New greening qualifications and competencies in Europe

Identification: Less than half of European TVET stakeholders surveyed in 2020 said that their country regularly conducts national skills forecasts and that these forecasts pay explicit attention to the new skills required in a green economy. (Trends mapping – Future of TVET teaching, UNESCO-UNEVOC 2020)

Monitoring and anticipation of green jobs and skills across European countries (with a few notable exceptions - e.g., France) has tended to be part of overall skills anticipation mechanisms, rather than mechanisms dedicated to the green economy, green jobs or green skills. (Cedefop 2019)

Integration: In early 2022 the European Skills, Competencies and Occupations (ESCO) system was updated, so that skills and knowledge concepts needed to live in, develop and support a society that reduces the impact of human activity on the environment began to be labelled as green. ESCO’s new taxonomy contributes to a common understanding of which skills workers need for a successful and fair green transition, and which skills and knowledge are essential or optional for specific occupations. Thus, it helps TVET providers identify which green elements should be part of qualifications focused on preparing learners for those occupations. (European Commission 2022)

Implementation: An analysis of the specific types of skills being emphasized in TVET programmes across European countries showed that ‘environmental/ green skills’ came seventh on the list, and that several countries (e.g. Cyprus, Ireland and Malta) have not increased the focus given to environmental/green skills in their TVET curricula. (Cedefop 2022)

The need to strengthen systems for identifying, integrating and implementing new green skills and competencies in TVET in Europe has been acknowledged by the European Commission, which remarked in 2022: “[L]earning for the green transition is not yet a systemic feature of education and training policy in the EU. Many young people believe that school is failing to give them an adequate understanding of climate change and sustainability”. (European Commission 2022)

“Technical skills relevant to green technologies and processes are key to greening the economy. Beyond that, it is Europeans’ attitudes, behaviour and civic skills that will shape the transition to greener societies.”

(Cedefop 2022)

The European Climate Pact was launched in 2020 as part of the European Green Deal. It supports partnerships and initiatives between regions, local communities, civil society, industry, and education and training providers to aid the green transition in Europe by developing and implementing solutions to tackle climate change and environmental degradation. (European Commission 2020)

One of the Climate Pact’s four priority areas is green skills. The Pact promotes: green employment; the skilling and reskilling of workers; and skills anticipation systems in green areas by:

• Encouraging public and private organizations to work together to take concrete actions to upskill and reskill adults
• Helping social partners to navigate the European Social Fund, to support the training of five million people for green jobs, and link up with Erasmus+ and other programmes providing opportunities to develop forward-looking skills and partnership projects
• Encouraging stakeholders, local authorities and communities to make use of the Just Transition Mechanism to promote reskilling and active inclusion of workers and jobseekers, and to create new local jobs in target regions
• Signposting to support higher education institutions to develop and teach courses on environmental and climate impacts
• Spreading good practices and success stories gathered from across Europe

(European Union 2022)

The Pact for Skills, launched in 2020 as a flagship action of the European Skills Agenda, promotes strong private-public partnerships to ensure adults across Europe have the right skills to thrive in the labour market and society. Membership of the Pact is open to any private or public organization or partnership of organizations which aims to upskill or reskill people of working age and is located in a EU Member State, EFTA or candidate country. Membership benefits include: access to research and information on upskilling and reskilling needs; advice on relevant funding instruments; and access to three dedicated support hubs: a Networking Hub to locate partners and promote activities and services, a Knowledge Hub providing access to peer-learning activities and tools, and a Guidance Hub providing access to information on funding and partnership opportunities. (European Commission 2022)