On Thursday 14 December, the European Commission, in collaboration with the energy industry, established a ‘Large-scale Skills Partnership’ as part of the ‘European Pact for Skills’ initiative, to address skills shortages in the transition to clean energy.
Despite positive employment trends, the latest competitiveness of clean energy technologies report reveals that skills shortages are having an impact on the sector’s growth.
In 2023, four out of five SMEs said they were having difficulty recruiting skilled workers, and 25% of EU companies active in the manufacture of electrical equipment were facing labour shortages.
Companies are turning to automation and digitalisation to gain a competitive edge, particularly in mature technologies such as solar photovoltaics, wind power and heat pumps.
This partnership, the twentieth under the ‘Pact for Skills’, aims to develop specialised training programmes to meet the challenges of digitalising the energy system.
To see the report on progress in the competitiveness of clean energy technologies: https://aeur.eu/f/a61 (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)