On 19 November, the RESkill4NetZero project launched a new European Renewable Energy Skills Alliance during EuropeOn and GCP Europe’s annual Installers’ Summit in Brussels.
RESkill4NetZero is a co-funded EU project, tackling one of the most pressing challenges in Europe’s energy transition: the shortage of skilled workers in the renewable energy sector. InnoEnergy Skills Institute is the Project Coordinator, gathering a strong network of industry leaders, training providers, and energy associations from across Europe (the full project partner list can be found here).
The European Renewable Energy Skills Alliance is a strategic response to one of Europe’s most pressing challenges: the skills gap in the renewable energy sector. With the EU’s 2030 and 2050 climate targets fast approaching, the deployment of clean technologies is outpacing the availability of qualified professionals. The Alliance aims to bridge this gap by creating a unified, cross-border skills ecosystem that supports mobility, recognition, and excellence in training.
Eva Schultz, Member of Cabinet of Executive Vice-President for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs and Training Roxana Mînzatu gave a keynote speech, emphasising: “We need to focus on the measures needed at the European level to facilitate agile reskilling and upskilling… It’s rewarding to see the work you’re doing [with the launch of the Alliance]. We must continue working on skills challenges together.”
Launching the Alliance, Oana Penu, InnoEnergy Skills Institute Director said: “Europe is scaling renewable technologies at a speed that outpaces its talent systems. InnoEnergy Skills Institute sees this gap daily through workers seeking credible reskilling routes and companies competing for professionals who simply are not available. The new Alliance creates the structure Europe has been missing. It aligns industry, education, and policymakers in one coordinated skills ecosystem that raises quality, builds portable qualifications, and unlocks real mobility. It gives workers a predictable path into the sector and gives Europe the workforce required for the transition.”
What sets this Alliance apart is its pan-European scope, its commitment to portable and recognised qualifications, and its focus on digital and transferable skills, alongside technical expertise. It will serve as a permanent platform under the European Commission’s Pact for Skills, coordinating curricula, standards, and workforce planning across EU Member States.
Objectives
The European Renewable Energy Skills Alliance will work on building a robust, scalable, and industry-aligned skills ecosystem that supports workforce growth development across all renewable energy sub-sectors. Specifically, it will intend to:
- Drive strategic skills development: Lead the rollout of a comprehensive skills strategy that reflects real-world workforce needs across solar, wind, bioenergy, hydrogen, and emerging technologies.
- Shape EU policy and funding: Influence EU-level policy frameworks (Clean Industrial Deal, Competitiveness Compass, Union of Skills Strategy) to secure incentives and funding for industry-led training and reskilling.
- Expand industry representation: Recruit key sector stakeholders as Associated Partners, ensuring that industry voices shape curriculum, standards, and rollout strategies.
- Support Vocational Education and Training (VET) programme adoption: Facilitate the deployment of module, certified VET programmes that meet operational demands and certification requirements.
- Integrate with EU initiatives: Align with the Pact for Skills, Net Zero Academies, and Large-Scale Skills Partnerships to ensure coherence, and maximise impact.
- Enable national-level rollout: Ensure at least one strategic partner per Erasmus + Programme Country by the third year of the Alliance to support local implementation and stakeholder engagement.
Most immediately, the Alliance will prioritise building strong partnerships between industry, education providers and policymakers, launching pilot training programmes aligned with the EU’s European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO), promoting renewable careers, and initiating mutual recognition of certifications across EU Member States for critical job roles.
In the medium term, the Alliance will concentrate on growing sectoral alliances, standardising quality assurance, digitising certifications through Europass Digital Credentials, and expanding co-designed curricula with embedded work-based learning.
Finally, over the longer term, the Alliance will be committed to establishing lifelong learning pathways, creating a pan-European certification registry alongside a European Academy for Renewable Skills and Technologies, and working to ensure that Europe achieves a full cross-border portability of qualifications.
Next steps
The Alliance will finalise its governance structure and Advisory Board roles; begin implementing its pilot curricula and certification models; coordinate with EU bodies to align with the Net-Zero Industry Act and European Skills Agenda; and expand its partners, amongst other actions.
We look forward to welcoming all partners to join us in building a resilient, future-ready workforce for Europe’s renewable energy sector!
Notes
- The Alliance will support the work of the existing Renewable Energy Skills Partnership. The RESkill4NetZero project is intended to support the Renewable Energy Skills Partnership, created to identify the skills measures needed to deliver our climate and energy security goals.
- EuropeOn and GCP Europe’s annual Installers’ Summit brings together representatives of the European electrical and mechanical installation sectors to learn, network with sector leaders and European policymakers, and exchange knowledge on how to concretely implement the energy and digital transition.
Header Image: © Shutterstock