In an era fully marked by digitization and the decarbonization of economic activities to reduce CO₂ emissionsstudies by labor consultants confirm an increase in the demand for professions that are linked to the environmentlike the engineeringhe design wave audit. Furthermore, it is planned that the energy transition generate new occupations, the so-called green ones, linked to elements such as savings, efficiency or electrification.
Despite this scenario, the demand for these skills is difficult to meet in Catalonia for a training offer little linked to the reality of the business world. Likewise, worker representatives denounce that companies are not decisively supporting the Vocational Training system (FP) Dual nor by the recycling of knowledge.
A study of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) and the employers Pimec reveals that the demand for green skills is experiencing notable growth in the Catalan labor market, reflecting the impact of the ecological transition on occupational and training needs. The study, which analyzes 1.7 million job offers since 2019, shows that 5.3% of the vacancies published by companies during the last year have required green skills, exceeding the state average by two points.
The sectors that need the most green skills are those related to the management of natural resourcesthe production and the scientific consulting. They highlight the water supply and the waste management (25% of vacancies), in addition to the manufacture (15%) and the electricity supply, energy and gas (11.1%). Emerging areas are also notable, such as information and communication or the financial sector, which increasingly demand more green profiles.
One of the conclusions of the report is that the speed of this ecological transition will depend on active collaboration between various economic actors, such as consumers, public administrations, regulatory bodies and the training sector. In this sense, the director of the Pimec Work Area, Silvia Mirohighlights that “the results of the study suggest that the ecological transition will continue to drive the demand for specialized professionals, which is why it is essential to invest heavily in training in future skills.”
Miró believes that without this training, “the ecological transition will not be possible and it is a path in which SMEs cannot be left behind.”
Neglected professional profiles
For her part, the director of the UOC Labor Prospecting and Analysis Unit, Carme Pagespoints out that these data indicate that “the green transition has a substantial impact on the labor market.” Thus, the study appreciates that the demand for professionals focused exclusively on sustainability is still limited. “Profiles highly specialized in sustainability are not widespread,” he points out.
One of the groups that companies are demanding the most, environmental scientists, focuses on the lack of representation in the labor market. The president of the College of Environmentalologists of Catalonia, Mons Badiaremembers that “there are practically twice as many job offers in the sector as there are professionals trained to carry them out.”
Faced with the global environmental challenge, Badia vindicates the role of environmental scientists as professionals who “can face the economy of the future and the management of activities in a sustainable way. It is at our core.” Despite this deficit, Catalonia is the autonomous community that registers the largest number of workers in the sector (27,755), a figure that represents 20% of the total in the Spanish State.
Training on demand
“Companies are not defending the deployment of the Dual FP“. With this reflection, the head of FP at UGT Catalunya, Jesus Martinexplains the difficulties that educational centers encounter in inserting students, once trained, into workplaces. “We have many difficulties in placing them, since they have a short internship period in companies and, on the other hand, the training they receive is not in line with the demand of the labor market.”
The resource of on-demand training, which according to Martín companies can use, would have to be accompanied by a workforce recycling strategy. All with the aim of meeting the new challenges posed by green occupations. The union representative rescues a project that was frozen in the previous legislature: the creation of a public online vocational training institute. “We want an online VET center to be launched within a reasonable time frame“he points out.
Martín believes that his digital disposition would favor territorial balance, but also labor talent. In this way, we would be closer to reactivating old industrial sites and rural areas with a diversification of training offers, while creating new business opportunities with green occupations in the center.
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