Cities need to be smarter and greener in their future skills planning was the main message from the virtual workshop on Green Skills and Jobs, hosted by the Intelligent Cities Challenge (ICC) on January 26. Speakers from several leading initiatives provided insights into the skills and jobs needed to enable cities to accelerate their green transition as well as aids offered by the European Commission on reskilling and upskilling.
Insight into the green employment and skills transformation
The increasing demand for key occupations and their required skills, the skills shortage and the lack of training opportunities for municipal staff are key challenges hindering a more effortless green transition in cities. However, solutions to promote smart and green city careers, such as providing attractive career development opportunities and allowing young people to discover such careers through programmes like apprenticeships can help.
These were some of the insights and strategies from “Cities in transition: A Skills Foresight Study” presented by Stelina Chatzichristou, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training’s expert in skills trends and intelligence. The presentation also revealed the sectoral shifts attributable to green employment and skills transformation, such as the forecasted increase of 2.5 million jobs in the European Union by 2030.
The successful implementation of skills programmes
Like many other sectors, the wind sector is currently facing the challenge of procuring well-qualified talent. To respond to this, Wind Energy Ireland, the representative body for the Irish wind industry, and Greentech Skillnet, a government agency that works in partnership with businesses to identify and address their upskilling their needs, collaborated to tackle the issues together.
Paul Healy, Chief Executive of GreenTech Skillnet, and Noel Cunniffe, CEO of Wind Energy Ireland, expanded on their joint work. Through supporting industry research on workforce needs, working closely with universities, connecting mismatched skills, and offering work placements to young people, the collaboration has seen great success. This is proven through programmes such as Work in Wind - which is a short 3 to 4 month training programme that upskills people so that they can complete placements in renewable energy companies – which ultimately turned into a permanent job for many.
Rolling out the Pact for Skills out at the local level
Cities play a key role in supporting the Pact for Skills at the local level by being enablers of support services and helping local authorities to identify specific and actionable issues. Miguel Fernandez Diez, Policy Officer at DG Employment, European Commission, explained.
A member of both the Pact for Skills and ICC, the city of Las Rozas, represented by Jaime Santamarta Martinez, gave a practical example of how the Pact can be implemented at a local level and equip citizens with the necessary skills to thrive. With the support of Pact for Skills, Las Rozas established the Smart Schools programme to encourage students to develop highly sought-after skills. The city also set up the UMatch STEM event fair that connects students with the qualifying skillsets directly to companies and start-ups located in Las Rozas.
Moreover, to help citizens adapt to the evolving markets, Las Rozas created training camps to assist citizens with gaining the skillset to adapt to more modern occupations. By implementing such programmes, cities can support their people, economy, and future.
The ICC thanks all speakers for their contributions and insights as well as the attendees who joined the event!