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

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 include a detailed analysis of the starting point and a set of well-substantiated assumptions and establish clear causality links between the results and the expected impact.

Depending on the scope (A or B), proposals submitted under this topic should demonstrate how they will contribute to:

Scope A:

• Number of key stakeholders involved in the platform.
• Number of meetings of the platform, including thematic working groups organised.
• Number of national policy documents resulting from the platform.
• Number of measures from the national roadmap implemented.
• 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).
• Number of trained professionals.
• Increase in the annual training rate of relevant professionals resulting from the roadmap implementation.
• Amount of funding secured (public or private) to roll out training and qualification programmes.

Scope B:

• Number of key stakeholders involved in the national platform.
• Number of meetings of the platform, including thematic working groups organised.
• Number of national policy documents resulting from the platform, including the national roadmap and action plan.
• 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).
• Projected annual training rate of relevant professionals resulting from the roadmap implementation.
• Amount of funding secured (public or private) to roll out training and qualification programmes.

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 (https://build-up.ec.europa.eu/en/bup-skills) 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. 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.[1] More recently, 15 Member States had the opportunity to expand their platform and update their national roadmap with a 2030 perspective.[2]

In addition, supported projects piloted innovative approaches to facilitate the roll-out of skills, including qualification and training schemes addressing emerging skills needs, innovative approaches to training, or measures to increase the demand for skills.

Clear action plans based on detailed sectoral analysis are now available for replication and upscaling at national level, with a particular momentum for the 15 roadmaps recently updated and endorsed by major national stakeholders. One of the key challenges in achieving this is the division of responsibilities and lack of cooperation between public authorities, training institutions, construction sector associations and building professionals.

Under Article 28 of the revised 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 through 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.

Under Article 17(12) of the revised 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 revised Renewable Energy Directive (EU/2023/2413) also places strengthened requirements in relation to skills, qualifications and certification.

In the light of this policy framework, the topic aims to build on the national platforms to increase the number of skilled professionals in Europe by improving awareness and cooperation between key public and private stakeholders, rolling out the needed upskilling and reskilling actions, as well as promoting and attracting more people to energy efficiency professions at national level.

The main focus of proposals should be on the skills and professions relevant for the energy transition of the construction and renovation value chains, for the integration of renewable energy sources in buildings, and expanding to other energy efficiency professions listed under Article 28(1) EED[3] when relevant and identified as a priority by the national platform, considering also the gaps identified by Member States in the national reports requested under Article 28(6) EED.

Scope:Proposals submitted under this topic should focus on only one of the two scopes below:

Scope A: Supporting operations of existing national skills platforms

For eligible countries where the national platform is already running[4], proposals should:

• continue to operate the national platform as a permanent structure gathering national experts from all relevant stakeholder organisations, including, but not limited to government authorities responsible for education and energy, professional chambers, education and training providers, trade unions, academia. The platform should focus on bringing to light the skills dimension of the clean energy transition to the relevant policy makers and decision-makers from the private sector, running regular working groups with relevant stakeholders focused on specific issues.
• implement the measures listed in the action plan of the 2030 national roadmap recently designed. There should be a specific focus on securing funding for the large-scale roll-out out of the needed qualification and training schemes, including those piloted by previous projects, with a view to achieve a measurable impact on the annual training rate of professionals in the country.
• design a large-scale national communication and awareness raising campaign • 1) to promote the contribution of skilled professionals for the clean energy transition,
• 2) to make the case for the upskilling of energy efficiency professionals and
• 3) to attract more people to energy efficiency professions, specifically for those occupations and skills where a gap has been identified by Member States in the national reports submitted under Article 28(6) EED and in the national roadmap and action plan when appropriate.

The campaign design and the focus on specific gaps and professions should be duly justified, including an explanation of the relevance and added value of the planned activities. The campaign should mobilise all relevant stakeholders, notably energy efficiency professionals, training providers, employment agencies and attract relevant profiles external to the energy sector, e.g. professionals from other sectors offering reskilling potential, as well as underrepresented groups such as women and youth, including students from vocational and higher education institutions.

The campaign should be deployed both through online and onsite channels and activities that should be tailored to the specific target groups. As part of onsite activities, roadshows in dedicated cities should be organised.[5]

Scope B: (Re)establishing national skills platforms

For other eligible countries not listed under Scope A, proposals should:

• (re)establish the national platform and secure involvement of key stakeholders. A good starting point could be the work supported under the Intelligent Energy Europe programme during which a first group of national stakeholders was mobilised, but this should be expanded, also considering other energy efficiency professions listed under Article 28(1) EED[6]. The platform should operate as a permanent structure gathering national experts from all relevant stakeholder organisations, including, but not limited to government authorities responsible for education and energy, professional chambers, education and training providers, trade unions and academia. The platform should focus on the skills dimension of the clean energy transition and run regular thematic working groups with relevant stakeholders, focused on specific issues.

• carry out skills intelligence activities (including evaluation of the effectiveness of any previous national roadmap, market research, data collection, analysis of existing labour statistics and databases, targeted interviews with national stakeholders, participatory workshops, surveys…) to provide a comprehensive analysis of the national building, energy efficiency and education sectors, as well as a detailed mapping of the gaps in terms of workforce (occupations), skills and qualifications. The resulting ‘status quo analysis’ should cover initial education, vocational education as well as higher education.
• design a national roadmap to address the identified gaps and barriers. The national roadmap should notably include: a set of priority measures related to the various professions to meet the defined targets; an action plan including implementation timing for the identified measures; an identification of actors, resources and financing needed to drive the implementation; synergies with support mechanisms increasing the demand for skills in the energy efficiency sector, such as one-stop-shops for homeowners or public procurement rules; measures and indicators to monitor the progress of the proposed activities.
• promote widely the results of the status quo analysis and the measures in the roadmap and make the necessary arrangements to pave the way for the roadmap’s implementation. Proposals should notably include activities ensuring the official endorsement of the roadmap by relevant national stakeholders, including public authorities.
• design a large-scale national communication and awareness raising campaign • 1) to promote the contribution of skilled professionals for the clean energy transition,
• 2) to make the case for the upskilling of energy efficiency professionals and
• 3) to attract more people to energy efficiency professions, specifically for those occupations and skills where a gap has been identified by Member States in the national reports submitted under the Article 28(6) EED and in the national roadmap and action plan developed, when appropriate.

The campaign design and the focus on specific gaps and professions should be duly justified, including an explanation of the relevance and added value of the planned activities. The campaign should mobilise all relevant stakeholders, notably energy efficiency professionals, training providers, employment agencies and attract relevant profiles external to the energy sector, e.g. professionals from other sectors offering reskilling potential, as well as underrepresented groups such as women and youth, including students from vocational and higher education institutions.

The campaign should be deployed both through online and onsite channels and activities that should be tailored to the specific target groups. As part of onsite activities, roadshows in dedicated cities should be organised.[7]

For both scopes, proposals must demonstrate a substantial preliminary interest from a range of relevant national stakeholders, including public authorities, through letters of support.

Proposals should include a small share of activities to exchange with similar platforms across Europe; those exchanges will be coordinated by the Commission services.

Proposals should build on existing national initiatives in the field of training on skills for the clean energy transition, including those established by the BUILD UP Skills initiative and under the EU Pact for Skills. Close cooperation with the BUILD UP Skills Community of Practice (to be launched in 2025) should be maintained.

Proposals may be submitted by a single applicant or by applicants from a single eligible country.

The focus should be on setting up an impactful national initiative, although one proposal may cover several eligible countries. Only one platform will eventually be supported in a given country.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of up to EUR 1.5 million would allow the specific objectives to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

[1] Under the Intelligent Energy Europe programme. Relevant deliverables are available here: https://build-up.ec.europa.eu/en/skills/skills-projects?f%5B0%5D=programme%3Aieepillar1

[2] Under the LIFE Clean Energy Transition call of 2021 and 2022: https://build-up.ec.europa.eu/en/skills/skills-projects?f%5B0%5D=programme%3Alifecet2030

[3] Providers of energy services, providers of energy audits, energy managers, independent experts, installers of building elements as referred to in Directive 2010/31/EU, and providers of integrated renovation works.

[4] Austria; Bulgaria; Croatia; Czech Republic; France; Greece; Hungary; Italy; Ireland; Lithuania; The Netherlands; Poland; Romania; Slovakia; Spain.

[5] A good example of such roadshows can be found in the nZEB Roadshow project (Horizon 2020): https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/443072-on-the-road-with-energy-efficient-buildings

[6] Key outputs can be accessed here:

https://build-up.ec.europa.eu/en/skills/skills-projects?f%5B0%5D=programme%3Aieepillar1

[7] A good example of such a campaign is the work done by the nZEB Roadshow project (H2020): https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/443072-on-the-road-with-energy-efficient-buildings