As the UK and Scotland steer the energy transition from fossil fuels toward renewables, one of the most urgent questions is: what happens to the workforce currently powering the North Sea oil and gas industry? The answer: support is arriving. Together, the UK Government and the Scottish Government have committed a combined £18 million to underpin a major retraining initiative aimed at helping oil and gas workers transition into sustainable-energy roles.
What’s in the scheme
- The funding sees each government committing £9 million over the next three years to expand the existing “Oil & Gas Transition Training Fund”.
- Launched as a pilot this summer, the fund initially supported workers in the Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire region — already a base of some 300 workers supported in the current financial year.
- The expanded investment aims to reach thousands more workers by 2029, offering tailored career advice, training grants, and a “skills-passport” model which recognises existing qualifications and helps match them to new opportunities in offshore wind, hydrogen, carbon-capture, and other low-carbon sectors.
- The measure is part of the broader clean-energy jobs strategy, which projects tens of thousands of new posts in renewables and associated industries across Scotland and the UK by the end of this decade.
Why this matters
For the workforce, the message is clear: this is not about replacing jobs; it’s about transitioning careers. Many oil-and-gas roles involve skills that are highly transferable into renewables — such as offshore operations, maintenance, welding, and logistics. The fund acknowledges those strengths, making the switch less disruptive and more viable.
For regional economies—particularly the North East of Scotland, where oil & gas has been dominant—the initiative offers a lifeline. By connecting workers to future-facing industries, the risk of large-scale job loss or community decline is somewhat mitigated.
For policy-makers and business, the step signals a shift: the clean-energy transition is not only about technology and infrastructure—it’s also about people and skills. Without a credible pathway for existing workers, social and political backlash could undermine the transition’s legitimacy.
Key opportunities and challenges
Opportunities:
- Workers benefit from training that builds on their existing skillsets, reducing the barrier to entry into green-economy roles.
- The region capitalises on its existing industrial base, including offshore expertise and supply chains, to claim a competitive advantage in renewable energy growth.
- A well-executed transition may strengthen community resilience, maintain employment levels and preserve high-value roles in frontier sectors like hydrogen, wind and carbon capture.
Challenges:
- Training support is just one piece of the puzzle—job creation must follow. Workers may retrain, but without the jobs to move into, the risk remains of skills under-utilisation or migration of talent elsewhere.
- Industries require investment pipelines, long-term contracts and infrastructure commitments. Without them, retrained workers may face underemployment or unstable roles.
- Expectations must be carefully managed. While the training fund is significant, the scale of workforce affected is large and the timeframe to 2029 is relatively short.
What to watch next
- Delivery of job measures: How many participants convert training into new roles? Are the jobs quality, secure and aligned with the region’s ambitions?
- Private-industry engagement: Are renewables and transition projects willing to hire trained oil & gas workers and invest in the local supply chain?
- Regional equity: Ensuring that support reaches hard-hit communities and not only the easiest-to-transition cohorts.
- Scale-up of funding and strategy: Whether this initiative will be expanded, sustained and integrated with broader industrial and infrastructure policy.
Final word
The £18 million boost is a welcome and pragmatic step towards a fair energy transition in Scotland. It demonstrates recognition that transition is not just about decarbonising power—it’s about human capital, regional economies and social justice. For workers, employers and communities in the North East of Scotland, it offers hope. However, the real test will be what happens after training—whether new jobs materialise, supply chains are established locally and the promise of a viable career path becomes reality. In this unfolding story, skills investment is only the beginning of the journey.