Companies support ambitious climate targets

Not only would Danish cleantech companies stay in Denmark, they would also double the number of employees by 2020, if they had an ambitious political strategy to lean on. That is the result of a study, which was presented at a CCC after-work meeting before Christmas.

On Tuesday 14 December, representatives from several municipalities, the Capital Region, the Region Zealand and Region Skåne participated in an after-work meeting. The theme was jobs and skills in a low carbon region. A theme, which has become more topical during the recent years as the global interest in achieving shared climate agreements has increased.

At the meeting, Partner in the analysis institute Fliess Brøndum, Søren Brøndum, presented the results from the analysis "Øresund as a Low Carbon Region". Two scenarios were explained to illustrate the cleantech companies' opportunities over the next 10 years in the three regions. The first scenario was based on there being no changes in the energy and climate policy objectives, while the second was based on the regions being independent of fossil fuels and self-sufficient in renewable energy in a CO2-free society.

- What is surprising is that the CO2-emitting companies will not relocate to another country, even though Denmark becomes first movers, which will have an effect globally too. The companies believe that with ambitious, practical political terms, they can make it on their own in a market driven economy, Søren Brøndum says.

He stresses, that the effects on competitiveness have not been studied, just as it is assumed that the global community at the same time moves towards a fossil free future.

All hands are needed

The biggest challenge in regards to achieving the targets will be getting the required manpower. According to the survey, the greatest need will be for people with a longer & higher education, but everybody is needed. 40 percent of the companies expect that 40 percent of the people that are hired over the next two years must have added courses and training to their initial education, while 55 percent will hold a short-term further education.

- If the government formulates a long-term strategy, which companies believe in, they will invest in research and train technical staff. It is not just engineers, but also people with shorter, higher education, who are needed, for example a metal worker, who have the craftsmanship to work with green energy and only costs half that of an engineer, he says.

Companies expect to request people with medium-length (59 percent) and longer, further education (61 percent) over the next two years.

The study also shows that if scenario 2 became a reality, the result would be an explosion in the job creation within geothermal energy, district heating and energy saving in buildings, which all would rise by between 400 and 600 percent, while wind energy would "only" increase by almost 300 percent.