BUILD UP Skills - National Platforms on energy efficiency skills for the clean energy transition

About this call

Expected Impact:

Proposals should present the concrete results which will be delivered by the activities and demonstrate how these results will contribute to the topic-specific impacts. This demonstration should rely on a solid analysis of the current situation, realistic assumptions and baselines, and establish clear causality links between proposed activities, results and impacts.

In terms of qualitative impact, proposals under this topic should demonstrate how they will contribute to the following outcomes:

Increased collaboration between key stakeholders, including public authorities, towards the goal of upskilling professionals in the construction and renovation value chains

National skills roadmap with detailed measures and action plan addressing the identified skills gaps, endorsed by key stakeholders

Increased visibility and attractiveness of energy efficiency professions through communication and awareness raising campaigns.

In terms of quantitative impact, proposals should quantify their results and impacts using all the indicators provided below. The results and impacts should be quantified for the end of the project and for 5 years after the end of the project. The quantitative indicators for this topic include:

Number of key stakeholders involved in the national platform

Number of meetings of the platform, including thematic working groups organised

Number of relevant national stakeholders endorsing the updated national roadmap

Number of people impacted by the communication and awareness raising campaign (to be measured through specific indicators e.g. gross reach, net reach, recall, increased knowledge, percentage of audience who took action as a result of the campaign)

Amount of funding secured (public and/or private) to roll out training and qualification programmes.

Proposals may also provide indicators which are specific to their proposed activities.

Proposals should also quantify their impacts related to the following common indicators for the LIFE Clean Energy Transition sub-programme:

Primary energy savings triggered by the project in GWh/year

Final energy savings triggered by the project in GWh/year

Renewable energy generation triggered by the project (in GWh/year)

Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (in tCO2-eq/year)

Investments in sustainable energy (energy efficiency and renewable energy) triggered by the project (cumulative, in million Euro).

Funding rate

Other Action Grants (OAGs) — 95%

Objective:

With the accelerated pace of the clean energy transition, the lack of professionals with the relevant skillset is becoming a real bottleneck for both the energy transition and for the European economic growth potential.

Launched in 2011, the BUILD UP Skills initiative [1] aims to increase the number of skilled professionals (blue- and white-collars) along the construction and renovation value chains. BUILD UP Skills has also engaged public authorities, building owners and tenants, to create awareness about the importance of a skilled workforce.

BUILD UP Skills supports the objectives of the EU Pact for Skills, and especially the Large-Scale Partnership for the Construction Ecosystem, which aims to have 30% workers participating in upskilling or reskilling actions annually by 2030, as well as the Renewable Energy skills Large-Scale Partnership.

The projects supported since 2011 have set up a framework to increase the skills level of energy efficiency professionals needed across Europe to deliver energy renovations and nearly-Zero Energy Buildings at the scale implied by the EU targets for energy efficiency and energy performance of buildings. One of the key challenges in achieving this is the division of responsibilities and lack of coordination between public authorities, training institutions, construction sector associations and building professionals. To develop the national skills roadmaps articulating these national upskilling actions, the BUILD UP Skills projects established national platforms gathering key stakeholders. In a first phase, all EU Member States developed such a platform and roadmap [2] . More recently, 15 Member States had the opportunity to expand their platform and to update their national roadmap with a 2030 perspective [3] . The topic provides an opportunity for additional eligible countries to carry out such an update.

Under Article 28 of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EU/2023/1791), Member States need to set up a network to ensure the appropriate level of competences for energy efficiency-related professions, and promote certification, training and education to reach this goal. The Commission will support these efforts by exploring ways to promote energy efficiency professions including support to campaigns and to setting up a single point of access platform, making use of existing initiatives where possible. Moreover, Member States should assess the skills gap on their national markets in relation to energy efficiency related professions, make the assessment and recommendations publicly available and submit them to the Commission through the online platform established under Article 28 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 [4] .

Under Article 17(12) of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EU/2024/1275), Member States shall put in place measures and financing to promote education and training with a view to ensuring that there is a sufficient workforce with the appropriate level of skills corresponding to the needs in the building sector, especially targeting SMEs, including microenterprises, as appropriate. This should be reflected in the national building renovation plans, to be submitted every five years to the Commission.

Article 18 of the Renewable Energy Directive (EU/2023/2413) also places strengthened requirements in relation to skills, qualifications and certification.

The EU Affordable Housing Plan acknowledges the need to address labour and skills shortages in the construction sector, and the Commission will support the large-scale roll out of relevant training programmes, notably through the BUILD UP Skills initiative [5] .