As the European Commission’s Skills Agenda emphasizes, achieving climate neutrality depends not only on technology, but fundamentally on a workforce equipped with the necessary sustainability competences.
At the core of the Net0Manager Erasmus+ project lies a shared conviction: Europe’s climate ambitions demand more than policies—they require people equipped with the right skills.
Over the past months, our consortium—spanning seven partner countries including, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Turkey, Switzerland, Lithuania, and Hungary — has worked intensively through desk research, surveys, and policy analysis to develop three flagship outputs: a detailed Policy Study, a focussed Policy Brief, and a Focus Group Synthesis Report. Together, these documents form a united roadmap for aligning vocational education and training (VET) with both labour market demands and the EU’s climate targets.
The numbers underscore the urgency. Approximately 40% of EU employers state they cannot find people with the right skills to fill vacancies—a challenge made sharper by green and digital transitions reshaping labour needs. At the same time, regulatory frameworks such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) are driving an unprecedented demand for professionals with verifiable competences in ESG, greenhouse gas accounting, and the circular economy. Yet many employers, particularly SMEs, still struggle to recruit staff with such qualifications.
The Policy Study paints a picture of a fragmented landscape. While some countries have taken early steps toward pilot micro-credentials, most Member States lack unified recognition systems, sufficient institutional capacity, and educators trained in modular, sustainability-focused content. The result is a patchwork where learners, businesses, and training providers alike face barriers to scaling up green skills.
From this analysis, the Policy Brief sets out a clear agenda for action. It stresses the need for a European-wide recognition framework for micro-credentials, to ensure they are credible, portable, and trusted across borders. It calls for curricula to be co-designed with employers so that credentials directly reflect real-world applications such as ESG reporting and carbon footprint analysis. Equally, investment must be directed toward educator capacity empowering training institutions to deliver scalable, future-ready VET programmes.
These recommendations resonate strongly with the findings of the Focus Group Synthesis Report, which brought together stakeholders from the six partner countries and at the EU level. Participants consistently underlined that micro-credentials will only succeed if they are tightly connected to real employment pathways. As one stakeholder noted, “Training modules only matter if they enable companies to make tangible progress on sustainability.” The groups also highlighted the need for stronger employer awareness, robust quality assurance, and transparent systems that build trust across markets. They further emphasised that transversal competences—such as strategic thinking, communication, and change management—are just as vital as technical expertise in shaping the emerging role of the Net Zero Manager.
The conclusion is unmistakable: unless Europe fundamentally transforms how sustainability skills are developed, validated, and deployed, its climate targets will remain out of reach. Micro-credentials can provide the bridge between policy ambition and workforce readiness—but only if embedded within qualification frameworks, supported by investment in educators and institutions, and embraced by employers across borders.As the EU advances with the Green Deal, the CSRD, and the Net-Zero Industry Act, the human dimension of the transition will prove decisive.
Read the full policy paper here.
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