Policy & Projects

Policy & Projects

Residential energy upgrades workforce mapping project

As Australia's net zero transformation kicks into gear, we need to ensure that we have the right people, in the right places, at the right time to deliver the necessary energy upgrades to make all homes healthy, comfortable, decarbonised and low energy cost.

Many homes in Australia are leaky, poorly insulated and have high emissions, especially older homes built before minimum energy efficiency and thermal comfort standards were introduced.  The task of upgrading millions of homes is becoming increasingly urgent as our emissions reduction targets draw closer and climate extremes increase. 

At present, we don’t have enough appropriately skilled people to deliver the massive scale of energy upgrades needed. This ‘residential energy upgrades workforce mapping’ project is looking to help accelerate the development and deployment of the residential energy upgrade workforce to address this issue. 

This project will map the skills and knowledge needed to upgrade Australia’s homes – and build our new homes even better, with a particular emphasis on thermal performance and efficient electrification. It will identify how to improve the current capability and capacity of the residential energy upgrade industry, including by identifying the professional development pathways into key roles, and any gaps in existing training within these professional development pathways.

Ultimately, the EEC will present recommended priority actions and next steps for industry and government in the form of a ‘residential energy upgrades workforce development roadmap’.

The roadmao is expected to be released in October 2023.

You can learn more about the project here.

Initial public forum 

The EEC held a public forum on Monday 20 March from 3:30pm to 5pm AEDT. The project team provided stakeholders with an overview of the project, and attendees had a chance to raise questions and queries, and provided the project team with some initial feedback.

Slides from the forum can be found here.

Second public forum

The EEC, with the support of the Institute for Sustainable futures, will hold a second public consultation forum to discuss the initial outcomes of the workforce mapping. Further details to be confirmed.

For more information on this project, please contact Karla Paeglis, Head of Workforce Development on karla.paeglis@eec.org.au.