Fostering skills for the energy transition

A systematic transition to renewables, clean technologies, and energy-efficient applications will be key to achieving the European Union’s climate targets in the next decade and beyond. However, the availability of innovative technology solutions risks being of little use without an adequate number of skilled workers and trained professionals to enable their large-scale deployment in our daily lives.

That is why policy-makers must not forget to invest in the human factor, which is the only real enabler of the green transformations that lie ahead. The European Green Deal has made this point very clear, acknowledging the urgency of adopting proactive upskilling and reskilling schemes at all levels.  

The 10-year forecast of EuropeOn, the Electrical Contractors Association, provides a glimpse of the magnitude of the challenge that lies ahead: to reach the envisaged climate targets, Europe will need to have enough skilled workers to install 3,000 solar panels, 1,000 electrical vehicles’ recharging points, and 15,000 heat pumps daily. However, the forecast alerts about the lack of staff with adequate skills, perceived as a barrier to investments and as the most serious issue respectively by 75% and 25% of businesses in the sector. 

This policy brief proposes strategies and highly transferrable good practices whose wider deployment should be encouraged to foster skills for the energy transition at local and regional levels. Successful training and education initiatives developed within the Interreg Europe community and beyond are featured, along with solutions for raising awareness and providing initial advice on energy efficiency. Dedicated structures for boosting energy skills, and strategies for creating their demand, equally fall in the scope of this work. 

To know more about how to adopt proactive upskilling in the energy sector, explore the policy brief on skills for the energy transition.