Wales Needs Place-Based Skills for the Green Economy

# Summary

James Green, Social Mapping & Monitoring Evaluation Learning Lead at Bute Energy, says Wales can build a cleaner energy system and local prosperity if skills strategies start with place. Green jobs only become local opportunities if people in those communities can see them, get to them and believe they are within reach.

# Why place matters

Practical barriers are often the decisive ones: weak public transport links, difficult winter travel in rural areas, or caring responsibilities that limit when someone can train or work. Young people also move away when they cannot see a future locally. A single national apprenticeship or employability model will not address those differences between rural, urban and Valleys communities.

# The scale of the need

Wales will need roughly 25,000 green jobs by 2050 across planners, project managers, engineers and other roles. Bute Energy estimates up to 2,000 jobs could be supported by its onshore wind projects. Those roles will require a pipeline of talent that is built deliberately and locally.

# What a place-based approach looks like

• Use data and community engagement. Bute Energy runs focus groups, roundtables and social mapping to understand local needs.
• Deploy local jobs coaches who adopt person-centred support while explaining employer expectations and real-life barriers.
• Tailor apprenticeships and pathways to transferable skills that can move between onshore wind, battery storage, offshore wind and future technologies.

Apprenticeships can act as the hook into a fast-changing sector, but they must be accessible where people live and timed to fit their lives.

# Education and partnerships

Bute Energy's Future Skills Strategy links schools, colleges and universities with industry. Activities cited include classroom support, encouraging girls into STEM, funding a planning student on Cardiff Universitye28099s Spatial Planning and Development mastere28099s programme, backing the Physics Mentoring Project, and participating in careers events and college enrichment.

These are practical steps to create awareness and basic skills, but they need to connect to local work opportunities and support structures so learners can move into employment without geographic or social barriers.

# Measuring success differently

Skills development should not be judged only by places filled or courses completed. Important outcomes include whether people gain confidence, see a future in their community and are attracted to stay by local amenities and assets. Community benefit funds and well-structured social value commitments can support that wider system when they tie commitments to local needs.

# Tools and next steps

A place-based approach means designing training, transport solutions, support and local recruitment practices that reflect the lived experience of each community so that green investment translates into local jobs people can actually take.