Colleges have a key role in tackling the climate emergency and delivering Scotland’s ambitions to achieve net-zero. All colleges have signed up to a Statement of Commitment on the Climate Emergency which supports Scotland’s efforts to achieve net-zero climate emissions by 2045, with Scotland’s colleges aiming to achieve net-zero by 2040 or earlier.

Working in partnership with employers, colleges are training people in everything from offshore windfarms to electric vehicles. The college sector delivers the world-class skills, upskilling and reskilling that we need now, and that will be needed in the future, as access to lifelong learning becomes an absolute requirement for every worker.

Scotland needs skilled workers to construct and maintain onshore energy facilities, install domestic heat pumps and solar systems, and improve Scotland’s transport network. College graduates are meeting the dramatic changes brought about by emerging technologies from machine learning to artificial intelligence.

As well as delivering training for key renewable sectors, colleges are embedding sustainability into mainstream courses through, for example, providing sustainability elements as part of hair, beauty, and hospitality courses.