Regional leaders agree strategy to boost workforce for green industrial revolution and create thousands of local opportunities.
By Katie Ashworth
••4 min read
AI
Liverpool waterfront with a wind turbine blade, symbolising clean energy job opportunities.
Leaders across the Liverpool City Region, North West, and North Wales have endorsed a new plan to harness the economic opportunities presented by the clean energy sector.
The Liverpool City Region is among the key signatories of a new Clean Energy Skills Regional Action Plan, designed to ensure local people benefit from the burgeoning green economy. The plan, published alongside the North West Clean Energy Jobs Evidence Base Final Report, outlines a collaborative approach between industry, education providers, and local government to build the necessary workforce for the UK's clean energy ambitions.
Projections indicate a significant rise in demand for clean energy workers across the North West and North Wales over the next decade. This growth is fuelled by substantial investments in nuclear power, offshore wind, hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, electricity networks, and home retrofit programmes. The region's clean energy workforce is expected to expand from approximately 19,500 today to over 30,000 by 2030, potentially reaching nearly 35,000 jobs in 2028. Including home retrofit and low-carbon heating, demand could surpass 105,000 workers by 2035, with an immediate need for at least 16,000 additional workers in the next four to five years.
Key occupations identified as experiencing growing demand include electricians, engineers, heat pump installers, construction professionals, technicians, project managers, and welders. These roles are expected to support broader growth in sectors such as manufacturing, infrastructure, and advanced engineering.
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"We want the Liverpool City Region to be at the forefront of the green industrial revolution, leading the charge towards net zero, and taking advantage of the myriad of jobs, investment and opportunities that it will provide."
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"From our existing strengths in wind and solar power, to transformative projects like HyNet and our Mersey Tidal Power scheme, our region has the potential to be Britain’s Renewable Energy Coast – with local people benefiting from the employment and training opportunities that go with it."
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"This action plan shows that the transition to green energy isn’t just necessary to tackle the climate emergency but will also generate tens of thousands of high-quality jobs for local people, right across our region."
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"We are putting power back into every postcode – and this regional action plan is proof of how local places can lead the way in seizing the opportunities to reindustrialise."
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"Jobs in clean energy are growing fast, including work that AI simply can’t do – and the North West and North Wales is in prime position to reap these benefits, from offshore wind to carbon capture and storage."
The initiative, commissioned by Enterprise Cheshire and Warrington in partnership with Net Zero North West and the North West Net Zero Hub, with funding from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, involved collaboration across Cheshire and Warrington, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, the Liverpool City Region, and North Wales. The plan establishes a shared regional approach to workforce development, acknowledging that labour markets and supply chains often cross geographical boundaries.
Practical interventions identified include new pre-apprenticeship programmes, targeted support for those returning to work, enhanced employer-training provider collaboration, and innovative approaches to careers advice and industry engagement. Major projects driving this demand include the HyNet industrial decarbonisation cluster, offshore wind developments in the Irish Sea, the proposed Mersey Tidal Power Project, electricity network upgrades, nuclear developments, and large-scale home retrofit programmes.
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"The North West has a huge opportunity to benefit from the clean energy transition, but success depends on having the right workforce in place."
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"This action plan brings partners together around a shared understanding of future demand, helping ensure local people and businesses can benefit from the jobs and investment ahead."
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"Our new national clean energy skills centre at Liverpool Waters, built in the summer of 2026, following our designation as Clean Energy Technical Excellence centre in April 2026, acts as a blueprint of how we as a region have responded at pace."
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"Bringing together sector expertise with our partner TASK, educators across the region and global stakeholders to support the delivery of the regions energy security ambitions."
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"This work demonstrates both the scale of the opportunity facing our region and the importance of acting now to prepare our workforce for a rapidly changing future: one in which technical skills will be of critical importance."
The reports conclude that success hinges on continued collaboration between employers, education providers, and government, underpinned by a shared understanding of future workforce demand and a commitment to ensuring the economic benefits of the clean energy transition are distributed across all communities.
