In February, EuropeOn held a gathering with actors from our value chain to commonly work out how to deliver on the energy transition (see other news). As promised, we have endeavored with our peer associations to issue a common Value Chain Statement to alert stakeholders and policymakers to the needs of our value chains to ensure the energy transition can be kept on track.
This Value Chain Statement was co-signed by all participants: EuropeOn, Eurelectric, European Electrical Wholesalers, European Heat Pump Association, GCP Europe and SolarPower Europe. It aims to highlight the main takeaways from this gathering and our common conclusions:
- We emphasise that the solutions are available, especially thanks to electrified technologies
- We call attention now to the implementation of energy policies
- This will require increasing manufacturing and workforce capacities
- Predictability will be key for our industries to take matter into their own hands
- We welcome the EU Year of Skills as participants reiterated the need to address workforce and skills shortages (with currently lacking large-scale action)
The co-signatories of this Statement have committed to work on the skills and workforce shortages by investigating partnerships, including EU-funded projects, and to meet again to exchange insights on mega trends in our respective segments to prepare for their deployment, with particular emphasis on education and training needs.
However, we have also issued recommendations for:
- EU policymakers to ensure the EU Year of Skills focuses on the skills and workforce needs to implement the energy transition, and more particularly on technical careers and education, attractiveness of related jobs, and gender diversity.
- EU policymakers to make skills and workforce considerations a central feature of the FF55 package, by including a periodic gap assessment between available and needed installation professionals in RED/EED/EPBD as well as an estimate of the investment needs to bridge such gaps.
- The European Commission to develop an agenda of targeted cooperation with EU neighbouring states for skilled labour movement and integration
