Letter to the Editor: More robust data urgently needed

Letter in response to the Herald article ‘Just one job for every £1m generated by wind industry’ published on Tuesday, October 28.

Claire Mack OBE, Chief Executive of Scottish Renewables

The STUC’s report compares the number of jobs supported by £1 million of turnover in the offshore and onshore wind sectors with how many are created by £1 million of investment in oil and gas. 

As these two measures aren’t directly comparable it’s understandable that the results are different. Turnover and investment represent different things, one measures income, the other spending, so it’s difficult to draw clear conclusions from comparing them in this way.

The report also includes indirect and induced jobs — those supported through supply chains and the wider economy — but only for the oil and gas sector. Without the same data for Scotland’s clean energy industries, the comparison can’t fully reflect the jobs supported by renewable energy. 

We need to get a better measure of these jobs and that’s the real story behind the STUC’s report – industry is not receiving the data it needs from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

To truly understand the employment potential of Scotland’s energy sectors, we need consistent, like-for-like comparisons that capture the full picture of where and how jobs are created across our economy.

For years we’ve teamed up with the Fraser of Allander Institute to assess the impact of our industry and its spill-over benefits on Scotland’s supply chain and economy. The most recent analysis finds that our industry is delivering 47,000 jobs and providing an economic boost of more than £15 billion.

But the size of the sector has to be estimated by combining data published by the ONS with a model of the Scottish economy. That’s because the renewable energy sector is not currently defined in national statistics published by either the UK or Scottish governments. 

As we collectively strive to scale up the growth of clean energy in Scotland and across the UK, both governments must urgently prioritise more robust data collection on the economic impact of the renewable energy industry. 

This letter to the editor first featured in the Herald on November 5, 2025