For the UK to achieve a "just and fair" energy transition by 2030, there must be immediate political alignment.

 The UK will not be able to achieve a "just and fair" energy transition by 2030, according to a new report from Robert Gordon University (RGU), unless there is immediate political alignment to support supply chain investments, jobs in the offshore energy industry, and the economic contribution of the workforce.

Image Courtesy: RGU

The “Delivering our Energy Future” report dissected north of 6,560 pathways for the UK offshore energy industry between now and 2030, of which, less than 15 or <0.3% meet the "just and fair" progress standards. It is presumed that the UK and Scottish political choices, rather than energy market economics, will identify the size of the supply chain and workforce. 

To take note, the United Nations' definition of a "just and fair" change signifies:

 "Guaranteeing that nobody is abandoned in the progress to low carbon and ecologically manageable economies and social orders".

As per RGU, even these limited situations require the renewables area to accomplish more significant levels of ambitions through billions of pounds of extra investment in the next six years and the continuous decrease in the oil and gas industry should be counterbalanced a lot quicker by more noteworthy degrees of movement and higher UK content in renewables if any pathways to a just and fair progress are to stay open.

If this doesn't happen, interim steps should be taken to address the decrease in exercises, including oil and gas production, which at present is expected to decline by over 40% by 2030.

Professor Paul de Leeuw, Director of RGU’s Energy Transition Institute, expressed that the UK likewise needs more adaptable power estimating mechanisms to stay away from project postponements or cancellations and a proactive spotlight on building UK content.

"The UK has an interesting and open door to make another energy future. Speeding up the re-purposing of the North Sea as a world-class, multi-energy basin will guarantee the area can drive the country long into the future. The award for the UK to get this right is tremendous. However, to convey this requires activity and earnestness, and that implies quicker arranging and consenting and access to the grid," De Leeuw said.

"While there is agreement across all partners including legislatures, legislators, industry associations, and economic improvement bodies that we should try to understand a 'just and fair' change, an undeniably more lithe and signed-up approach is expected to address how the nation can best get its energy ambitions, while tending to the typical cost of living crisis, overseeing energy security and delivering on the net zero plan."

According to De Leeuw, to attain this result, the offshore energy sector in the UK must execute projects involving offshore wind, hydrogen, carbon capture and storage (CCS), and oil and gas that might total up to £200 billion over the remaining years of this decade.