Skilled workers required for the social and ecological transformation

Germany is aiming to be climate neutral by 2045. To achieve this and other sustainable development goals, a comprehensive transformation of society and the economy is needed. This in turn requires a sufficient number of well-qualified skilled workers to implement and drive forward the measures needed on the path to a sustainable society. Without these skilled workers, this process slows down or may not even be set in motion. Education – including training – and sustainability must therefore be considered in a more integrated way.

To coincide with the German Sustainability Action Days from 18 September to 9 October, the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) and the Federal Environmental Office (UBA) have published a joint position paper with recommendations on how the social and ecological transformation can be achieved at times of a skilled worker shortage.

In the view of BIBB and UBA, the following measures are important for better integrating education, training and sustainability, and for making tasks with relevance to sustainability more attractive.

• Strengthening sustainability competencies in initial and continuing vocational education and training
• Increasing attractiveness of training occupations, improving working conditions and ensuring relevant job descriptions are more widely communicated
• Use of attractive professional career models to make VET flexible, inclusive and of a very high standard
• Providing planning certainty for companies and those seeking training in the area of sustainability
• Systematic recording of skilled worker requirements and skills requirements to support the social and ecological transformation.
• Implementing supporting measures to ensure the supply of skilled workers, for example reducing the outward migration of urgently needed skilled workers and exploiting unused labour market potential

“The importance of vocational education and training to the success of the transformation is still not given sufficient consideration. All stakeholders in the fields of policy making, administration and business should be aware of the key role played by VET and, as a matter of urgency, should implement measures to ensure a successful social and ecological transformation in line with our recommendations,” emphasises BIBB President Friedrich Hubert Esser. “At BIBB we contribute to this by working together with the relevant federal ministries and with social partners and experts from practice in companies to develop training regulations to reflect the new requirements. We are also trialling professional career models in occupations relevant to the transformation in order to make training courses in the dual system overall more flexible, inclusive and of higher quality.”

“Climate change is a reality. We have to act smart for society to become climate neutral and so that we also adapt to the consequences of climate change. This can only be achieved with sufficient skilled workers,” says UBA president Dirk Messner. “The range of occupations this requires is broad. We need skilled workers, for example, for the expansion of renewable energies, for the refurbishment of buildings to meet energy requirements, for the reorganisation of the automotive and chemicals industries, and for the ongoing development of the circular economy. Qualified staff are also needed in the healthcare sector to provide effective care for people when extreme weather events occur.”

Further information:
Joint position paper from BIBB and UBA: www.umweltbundesamt.de/publikationen/fachkraefte-fuer-die-sozial-oekologische
Online BIBB and UBA workshop: Climate adaptation in vocational education and training | Federal Environmental Office (UBA)

Contact details:
Dr. Tobias Maier; tobias.maier@bibb.de
Dr. Frauke Eckermann; frauke.eckermann@uba.de

Specimen copy requested if printed.