Small and medium businesses have a vital role to play in upskilling the Australian workforce to ensure the millions of jobs needed to transition the economy to net zero become a reality, say the organisers of a new campaign to turbocharge the nation’s clean economy. The Careers for Net Zero campaign says urgent action is needed to ensure workers are adequately skilled to fill those roles.
Careers for Net Zero is a joint campaign from the Clean Energy Council and the Energy Efficiency Council, which is also backed by Boundless Earth, a philanthropic venture backed and chaired by Atlassian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes.
Other supporters of the campaign include Engineers Australia, the Australian Power Institute, and Ai Group.
Some 2 million jobs are expected to be needed by 2050 for Australia to meet its net zero targets, according to figures from the Reliable, Affordable, Clean Energy Cooperative Research Centre, while a report from Job and Skills Australia suggests 200,000 new roles are required if Australia is to meet its 2030 target of 43% lower emissions.
Launched in Melbourne to coincide with the Careers for Net Zero Fair on Thursday, the campaign hopes to entice more Australians to consider switching their careers to one in the clean economy sector.
The campaign will highlight 10 Australians who are already working in the sector, such as project manager Sarah Hill pictured below, and will feature an online ‘career explorer’ tool, via the Careers for Net Zero website, to help job seekers gain a better understanding of the jobs on offer and where their skills might find a match.
This tool will pull together a list of the careers needed for Australia to reach net zero, highlight the most in-demand jobs, and explain how students, graduates and experienced workers can obtain those roles.
The Careers for Net Zero campaign will also be accompanied by a joint statement from leading industry groups and professional associations calling on Australian governments to also do more to grow the local clean economy workforce.
Kane Thornton, chief executive of the Clean Energy Council, said the upsides to Australian workers of decarbonising the Australian economy are significant, but the current skills gap needs immediate attention.
“Upskilling needs to occur on a colossal scale,” Thornton said in a statement.
“We need to double our energy workforce by 2030 and double it again by 2035. Heightened global competition for talent across a diversity of critical skills and occupations means this is a top priority for our sector.”
Energy Efficiency Council chief executive Luke Menzel said many of the roles needed in the next seven years are already facing major skills shortages nationally.
“The current talent pool simply isn’t matching up with demand,” he said in the same statement.
“If we fall short of meeting these targets, it will come at a huge cost and will impact Australia’s reputation on the global stage.”
Holly Taylor, head of strategy and partnerships at the Energy Efficiency Council, told SmartCompany that small business owners can play a critical role in these efforts to reduce emissions by upskilling their existing workforce, and themselves too.
“When we think about the careers and the opportunities, we want to upskill the staff within those businesses first by enabling them to realise the opportunities that come along with the transition,” she says.
“And then there are bucketloads of small businesses out there that operate in the renewables space and the energy efficiency space, the circular economy. What are the opportunities for them to attract people?”
For those businesses, Taylor says it is about talking about their credentials and what they stand for.
“Let the workforce know when they’re applying for jobs that they are a principles-based organisation,” she says.
“There’s nothing wrong with being for-profit, but it’s great to have profit with purpose and selling products and services that are going to help us get to net zero is really critical to supporting that.”
But more than that, Taylor says small businesses can unlock funds to reinvest back into their business, and employees, by finding ways to reduce their energy costs right now.
“Many Australian businesses could halve their electricity and gas bills by rolling out efficiency, electrification and renewables,” she says.
“If you are in manufacturing land, that’s a pretty large energy bill. Even if you’re just a business that’s in a commercial building, there’s just money that is being left on the floor because of things like old lighting, because of heating where there’s cracks in the door.
“There’s huge opportunities to save that money. And that money can be reinvested in ways that enable those businesses to grow.”
The Careers for Net Zero Fair is set to attract prominent advocates for Australia’s move to a cleaner economy, including Atlassian co-founder and chair of Boundless Earth, Mike Cannon-Brookes.
Federal Minister for Skills and Training Brendan O’Connor will also be in attendance, as well as Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, Victorian minister for Energy and Resources Lily D’Ambrosio and Engineers Australia CEO Romilly Madew.
Boundless Earth CEO Eytan Lenko agrees with Taylor that there is a huge role for Australian small businesses and startups to play in Australia’s transition to net zero, telling SmartCompany it “presents an exciting opportunity” for the sector.
“Having always punched above their economic and industrial contribution, SMEs are well placed in their agility to see and spot opportunities along with create new ones that support a clean economy,” says Lenko.
For example, Australia has some 9,000 solar rooftop installers, says Lenko, and most of them are small and medium businesses “at the forefront of helping drive this transition”.
“From solar installers, electricians, plumbers to bookkeepers, lawyers and accountants there is a huge opportunity for SME owners to look at the landscape and see how their business or ideas can play a role,” he adds.
“It’s a unique moment in time to capitalise on the first mover opportunity as the next 50 months will shape Australia’s next 50 years.
“We need the power of the Aussie startup community to continue to focus on helping solve the many climate challenges we have. The government has a key role to play in creating the right conditions for a flourishing startup community, as we are at risk of losing our great minds offshore due to the growing investment opportunities for startups overseas to help fund this innovation and change.”
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Eloise is an experienced business journalist and editor, who has held senior editorial roles at SmartCompany since 2014. Prior to joining SmartCompany, Eloise was news editor at Books+Publishing, the trade press for the Australian book industry. Eloise has degrees in media and communications, marketing and business management, and political science. You can follow her on LinkedIn, and Twitter at @ellykeating.
