On the sideline of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28), AE4RIA, and Huawei hosted a session with the UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub to “Accelerate Green Innovation” and release a white paper Twin Skills for the Twin Transition: Defining Green Digital Skills and Jobs. Developed in collaboration with the ATHENA Research Centre, Sustainable Development Unit under AE4RIA, PwC, and with the contribution of EIT Digital, the report promises a guide to develop new training that will equip the green digital workforce needed to achieve net-zero.
Opening the event, Vicky Zhang, Vice President of Corporate Affairs from Huawei, said: “I am proud to launch the new report today with our partners. The report focuses on developing a new classification for Green Digital Skills that will define the course of action to reskill and upskill people to build and spread the net-zero technologies needed to achieve the Paris Agreement objectives.”
Indeed, as Salvatore Moccia, Head of Education and Skills, EIT Digital, highlights, “more than three-quarters of companies in the EU report difficulties finding workers with the right skill set. With the acceleration of the digital and green transitions, a paradigm shift in defining, identifying, and developing skills for the twin transition is thus required. This is fully aligned with our reskilling and upskilling programs”.
In an era of multiple crises, addressing economic growth without paying equal attention to sustainability is no longer possible and does not ultimately produce the expected financial results. In parallel, the presence of digital technologies in almost all aspects of our lives has exponentially increased the speed of changes and impact on people and businesses. But today is not just about a digital transition. It is about a clean-tech revolution powered by the need to produce green energy. And this has the potential to have a significant impact on jobs.
At the launch event, Dr. Barbara Botos, Ambassador-at-large for Climate, Ministry of Energy of Hungary, stressed: “The color of energy is green. But green energy is only meaningful if we can store it. The industry is a world of interconnections. We need balanced development in all sectors to accelerate green transition everywhere.” But does Europe have the skills to accelerate the green transition? SolarPower Europe predicted that in the EU solar sector alone, one million jobs will emerge by 2025. With new industrial and technological challenges, the educational offering has to evolve and meet new needs. Industry players like Huawei stand ready to increase training offerings. In 2023, we have provided over one thousand trainings for tens of thousands of installers. A collaborative ecosystem to upskill and skill-qualified professionals will be the keystone of this new era.
Prof. Phoebe Koundouri, President EAERE, and Chair of SDSN Global Climate Hub, who led the research efforts, also warned: “In the context of the European Green Deal, the Twin Transition is accelerating structural changes in labor markets. And while the EU is developing a new net-zero industrial strategy to strengthen its competitiveness, talent may be short. I am proud of this collaboration that will inform educational, industrial, and policy stakeholders about the new labor needs to achieve climate neutrality by 2050”
Huawei Vice President for European Public Affairs, Dr. Hui Cao, concluded “I hope we can all join forces to disseminate the report. The challenges posed by climate change are vast, but together we can develop the talent needed to unleash the potential of digitalization to revolutionize how we approach sustainability.”
The report is now available at: https://www.europeandigitalskills.eu/white-paper/
