to double the country’s clean energy workforce by 2030. Priority will go to individuals with heightened vocational needs, including those leaving the fossil fuel sector, school leavers, unemployed individuals, veterans and formerly incarcerated people. More specifically, the plan designates 31 skilled trades for recruitment and training. The highest priority positions are in plumbing, heating and ventilation, as an additional 8,000 to 10,000 of these workers will be needed by 2030. This is followed by 4,000 to 8,500 each of carpenters, electricians, and welders. The plan will likely come up against resistance from the Reform UK, the nation’s preeminent right-wing party. But Miliband is hedging his bets that the prospect of 400,000 high-quality jobs will be popular all along the political spectrum. “Reformers said they’ll wage war on clean energy,” Miliband said. “Well, that’s waging war on these jobs … It’s all part of their attempt at a culture war, but I actually think they’re out of tune with the British people because I think people recognise that we need, that we want the jobs from clean energy.” Miliband went on to say that this new plan “answers a key question about where the good jobs of the future will come from”, marking a major step forward for a “just transition” away from fossil fuels. The idea of a just transition refers to a responsible and fair clean energy transition that doesn’t leave fossil fuel workers and their communities behind. The plan also addresses a critical skills gap that poses an existential threat to the country’s decarbonization goals. Professor Dave Reay, who co-chairs Scotland’s Just Transition Commission, told Reuters that unless UK workers are appropriately trained and upskilled for green jobs, “talent has to come in from overseas, (as has already occurred) or it doesn't happen at the speed that's required.” Easing the transition into the sector is essential to retain a homegrown energy-sector workforce, Reay adds. “If folk can't easily make the switch or make the entry into the sector, then they won't do it. A lot of the oil and gas folk that we speak to are saying, ‘I kind of get it, but I can get work in the Middle East or Australia.” Britain’s new clean jobs plan highlights a widening divide between energy-sector leadership in the United States and the United Kingdom, two nations that usually operate by relatively similar principles in line with their “special relationship”. But all that has changed as the nations diverge along climate lines. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has implemented the most ambitious climate target of any industrial economy, while President Trump has pulled out of the Paris agreement altogether. The United Kingdom closed its last coal plant in 2024, while Trump has promised to revitalize “beautiful, clean coal”. In the United States, jobs are being slashed at alarming degrees, from automaking to clean energy to government positions. And while the Trump administration has attracted lots of investment dollars, critics argue that this won’t translate to long-term jobs. “Even if the US succeeds in reshaping supply chains, it doesn’t guarantee the creation of good jobs,” University of Sussex International Relations Professor Benjamin Selwyn recently wrote for the Conversation. “Despite Trump’s pro-labour rhetoric, his administration’s actions tell a different story.” As of July, $22 billion in clean energy projects had been canceled, a number which has continued to balloon in past months, leading to the loss of many thousands of jobs. “These cancellations aren’t just numbers on a balance book,” said E2 spokesperson Michael Timberlake in a July statement. “They’re jobs, paychecks and opportunities in communities that were counting on these clean energy projects to drive economic growth. And now they’re gone.” By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Oil Rises as EIA Reports Across the Board Inventory Draw From Oil to Lithium: Texas's Next Energy Revolution Uncertainty Looms Over Global Shipping's Green Transition
