The transition to a green economy is reshaping global labour markets, creating new opportunities while rendering certain traditional roles obsolete. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) reports that renewable energy employment reached 16.2 million jobs worldwide in 2023, up from 13.7 million in 2022, indicating a significant upward trend1. However, this shift also presents challenges, particularly for workers in carbon-intensive industries who may face displacement without adequate support. The OECD emphasises the importance of proactive skills development policies to facilitate a just transition and minimise skills mismatches during this transformation2. Education and training systems — and in particular VET and higher education institutions — are under increasing pressure to adapt their programmes to equip learners with the competences needed in a low-carbon economy. As Cedefop highlights, this includes integrating green skills into existing curricula, developing new occupational profiles, and ensuring flexible learning pathways for adults already in the workforce3. Higher education institutions play a crucial role, not only by preparing students for green careers but also by reorienting institutional strategies to embed sustainability across teaching, research, and operations.
The European Training Foundation (ETF) has stressed the importance of inclusive lifelong learning policies that enable upskilling and reskilling for all, particularly in ETF partner countries where labour markets are especially vulnerable to external shocks. By investing in green skills development, countries can boost innovation and competitiveness while supporting social inclusion and resilience4. For this reason, this webinar of the Skills Lab Network of Experts focuses on upskilling and reskilling adults for the green transition and to improve sustainability. Particular attention would be given to the lifelong learning perspective, and the provision of a suitable adult education offer supporting employment in green or greening sectors. The focus was on policies and practical approaches across ETF partner countries and EU Member States.
The webinar opened by a context-setting presentation by the ETF, introducing the theme of the webinar and presenting ETF activities in the field. The following presentation, from the Joint Research Centre, focused on how to measure work’s contribution to the green transition, reviewed the limits of the traditional task-based approach, and proposed a new firm-level method to address these drawbacks. This was followed by contributions from three ETF partner countries. The first speaker, from Azerbaijan, talked about nature-based solutions (NBS) and how they can be integrated into vocational education and training. The second speaker presented the methodology behind a Greenness Index developed to assess sustainability of higher education institutions (HEI), and the assessment of HEIs in Kazakhstan according to the Index. Finally, the last speaker presented a project involving the upskilling and reskilling of university students and staff to improve the sustainability of the University. The last contribution presented interesting insights from Germany, exploring how VET could contribute towards the transition to a climate-adapted society and economy through reducing risks caused by the effects of climate change.
The aim was to provide a platform for exchange on how different systems are addressing re-skilling challenges in the context of the green transition, and to identify promising practices relevant to both policy and practice at various levels.
You can find the agenda, presentations, related documents and a short summary as attachments to this page.
The webinar recording can be viewed here.
Please log in or sign up to comment.