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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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Reposted by Sam Huckstep

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 5h

One manifestation of Labour’s “everything is polling” approach to government is that they visibly think of policy not in departmental solos but in issue polling silos. Your immigration choices and your levies on business are the same picture!

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 5h

B2 or not B2? Some thoughts on the government’s latest announcement on immigration (and why the most striking bit isn’t the posturing about English):

Labour’s big blind spot in UK immigration policy

To make it seem tough on legal routes, the government introduces radical measures with uncertain effects

www.ft.com

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Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · 1d

'One of the most promising outcomes from this mission is the budding partnership with the Province of New Brunswick. Unlike other regions, New Brunswick has shown remarkable openness to formalize a Memorandum of Understanding with Kenya... a New Brunswick delegation [will] visit Kenya in November.'

Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · 1d

'Canada’s situation mirrors Germany’s: acute shortages in healthcare, technical trades, social care, and green economy sectors.'

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Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · 1d

'In Ottawa, the delegation’s engagements with Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICAN) and Algonquin College highlighted the critical importance of aligning Kenya’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programs with Canadian standards.'

Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · 1d

Fascinating update on Kenyan labour export efforts-

'In September 2025, a high-level Kenyan delegation... embarked on a strategic mission across eight Canadian provinces' to discuss labour migration partnerships.

Note Kenya has a stated aim of sending 1m workers overseas per year until 2028.

Strengthening Kenya’s Global Labour Diplomacy Through Strategic Partnerships - The Coast Media Group

By Andrew Mwangura Email, [email protected] Kenya’s recent diplomatic strides in the realm of labour mobility...

www.thecoast.co.ke

Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · 1d

~80% of Kazakhstan's migrants are in Russia.

In 2024, astonishingly, remittances equalled 49% (!!) of Tajikistan's GDP, most coming from Russia.

The effects for these countries' growth, social mobility, current accounts, debt repayments, currency stability, etc. could be huge.

Tajikistan Economic Update 2025

The Tajikistan Economic Update is an annual report that analyzes recent economic developments, prospects, and policy issues in Tajikistan.

www.worldbank.org

Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · 1d

Woah- this is outside my normal field of vision, but the expulsion of 770,000 migrants from Russia would have big consequences. Most are from Central Asia- and some of these countries are highly reliant on remittance flows from Russia.

770,000 migrants told to leave Russia

Speaker of the Russian State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin on October 13 announced that 770,000 migrants, who largely hail from Central Asia, ...

www.intellinews.com

Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · 7d

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 · 7d

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

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Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · 8d

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 · 8d

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.

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Sam Huckstep @samhuckstep.bsky.social · 13d

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 · 15d

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 · 16d

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 · 16d

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 · 16d

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 · 16d

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 · 16d

'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 · 16d

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 · Sep 15

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...