Huawei and AE4RIA hosted a session
with the UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub to “Accelerate Green Innovation” and
released a white paper, Twin Skills for the Twin Transition: Defining Green Digital Skills and
Jobs. Developed in collaboration with the ATHENA Research
Centre, Sustainable Development Unit under AE4RIA, PwC, and with the contribution of EIT Digital, the report
promises a guide to developing new training that will equip the green digital
workforce needed to achieve net-zero.
Opening the session, Vicky Zhang, Vice
President of Corporate Affairs at Huawei, said: "I am proud to launch the
new report today with our partners. The report focuses on developing a new
classification for Green Digital Skills that will define the course of action
to reskill and upskill people to build and spread the net-zero technologies
needed to achieve the Paris Agreement objectives."
Indeed, as Salvatore Moccia, Head of
Education and Skills, EIT Digital, highlights, "More than
three-quarters of companies in the EU report difficulties finding workers with
the right skill set. With the acceleration of the digital and green
transitions, a paradigm shift in defining, identifying, and developing skills
for the twin transition is thus required. This is fully aligned with our
reskilling and upskilling programs."
In an era of multiple crises,
addressing economic growth without paying equal attention to sustainability is
no longer possible and does not ultimately produce the expected financial
results. In parallel, the presence of digital technologies in almost all
aspects of our lives has exponentially increased the speed of changes and
impact on people and businesses. But today is not just about a digital
transition, but also about a clean-tech revolution powered by the need to
produce green energy. And this has the potential to have a significant impact
on jobs.
"The color of energy is green.
But green energy is only meaningful if we can store it,” said Dr. Barbara Botos, Ambassador-at-large for Climate,
Ministry of Energy of Hungary. “Industry is a world of interconnections. We
need balanced development in all sectors to accelerate green transition
everywhere."
But does Europe have the skills to
accelerate the green transition? SolarPower Europe,
the trade group for Europe’s solar photovoltaic sector, predicted that in the
EU solar sector alone, one million jobs will emerge by 2025. With new
industrial and technological challenges, the educational offering has to evolve
and meet new needs. Industry players like Huawei stand ready to increase
training offerings. In 2023, we have provided over one thousand trainings for
tens of thousands of PV installers. A collaborative ecosystem to qualify and
upskill professionals will be the keystone of this new era.
Prof. Phoebe Koundouri, President
EAERE and Chair of SDSN Global Climate Hub, who led the research efforts, also
warned: "In the context of the European Green Deal, the Twin Transition is
accelerating structural changes in labor markets. And while the EU is
developing a new net-zero industrial strategy to strengthen its
competitiveness, talent may be short. I am proud of this collaboration, which
will inform educational, industrial, and policy stakeholders about the new
labor needs to achieve climate neutrality by 2050."
Huawei Vice President for European
Public Affairs, Dr. Hui Cao, concluded, "I hope we can all join forces
to disseminate the report. The challenges posed by climate change are vast, but
together we can develop the talent needed to unleash the potential of
digitalization to revolutionize how we approach sustainability.”