DEBATE around net-zero ambitions continues to consume the global news agenda, from UK prime minister Rishi Sunak鈥檚 changes to key green targets, to estimates that a full net-zero transition across US infrastructure will cost . Despite uncertainties, one stark reality is already clear: we lack sufficient numbers of engineers to deliver even the commitments already enshrined in legislation. While it rarely makes the headlines, this issue will be defining if left unaddressed.
The green transition requires decarbonisation across every sector, and innovative engineering solutions are needed to achieve this. From breakthroughs in biodegradable packaging to improvements in electric vehicle charging technology, we need creative approaches to transition to a more sustainable future.
Advertisement
But without a workforce with the necessary numbers of engineers and technicians, these solutions simply can鈥檛 be delivered. For example, the needs to fill 400,000 roles by 2050, around 260,000 of which will be newly created. In the housing sector, retrofitting will require the recruitment of 30,000 technicians each year at its peak in 5 to 10 years鈥� time. This is on top of 鈥渂usiness as usual鈥� needs.
If we are to address this deficit, we must focus our efforts on attracting more people into engineering 鈥� a task that is proving no mean feat. Job site Indeed that engineering vacancies are among the hardest-to-fill roles in the UK. While veterinary surgeons topped the list, mechanical engineers came second, electrical engineers fourth and civil engineers fifth.
The key to resolving this quandary is overturning outdated perceptions of engineering and demystifying routes into it as a career. For example, contrary to popular belief, maths and physics aren鈥檛 always prerequisites for studying engineering, but this misconception obstructs at least some people from treating it as a career option. There is much work still to be done to connect those considering an engineering career 鈥� and those influencing their choices 鈥� to the reality of the skills that underpin success in engineering.
Promoting the fact that skills such as curiosity, problem solving and creativity are essential to engineering roles will help more people realise that they may well have an 鈥渋nner engineer鈥�. We need to dismantle the stereotypes that plague the industry, such as hard hats and greasy rags, and show a truer representation. Engineers are just people who have followed what they love 鈥� whether that is sports shoes, disaster relief or bath bombs 鈥� into engineering.
Adapting the language associated with engineering will also be essential to changing its reputation. The damaging and misguided tendency to divide people into 鈥渃reatives鈥� and 鈥渟cientists鈥� still persists, despite evidence this is an utterly false dichotomy. Successful engineering certainly combines creativity with technical ability.
This unhelpful division also has an impact on the willingness of female students to consider engineering careers. Stereotypes around 鈥渕ale鈥� and 鈥渇emale鈥� skill sets often prevail, leading to UK engineering and technology degrees the lowest proportion of female students in the academic year 2021/22, compared with other courses.
Many professions and skill sets are needed to navigate a transition to a net-zero society. But doing so will be impossible without a sufficient number of skilled engineers. It is therefore in all our interests to tackle the skills and diversity deficit that engineering currently faces. To do this, we need to be better at communicating the scale of the job opportunities within the transition to net zero, and at demonstrating engineering really is for everyone.
Dr Hayaatun Sillem is chief executive of the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK
