EEA/SUN/25/001- Clean tech production in Europe: implications for quality jobs and a just transition

As the climate crisis is rapidly accelerating, there is an urgent need to decarbonise our economy. In this context, the commitment to achieve climate neutrality is increasingly regarded as an opportunity for developing the net-zero technology sectors, strengthening the competitiveness of the EU industry, and ensuring a secure energy supply and resilient energy-system. Put forward in 2023, the Green Deal Industrial Plan aims at placing Europe's net-zero industry in the lead. As part of these initiatives, the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) sets goals for expanding net-zero industrial capacity to meet at least 40% of the EU’s annual deployment needs by 2030. Besides significant gains for economic growth, increasing the manufacturing capacity of net-zero technologies offers employment opportunities too. Moreover, additional jobs will be created for the installation of some of these key net-zero technologies (European Commission, 2023). Enhancing workforce skills in the net-zero technology industries is particularly important for ensuring just transitions. Indeed, the scaling up of the manufacturing capacity of clean technologies required to meet climate targets will create significant demand for skilled workers, requiring substantial investments in upskilling and reskilling, in addition to the investment cost of scaling up the manufacturing capacity in the first place. Against this background, the main objective of the proposed contract is to provide a detailed analysis of the employment dimension of the net-zero industry, with a particular emphasis on the potential of scaling up the manufacturing of net-zero technologies with a view to creating quality jobs, thereby supporting a just transition for all. The EEA envisages awarding a service contract to a service provider to draft a report covering the following main topics: 1) An overview of the clean tech industry in Europe, including policy context and trends; 2) The employment dimension of the clean tech industry: job quality, workforce composition and skills requirements; 3) A detailed look at jobs in the net-zero industry, including case studies at company level. The final results will be presented at a webinar.