Over 30,000 participants from business and the governments of the UK and Scotland gathered for the 50th anniversary of SPE Offshore Europe to map out the route towards a sustainable energy future for Europe. During the course of four days, we heard about the ways in which the offshore energy sector will now need to expedite the energy transition by navigating structural uncertainties, bolstering its future talent base, and engaging in unprecedented cross-sector collaboration.

With nine European nations recently committing to building 300 GW of offshore wind by 2050, which would significantly contribute to its ambitious decarbonisation plans, the North Sea represents a crucial frontier for Europe’s energy transformation ambitions. The production of oil and gas from the North Sea has a lower average emission intensity than the rest of the world, according to data from McKinsey Energy Solutions’ Global Operations Benchmark. This oil and gas production is crucial for supplying Europe with a domestic energy source during the energy transition.

A green skills gap is being created by the energy transition, which is changing markets and drastically changing the employment skills needed for green hydrogen production from wind manufacturing. The “Future of Talent” hub included a wide range of topics, including growing trends and strategies used by businesses to address their talent needs, as well as employee empowerment, engagement, and culture as a change agent. “Talent for the energy transition is a story of two interacting needs: meeting the demand of fast-growing new energy businesses and maintaining core talent for traditional upstream,” stated Hege Nordahl, Associate Partner at McKinsey. There is a lot of talent overlap between new and established energy enterprises, which opens up chances for individuals.