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Sam Huckstep

@samhuckstep.bsky.social

420 followers 490 following 330 posts

Working on climate, migration, governance & green transition at CGDev. Any views mine.

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Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · Nov 27

🚨New paper! 🚨(well, to Bluesky)

Making Migration Work for Adaptation: Classifying Remittances as Climate Finance

An exciting paper that we hope might make a difference (esp. after NCQG).

Huge thanks to co-author @jonathanbeynon.bsky.social & to all who reviewed/shared comments.

Thread below! 1/

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Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · 7h

And a response with some nuance from the Pekingology blog:

On CATL’s Spain Project, A Few Modest Additions to the FT’s Reporting

Supplementary context on workforce composition in Germany and African precedents of Chinese investments.

www.pekingnology.com

Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · 7h

Interesting FT piece on import of Chinese 'green' workers into Europe-

'To build the [battery] plant CATL has told local officials it will bring in a total of 2,000 of its own workers on a rotating basis' into Spain.

But are they due to lack of skills, or to prevent knowledge transfer?

Gift link-

China sends 2,000 workers to build battery power in Europe

Massive labour import to Spain spotlights EU’s dependence on Beijing’s EV tech

on.ft.com

Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · 1d

The report is below.

(It suggests that to meet government housebuilding targets will take somewhere between 500,000 to 1 million new recruits. Some of them will be in occupations for which construction will need to compete with decarbonisation and defence, like electrical workers.)

Capacity Constraints in construction: rethinking the business environment

A new economic report exploring the construction industry’s capacity to deliver on key targets and meet demand for new homes and infrastructure in the UK has been published by the CIOB.

www.ciob.org

Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · 1d

A good summary of the domestic vs. international recruitment tradeoff in a new @ciob.bsky.social report- here focused on the construction sector, but relevant to policy-driven decarbonisation labour demand.

Nutshell: if you want a domestic recruitment focus, you need longterm policy reliability.

Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · 6d

A striking chart: in 2021 (the last census), there were roughly as many workers leaving UK clean energy industries due to retirement *each year* as there were *in total* aged under 25 in the sector.

www.standardlife.co.uk/centre-for-t...

Reposted by Sam Huckstep

James Murray @james-bg.bsky.social · 9d

Eye-catching report on how migrants will be essential to plug widening green skills gaps in many of the world's cities. www.businessgreen.com/news/4519631...

Report: Migrant workers needed to help fill $280bn global green jobs opportunity

Report calls for reforms to enable more migration to help drive climate action and economic growth, as local workers will not be sufficient to fill looming green skills gaps

www.businessgreen.com

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Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · 9d

This is a great little blog. The third point, on 'Immigration as an Industrial Strategy' ('not just using immigration to fill labor gaps, but using it strategically to catalyze new industries') is very relevant to current discussions around workforce for the green transition.

David McKenzie @dmckenzie.bsky.social · 9d

In today's blog, I discuss 3 ways for international migration to be part of a structural transformation policy: 1) as an industry itself; 2) training people abroad in the skills to develop a new industry at home; and 3) through immigration (eg Start-up Chile) blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...

International Migration as a Structural Transformation Policy

blogs.worldbank.org

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Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · 9d

Ultimately Denmark's green transition needs long-term, predictable investment, and greater coherency between industrial, skills, and migration policy.

Denmark is not alone in this, but as a relative leader it is striking that it is reported to be falling into the same pitfalls we see elsewhere.

Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · 9d

In this context, 'foreign workers will continue to play a crucial role in meeting labour demand for green energy and infrastructure projects.

In construction, the share of foreign nationals and commuters rose from 8 per cent in 2013 to 26 per cent in 2024, particularly in large projects.'

Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · 9d

'Many experienced skilled and unskilled workers are expected to have retired by 2035, resulting in a projected loss of 103,000 skilled workers and 60,000 unskilled workers...

Growth in the academic workforce will not offset the loss of vocational and industrial expertise.'

Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · 9d

Investments into Denmark's green transition are worryingly tailing off.

Nonetheless, the country is warned to face major labour shortages.

Danish job market in green energy predicted to see big decline

Denmark’s “green” transition is facing a severe slowdown that threatens both jobs and investment. An analysis published today from consulting group COWI, Labour Union 3F and the Labour Movement’s…

brusselssignal.eu

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Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · 23d

Australia announces (in its new National Adaptation Plan) that it will be creating 'a specific policy need around the planned relocation of whole communities'.

www.dcceew.gov.au/climate-chan...

www.dcceew.gov.au

Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · Sep 8

Link seems to have vanished- here it is-

openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/pub...

Open Knowledge Repository

openknowledge.worldbank.org

Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · Sep 8

To my surprise, the World Bank's recent 139-page report on 'Making Refugee Self-Reliance Work' doesn't mention the word 'climate' once...

Given the contexts of many refugee-hosting countries, self-reliance initiatives that don't take climate into account are likely to under-perform.

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Reposted by Sam Huckstep

Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte @turnbulldugarte.com · Sep 5

Radical right accommodation really does not work.

New paper out with this exceptionally talented team
@katharinalawall.bsky.social @robjohns75.bsky.social @drjennings.bsky.social @sarahobolt.bsky.social @zachdickson.bsky.social @danjdevine.bsky.social & @jack-bailey.co.uk

doi.org/10.31235/osf...

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Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · Sep 3

This kind of thing is where Scott Barrett's idea of climate-targeted trade agreements is really interesting. If you can get people to agree they will only trade steel at this technology standard, and reassure them that they will only need to do this if everyone else does, you're getting somewhere.

Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · Aug 28

...This may indicate a need to review current processes for recognising qualifications and skills acquired overseas, ensuring it is fit for purpose: delivering a stable pipeline of migrant workers without compromising safety standards.'

Critical occupations are already bolstered by migrant workers.

Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · Aug 28

One conclusion: Alongside domestic efforts, 'persistent workforce shortages, challenges in the apprentice pipeline and complex upskilling requirements mean that meeting future demand will require an additional boost from skilled migration...

Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · Aug 28

4) crucially, there's a shortage of trainers, prominently due to low pay vs. what can be earned in the field. (Surely this could be fixed!) Also of infrastructure- '77% of training organisations say infrastructure must grow to meet demand, but costs & capital investment remain the biggest hurdles.'

Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · Aug 28

2) but despite relatively low interest, also much lower capacity to train: e.g. one scheme with space for 150 network apprentices receiving 6,000 applications.

3) SMEs have low risk tolerance, and fear making big investments in training only to lose trainees to poaching by big firms.

Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · Aug 28

'Ideally, efforts to expand capacity should have begun ten years ago, given the structural and logistical challenges of scaling the training sector.'

Apprenticeship bottlenecks limit scaling:

1) lack of interest in new entrants (only 10% interested in apprenticeships);

(The report is below)

Powering Skills Organisation

Powering Skills Organisation is the Jobs and Skills Council (JSC) for the Energy sectors including gas, renewable energy and electricity generation and distribution.

poweringskills.com.au

Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · Aug 28

Australia:

Decarbonisation 'risks being undermined by "overlooked" skills shortages, with a predicted shortfall of 42,000 trade workers next decade...

Electrical training 'has fallen by about 40 per cent over the last decade', with a current shortage of 22,000 apprentices (40% increase).

Net zero transition at risk of stalling amid shortfall of 42,000 workers

The Powering Skills Organisation warns the current energy workforce of 300,000 energy, gas and renewables sector workers will not be sufficient to meet demand and further investment in training will b...

www.abc.net.au

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Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · Aug 28

Good news on India's domestic solar installation, especially in the context of the US tariffs- in 2023 and 2024 more than 97% of India's solar PV exports went to the US. Growing domestic demand is now more crucial than ever.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/c...

ieefa.org/resources/in...

Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · Aug 27

3) simplistic North/South divides in expectations of outcomes should be avoided;

4) a right to remain needs to be maintained alongside a right to move;

5) in-situ adaptation addressing inequalities should be prioritised.

Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · Aug 27

'Climate-induced redistribution of people is not inevitable'- a good new article by a fair who's who in climate/migration research.

Key points:

1) hard limits to habitability should not be declared without context-specific assessments;

2) model-based projections do not show inevitable futures;

Climate-induced redistribution of people is not inevitable - IOPscience

Climate-induced redistribution of people is not inevitable, Boas, Ingrid, Sterly, Harald, Farbotko, Carol, Hulme, Mike, Benveniste, Hélène, Schewel, Kerilyn D, Bettini, Giovanni, Borderon, Marion, Hof...

doi.org

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