Posted: June 23, 2026
Heavy industry is navigating two profound shifts at once. The first is the urgent transition to decarbonisation. The second is the rapid adoption of AI and advanced digital technologies. Too often, these are framed as competing priorities, with AI seen primarily as a source of rising energy demand. In reality, they are deeply interconnected and, when approached in the right way, mutually reinforcing.
From a people and skills perspective, this connection is where the real opportunity lies. AVEVA recently contributed to a LinkedIn UK Green Skills Report, titled ‘Powering Opportunity Across the UK’, exploring how green skills are reshaping hiring and career opportunities. The report highlights the growing value of these capabilities, finding that the hiring rate for green talent in the UK is 38% higher than the overall workforce, signalling strong demand.
A key recommendation from the report is to deliberately build the “twin transition” workforce, recognising the growing overlap between AI and green skills. At AVEVA, we are already seeing how decarbonisation and digital transformation depend on a shared foundation of skills, particularly across energy systems, manufacturing and operational optimisation.
Rethinking what green skills really mean
Green skills are often seen as belonging to a narrow set of roles. In practice, they are far broader. At AVEVA, our engineers and technical specialists are hired for expertise in software, data and industrial systems, yet their work directly supports customers in reducing emissions and using resources more efficiently.
Rather than treating sustainability as a separate hiring stream, we embed it into how we attract and develop talent. By integrating sustainability into job descriptions, recruiter conversations and learning, we help people understand how their everyday work contributes to real outcomes. This also reflects what candidates are asking for: a clear and authentic link between their role and tangible impact.
Where AI capability enables decarbonisation
The overlap between AI and green skills is particularly visible in the energy transition. As the UK grid becomes more reliant on renewables, it is also becoming more complex, decentralised and data-driven. Managing this shift requires advanced digital platforms, AI and the skills to use them effectively.
At AVEVA, we develop technologies such as AVEVA™ PI System™ to bring together real time data from across the grid, enabling operators to balance supply and demand more dynamically. These solutions rely on capabilities like data engineering, systems integration and AI model development, skills that are not always labelled as green but are essential to achieving net zero.
Our work with UK Power Networks brings this to life. Alongside deploying technology, we help upskill engineers and data teams so they can interpret, question and apply AI driven insights. This is critical to building the AI fluency needed to operate a more sustainable energy system.
Building the workforce for both transitions
The LinkedIn report is clear that the UK’s competitiveness depends on combining green and AI skills, rather than treating them as separate challenges. From our perspective, this is about helping people connect their technical expertise to environmental outcomes, while equipping them with the digital capabilities to drive change.
At AVEVA, we see this as a continuous journey. By aligning digital innovation with sustainability goals, and by putting people at the centre of both, we can help accelerate the transition to a cleaner, smarter energy system.
The green transition and the AI transition are not in competition. They are two sides of the same transformation. Our task is to bring them together through the skills, capabilities and purpose of our people.
