Can a skills passport ensure a just transition for Scotland's offshore energy workers?

When you hear the phrase “a just transition”, you’ll often then hear another common one, too.

The idea of a “skills passport” has been thrown around by governments, unions, workers and industry for some time now.

Put simply, it’s about ensuring that those with oil and gas qualifications can use some of them to get work in the green energy sector.

It should mean fewer will need to take additional, often costly, courses.

The announcement of the pilot scheme that will aim to help workers from oil and gas into offshore wind has been broadly welcomed by all in the sector.

However, as Unite the union points out, this alone will not solve the problem.

Tens of thousands of workers, especially in the North and East, work in oil and gas.

Around one in five workers in the North-East of Scotland are employed in the offshore energy sector.

A report from Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen showed if the country doesn’t take full advantage of renewables and declines oil too quickly, then the offshore energy workforce could fall by around 40% by the end of the decade.

The work in renewable energy will increase significantly in the coming decade.

The UK has a target of 50GW of offshore wind energy by 2030.

As Professor Paul de Leeuw, from the Energy Transition Institute, points out, on average that could mean 400 wind turbines need to be installed a year – around one a day.

That’s a lot of work in a very short period.

That means more workers are needed, and they are needed quickly.

The skills passport is seen as one of way of helping to retain the skilled jobs that will be needed to meet that ambition and do it far quicker.

The question is, will it be enough, along with other measures, to truly deliver that now well-worn phrase – a just transition.