Green skills for a just transition:
What do we need?

Climate change and environmental degradation are some of the most urgent challenges of our time, putting development successes at risk and compromising development opportunities. Acknowledging the importance of acting now, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for TVET held a dialogue forum on 14 September 2023 in Bonn. The conference examined what is needed to prepare the workforce for a just transition to a green economy while addressing inherent challenges in the current governance systems of TVET and providing an opportunity to map out strategies for greener TVET systems.

© BMZ

The just transition towards a green and circular economy must contribute to the goals of decent work for all, social inclusion and eradicating poverty. Transformation of the economy also drives changes in TVET, both in initial training and in reskilling and upskilling throughout all sectors of the economy, both formal and informal. Without a skilled workforce as the backbone, forward-looking and innovative green sectors cannot grow, and the desired green jobs and employment effects cannot be created.

Against this background, the half-day event brought together 110 political decision-makers, TVET experts, academics and international development stakeholders from a spectrum of organizations and TVET authorities and training providers, including from the public and private sectors.

Tania Rödiger-Vorwerk, Deputy Director General of Global Health and Equality of Opportunity at the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), opened the forum by emphasizing the importance of a skilled workforce as a critical success factor for the just transition to a green future:

“Making the transition to climate-friendly economies is a challenge for everyone. … The lack of skilled workers slows down urgently needed transformation processes.”

In his keynote speech, Borhene Chakroun, Director of Policy and Lifelong Learning Systems at UNESCO, outlined the required transformation of TVET systems, institutions and programmes for the global transition to inclusive, green and digital societies and highlighted the role of the UNESCO Strategy for TVET 2022-2029 in this multi-layered transition. His intervention emphasized the role of teachers and the importance of their development:

“Teachers are a crucial part of transporting the skills and the knowledge to TVET students, but their (re-)education is being addressed less and less in the course of development projects.”

The forum saw the intervention of relevant members of the international TVET community, such as Christine Hofmann (International Labour Organization), whose presentation focused on how to rethink TVET systems for a green future; Heike Kuhn (BMZ), who underlined the German commitment to greening TVET and how the German dual system can still be a model for re-thinking TVET systems worldwide; and William Osawa (TVET Authority, Kenya), who illustrated how his organization is implementing a system-level approach to greening TVET in Kenya.

Participants joining in person and online were introduced to BMZ’s vision of a 2030 TVET cooperation arrangement for a just transition to a green future, which highlighted new approaches for realizing the transformative potential of TVET.

© BMZ

The forum also allowed UNESCO-UNEVOC to present the draft of a study on closing the institutional gap in TVET as it relates to the circular economy, conducted with Circle Economy. The initial findings are that despite a high predicted impact of the circular economy, the low level of knowledge and understanding of circular economy principles, paired with low prioritization from national authorities, are making it hard for TVET institutions to integrate and embed the circular economy into their teaching.

The last part of the forum was dedicated to technical discussion groups focused on sectors that disproportionally affect our planet with carbon emissions and possible solutions to green them. The discussions revolved around TVET for renewable energies, TVET for sustainable mobility, TVET for the green building transition, TVET for green cities and TVET for agri-food systems, which were led by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Circle Economy, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP), and Welthunggerhilfe and Niagara College respectively.

The event was closed by Friedrich Huebler, Head of UNESCO-UNEVOC, who emphasized that TVET can be a catalyst for change, as it is a way to build the skills for societies to become more peaceful and inclusive, as well as to make economies more inclusive and sustainable. To achieve these objectives, education systems must be transformed to insert green skills at all education levels, from pre-primary to tertiary education and adult and lifelong learning.

Access the forum recording, detailed agenda and presentation slides on the event page.