Green skills beyond the classroom: how education and labour systems must adapt to a changing planet

A RECI webinar brought education and labour market actors together to examine the role of competency frameworks in a fast-moving green transition—and the urgent need to turn frameworks into lived practice.

Participants from across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East joined a webinar on 20 May 2025 to explore how education and training systems can accelerate green skills adoption in response to growing ecological and labour market pressures. The event was facilitated by the Swiss Network for Education and International Cooperation (RECI) and its Lifelong Learning Working Group, of which Paeradigms is an active member. RECI brings together NGOs, academic institutions, foundations, and individual experts committed to strengthening education systems in development contexts through collaboration, exchange, and innovation. This session formed part of RECI’s broader effort to promote peer learning and strategic dialogue among professionals working at the intersection of education, sustainability, and cooperation.

From labour market shifts to learner mindsets

Keynote speaker Romain Boitard, lead specialist for green transition and human capital at the European Training Foundation (ETF), provided a compelling overview of how climate change, energy transitions, and sustainable development imperatives are reshaping employment—and why education must be reoriented accordingly. Drawing on over 15 years of international experience from Mozambique to Montenegro, Boitard argued that green skills must be understood not just as technical abilities, but as part of a broader human development agenda.

“Decarbonising our economies is not optional—it is a matter of survival,” said Boitard. “But green skills are not just about solar panels or wind turbines. They are also about mindset, responsibility, and values. And that starts long before the labour market—in early childhood, in schools, and across adult learning.”

Boitard laid out ETF’s tripartite model of green competencies, which distinguishes between:

(1) Technical skills for emerging green sectors ( e.g. renewable energy systems).

(2) Transversal skills, such as systems thinking and ICT.

(3) Values and attitudes, including fairness, intergenerational responsibility, and ecological awareness.

While the model is gaining traction across Europe and in partner countries, Boitard warned of the lag between green job demand and the actual responsiveness of education systems—particularly in the Global South. Many countries still have no structured approach to teaching sustainability, and teachers often lack both training and institutional support.

The European Training Foundation (ETF) defines green competences across three complementary domains: technical skills tailored to specific sectors, transversal skills such as STEM and teamwork that enable adaptation, and values and attitudes that foster a sustainability mindset. Together, they form the foundation for a truly inclusive and effective green transition.

One data point shared by Boitard struck a particularly sobering chord: more than half of national school curricula worldwide still make no mention of climate change. In a time when young people are expected to play a central role in the transition to greener economies, this omission raises serious questions about the coherence and preparedness of education systems globally.

The finding—based on research conducted by the ILO and other international agencies—underscores a deep disconnect between the scale of the climate crisis and what learners are being formally taught. While many schools and teachers work creatively to incorporate sustainability themes, these efforts often occur in the absence of structured curricular support or national guidance. This gap is not limited to low-income countries. Even in wealthier contexts, climate education remains inconsistent, and often siloed within science or geography subjects rather than treated as a cross-disciplinary priority.

For participants, the statistic served as both a wake-up call and a call to action. “If we are not even naming the crisis, how can we expect learners to be equipped to address it?” one educator asked during the breakout discussions.

Boitard stressed that without explicit, system-wide efforts to integrate environmental literacy into general education, vocational training, and lifelong learning, societies risk leaving a generation unprepared—not only to participate in green labour markets, but to navigate the ethical, economic, and social dimensions of the transition ahead.

 From frameworks to lived practice

Breakout discussions during the webinar explored concrete examples from Algeria, Ghana, Tunisia, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Egypt and beyond. Among the initiatives shared were:

· Interdisciplinary green business challenges in higher education (Algeria)

· NGO-led water and waste management awareness in low-income communities (Ghana)

· Solar training and capacity-building for vocational trainers (Kenya)

· The development of new master's programmes in renewable energy (Senegal)

Yet for every inspiring example, participants also noted persistent challenges: fragmented approaches, short-term funding, and a lack of shared definitions. Sustainability education, it seems, still relies too often on individual initiative rather than embedded systems.

“We are stuck in a high-level policy talk,” said one participant. “What we need are grounded, workable models that can scale.”

“We must stop treating green skills as the exclusive domain of engineers or climate specialists,” Romain Boitard said. “Every learner, every worker, every citizen will need to navigate this transition. That means we need integrated models that combine education, labour, and sustainability policies—and we need them now.”

Greening learning: not just for the next generation

A recurring theme was the importance of recognising adult learners—not only as a workforce to be upskilled or reskilled, but as active agents in their own learning journeys. Boitard noted the growing role of micro-credentials, work-based learning, and interdisciplinary pedagogies that cut across traditional silos. He also highlighted ETF’s ongoing work with GreenComp—the EU’s sustainability competence framework—and its potential to support curriculum integration at all levels.

There was also an appeal for schools and vocational centres to become green environments themselves, embedding sustainability into infrastructure, procurement, and daily practice. In the words of one participant, “We cannot teach sustainability in a building powered by fossil fuels and managed unsustainably.”

The GreenComp framework, developed by the European Training Foundation (ETF), outlines four key competence areas for sustainability: acting, embodying values, embracing complexity, and envisioning futures. It emphasises not just technical knowledge but also mindsets and behaviours essential for a just green transition.

What comes next?

RECI’s Lifelong Learning Working Group will continue to deepen this dialogue, with future sessions planned on translating green frameworks into national strategies and institutional practices. Slides, recordings, and summaries from the session will be made available shortly on RECI’s website.

For Paeradigms, the webinar reinforced the need to support education systems in designing just, inclusive, and future-fit pathways—from institutional strategies and curriculum development to teacher training and community engagement.

Replay the session

The webinar recording and presentation slides will soon be available at https://reci-education.ch/en/events/

About the organisers

RECI is the Swiss network of NGOs, academic institutions, foundations and experts in the field of education and international cooperation.  https://reci-education.ch/en/