Backed by record government and private sector investment in clean energy such as renewables and nuclear, the clean energy economy is sparking a boom in demand for good industrial jobs in all regions and nations of the UK – with 31 priority occupations such as plumbers, electricians, and welders particularly in demand. Tom Pashby writes on the New Civil Engineer website what this means for civil engineering. The clean energy jobs reportplan is available here. What is happening with job creation for clean energy in your country?
Plan to double clean energy jobs to 860,000 by 2030 launched by government
Plans to increase the UK clean energy workforce have been launched by the government, which it says will see 860,000 “high quality and well paid” roles filled by 2030.
The sectors to be boosted include renewable energy, nuclear, carbon capture and storage and hydrogen. The government said the new jobs are needed to enable it to deliver on its mission to decarbonise the economy.
It was not immediately clear how much of the public spending proposed in the Clean energy jobs plan, published on 19 October 2025, amounts to new expenditure, but the proposal was supported publicly by a long list of ministers, trade unions, energy companies, trade associations and skills and educational institutions.
Up to 2,499 new civil engineering jobs by 2030
The government said the plan is the “first ever national plan to recruit workers needed for clean energy mission” and identified “31 priority occupations such as plumbers, electricians and welders” which it said are “particularly in deman..”
Government figures showed that it believed the number of people working as “plumbers and heating and ventilating installers and repairers” should increase by between 8,500 and 10,000 from 2023 to 2030.
The number of electricians and electrical fitters should increase by between 7,000 and 8,499 across the same period, whereas there are only up to 2,499 more welders needed.
It said the number of civil engineers should increase by between 1,000 and 2,499 by 2030, which would be more than double the number of civil engineers working in 2023.
The jobs plan said that to deliver the proposed uplift in jobs, the government would “align the skills system and employment support to our Industrial Strategy sectors, including clean energy industries”.
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Energy in Demand - Sustainable Energy - Rod Janssen 
The article is far far too kind – the political imbeciles that pretend
to run the UK are incapable of even training welders to build warships:
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/babcock-turns-to-overseas-welders-amid-scottish-skills-gap/
They needed 300 Philipino welders (who I have no doubt a very good)
because the utterly useless UK gov’ has vastly reduced craft training
because, after all, the “market” will sort it all out. Imbeciles.