Green Skills, Red Alert! Learning to power the green transition

This collection of articles looks at the interplay of the green transition and skills, revealing how vocational education and training are crucial not only for environmental sustainability but also for making the green transition inclusive and equitable. 

The first article – Green horizons: Skills for climate action – firmly establishes that climate action is an imperative rather than an option and that education and labour reforms are cornerstones in the ecological metamorphosis because it needs a workforce skilled in green technologies and sustainability practices. 

The second article – The future of work in the green transition: Evidence from ETF research in countries neighbouring the EU – outlines the challenges and opportunities that the green transition brings to the global job market. It stresses the need for an education system that not only meets but also foresees the skills needed in a greener economy. 

The third article – Greening the future: Using vocational excellence for a just transition – delves deeper into the specifics of how excellence in vocational education and training can be leveraged to ensure that the green transition is equitable. Drawing heavily on the experience of the ETF’s GRETA project, it discusses innovation and strategic partnerships that have proven effective in various regions. 

The fourth article – Driving change: Exploring the Green Skills Award – continues this parade of international good practice with some inspiring examples of change from the ETF’s Green Skills Awards. It celebrates the most innovative and outstanding grassroots initiatives in environmental education and sustainable skills development from around the world. 

Each in their own way, these articles point out why and how we must update our educational methods to teach competences that support the green transition. They call for a profound change to training programmes to include green skills, which are now essential in all parts of the economy and to ensure that no one will be left behind.