By Dr. Andreas Hadjichambis,
Scientific Director of the Cyprus Center for Environmental Research and Education (CYCERE) and Chair of the European Network for Environmental Citizenship (ENEC)
The climate crisis and the destruction of the environment, which our planet is experiencing today, has led to the need to strengthen policies for the green transition and the European Green Deal. However, for the green transition and the vision for a sustainable future to be possible, a comprehensive development of green transition policies and strategies will be needed at all levels, from the individual level of citizens to the collective level of organizations and businesses, schools, of the collective entities of local government and society but also of the states themselves. This green change will require, at all levels mentioned above, a significant training and education in the green capabilities of their executives. It will also be necessary to adapt and modernize education and connect it with the new needs of the labor market and the rapid development of the market of green professional activities. Green skills are essential to enable citizens of the 21st century to democratically and creatively contribute to shaping a modern society that promotes sustainability, nature conservation, green growth and a green economy. The transition to a climate-neutral economy will trigger a radical transformation in a wide range of sectors. New jobs will be created, green employment will be promoted and supported, and the European Social Fund will enable five million people to be trained in green jobs and green recovery. In addition, higher education institutions will be supported to develop and teach courses on environmental and climate impacts.
Simply put, green competencies are the knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and behaviors required to live, develop and support a sustainable and resource-efficient society. They are the skills that citizens need to recognize the true value of our planet and take action to protect it. This will help achieve the transition to a fairer and greener economy and society. The European Commission developed the European Sustainability Competence Framework, GreenComp, which was announced as part of the European Green Deal. Cyprus and all member states of the European Union need to integrate sustainability concepts into their academic and professional curricula. In the coming years, the acquisition of these skills and the retraining of workers will need to be addressed. Changes are expected in the workplaces of the future.
There are various studies documenting different systems of green capabilities. GreenComp (JRC, 2022) consists of 12 competencies which are distributed in the following four areas:
Domain 1: Integrating the values of sustainability, which includes the following competencies:
1. Assessing the value of sustainability
2. Support justice
3. Promotion of nature
Domain 2: Accepting the complexity of sustainability, which includes the following competencies:
4. Systemic thinking
5. Critical thinking
6. Defining the problem
Domain 3: Creating visions for a sustainable future, which includes the following competencies:
7. Literacy for the future
8. Adaptability
9. Investigative thinking
Domain 4: Action for Sustainability, which includes the following competencies:
10. Political initiative
11. Collective action
12. Individual initiative
Education systems will need to adapt and integrate these 12 critical green skills for the future into their curricula and related courses.
Very important to take into account are also the needs of the market of green professional activities, which market asks its employees to be able to deal with the following:
• Ecological design.
• Certification of environmental standards.
• Assessment of the environmental impact of a project.
• Knowledge of environmentally friendly materials.
• Calculation of the energy efficiency of buildings.
• Provision of specialized environmental advice.
• Product life cycle assessment.
• Knowledge of the European CO2 Emissions Trading System.
• Knowledge and ability to apply mechanical, chemical and biological methods of environmental remediation.
• Calculation of carbon dioxide emissions from businesses and industrial facilities.
The following areas can be added to the above:
• Environmental awareness / education and willingness to learn about sustainable development.
• Strategic and leadership skills for the shift towards sustainable development.
• Adaptation skills and meta-cognitive skills, as these will enable employees to learn and use new green technologies and processes.
• Skills related to the use of new green technologies.
• Coordination, management and leadership skills to integrate environmental objectives.
• Green business skills to exploit green opportunities.
• Innovation to exploit opportunities and create new strategies to address green challenges.
• Communication skills to promote the green economy and the bioeconomy.
• Consulting skills to advise on green solutions and products.
• Analysis of environmental systems and environmental risk to assess and understand necessary changes and measures.
• Innovation to exploit opportunities and create new strategies to address green challenges.
• Language and IT skills to perform tasks in international markets.
• Communication skills to promote the green economy.
• Technical green skills, depending on the specialized subject of the work.
• Scientific and technical research and development (R&D) skills to carry out environmental research and studies.
• Enhanced skills in manual occupations such as agriculture, forestry, environmental protection and management and fishing.
• Green capabilities for technologies, goods and services that reduce environmental risk, protect ecosystems and biodiversity and minimize pollution and demands on natural and biological resources.
It is common knowledge that the transition to a low-CO2 green economy also requires upgrading and enriching the existing skills of the workforce, giving them a "green color" even in existing traditional professions. It is clear that education and training needs to adapt to the green transition and develop these green skills but also strengthen relevant subjects such as biology and natural sciences. Many studies make clear reference to the need to increase graduates in STEM disciplines.
Green entrepreneurship is an area that is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years and revolves around a set of core principles that differentiate it from the usual form of entrepreneurship. We need to be prepared as a society and as educational systems in this direction, but also to properly prepare our trainees by strengthening their education and training. It is evident that it is necessary more than ever to modernize education to provide the opportunities to cultivate green skills for the 21st century and that will empower environmental citizens who will be able to think holistically and systemically and will be able to take individual and collective action for environmental and social change towards a sustainable future.
