There is a crucial link between the green transition and digitalisation, as the latter is a main driver for the greening of the economy, Cedefop Deputy Director Mara Brugia told European social partners at a high-level conference in Brussels.

The hybrid event was organised by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) on 10 March, and its theme was 'Skills and talents as key drivers for personal fulfillment, economic growth and competitiveness'.

In his opening of the conference, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit marked the beginning of the European Year of Skills this coming May and underlined that developing skills and talents is a win-win proposition, as it empowers people for personal fulfilment and good careers, while allowing businesses to innovate and create growth and jobs.

In the event's first presentation, Ms Brugia noted that in most occupations that play a key role in the green transition, the development and use of technology and digital skills are crucial, adding that when 'green’ is the objective, ‘digital’ is often the means to get there.

An enormous digital upskilling potential

She presented the 'enormous digital upskilling potential in Europe' that Cedefop's recent research reveals and brought home a key message from the Agency's recent research – that apart from technological ‘green’ expertise, the green transition also crucially depends on a number ‘green transition accelerators’, namely:

  • professionals that manage it, such as managers, transport specialists, HR staff;
  • digital professionals (e.g. big data analysts, GPS experts);
  • people that engage citizens to be part of the green transition, e.g. consumer behaviour specialists; and
  • trainers, including those for instance who help manufacturing companies to become smarter with waste.

These findings, Ms Brugia said, highlight the pivotal role of vocational education and training (VET) in accelerating the green transition, and this - she added - demonstrates the importance of another major area of Cedefop's work, skills intelligence, forecast and foresight, that gives us the opportunity to prepare for, and shape, future labour market needs.

Within this discourse, apprenticeships can play a significant part, Ms Brugia noted, not only in preparing young learners for the green transition but also adult workers.

'Adult apprenticeship can contribute simultaneously to upskilling, integration, the twin transitions and other policy objectives, thanks to its close links to the labour market and its in-company training component, which give learners direct exposure to workplace change and innovative green tech,' she added.

She also noted the signs of a bottom-up ‘green revolution’ in apprenticeships, in the form of local, regional or sectoral adaptations, that are not part of an overall national or sectoral initiative, but have been set up e.g., by specific schools.

The EESC conference brough together experts, policy-makers and representatives of the civil society, among them, SMEunited, the association of crafts and small and medium-sized enterprises SMEs in Europe, Eurochambres, which represents over 20 million businesses in Europe, BusinessEurope, representing all-sized enterprises in 35 European countries, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) that comprises 93 national trade union confederations in 41 countries, plus 10 European trade union federations, and the Lifelong Learning Platform, an umbrella organisation that gathers 42 European organisations active in the field of education, training and youth.