- OPITO has launched a globally recognised decarbonisation qualification based on training originally developed by Petronas and its INSTEP technical institute.
- The programme covers greenhouse gas accounting, carbon pricing, emissions-reduction technologies and project economics, targeting professionals responsible for implementing decarbonisation within operating energy assets.
- Its launch comes as the energy industry faces a broader workforce squeeze, with the IEA warning that skills shortages are already delaying projects and increasing costs.
Global energy skills authority OPITO has launched a new qualification designed to give engineers and sustainability professionals a common framework for developing and implementing industrial decarbonisation projects.
The Decarbonisation Training Certificate was developed from an existing programme created by Malaysian energy group Petronas and its technical training institute INSTEP, which has been completed by around 102 employees.
OPITO has converted the programme into a credit-rated qualification that it plans to roll out through its international training network, potentially making the methodology transferable between employers and different parts of the energy industry.
The course covers four compulsory areas: climate science and carbon emissions; greenhouse gas accounting, forecasting and carbon pricing; decarbonisation technologies and strategies; and project management and economics.
It is rated at level six on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework and has no specific entry requirements, although OPITO is principally targeting professionals already working in areas including emissions reporting, energy efficiency, electrification, carbon capture and sustainability.
Lucie Booth, product development manager at OPITO, said the challenge was increasingly moving from setting corporate climate targets towards implementing them.
“The industry is not short of decarbonisation ambitions – the challenge is translating that into operational reality,” she said.
Much of the debate around energy sector skills has focused on shortages of tradespeople and engineers needed to construct power networks, offshore wind farms and other infrastructure. Decarbonising existing industrial operations creates a parallel requirement for people who can quantify emissions, compare technologies and build commercially viable investment cases.
Execution risk
Evidence suggests workforce capability is becoming a material constraint on energy investment.
The International Energy Agency estimates that global energy employment reached 76 million in 2024 after growing almost twice as quickly as employment across the wider economy. More than half of the 700 companies, unions and education providers surveyed for its latest employment report reported critical hiring bottlenecks.
Around 60% of companies said labour shortages were already affecting project timelines, reliability or cost control. The IEA estimates that the number of newly qualified people entering energy occupations would need to increase by around 40% by 2030 simply to prevent the mismatch from worsening.
The UK faces a particularly substantial requirement. The government’s Clean Energy Jobs Plan estimates that its clean energy workforce could grow by more than 400,000 by 2030, while identifying 31 priority occupations where additional workers will be required.
Yet workforce expansion alone will not resolve the problem OPITO is targeting. Companies also need existing employees to develop skills that cross traditional organisational and technological boundaries.
A process engineer assessing electrification, for example, increasingly needs to understand not only plant performance but emissions accounting, carbon prices and investment economics. Similar crossover skills are required in carbon capture, hydrogen and energy-efficiency projects.
Charlotte Wolff-Bye, Petronas group chief sustainability officer, said standardisation was important because decarbonisation could stall when teams used different tools and terminology.
The company’s involvement provides an operational testing ground for the qualification. Petronas has been building its internal greenhouse gas capabilities, including centralised emissions data systems and a community of practice for staff working on emissions management.
However, the 102 employees trained so far constitute a relatively small pilot. Whether the qualification becomes an industry benchmark will depend on employers recognising it and OPITO securing sufficient training centre capacity internationally.
The initiative nevertheless fits a broader shift towards making energy skills more portable. In the UK, the Energy Skills Passport is being developed to help workers identify transferable qualifications and career routes between oil and gas, offshore wind and eventually other clean energy sectors.
OPITO’s new certificate tackles portability from another direction: giving professionals a common decarbonisation methodology rather than asking them to repeat company-specific training when moving between projects or sectors.
That may become increasingly valuable as oil and gas companies, utilities and engineering contractors compete for many of the same people to deliver carbon capture, hydrogen, electrification and renewable projects.
