10.10.2024 - The goal of climate neutrality by 2045 is highly ambitious. Achieving this will require not only new technologies and innovation, but also well-qualified skilled workers. At the same time, there are personnel shortages in many economic sectors, potentially hindering Germany's energy transition significantly. For the expansion of core areas like solar, wind, and hydrogen alone, more than half a million skilled workers will be required by 2030. This is one of the key findings of the new study on "Skilled Labour Requirements and Recruitment in Transformation", prepared by Prognos AG on behalf of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DIHK).

"Many companies believe that the transformation will take longer due to the shortage of skilled workers, and the expansion targets for renewable energies will only be partially achieved," says Achim Dercks, Deputy Chief Executive of the DIHK. He further cautions against focusing solely on key industries or the so-called climate or transformation professions. The expansion of renewable energies depends on many subprocesses in different economic sectors. Thus, not only can personnel shortages in the core business of the energy industry cause delays, but also in many other non-green sectors and professions.

"It's crucial that we always consider the entire value chain when identifying skilled labour needs," Dercks explains. "For instance, skilled personnel shortages in logistics and transport or planning and administration could jeopardise the necessary economic transformation overall. Specifically, setting up wind turbines could be delayed due to a lack of truck drivers."

The view on the value chains for solar, wind, and hydrogen examined in the study shows that around 250 professions are relevant—from dual-trained salespeople to industrial foremen and engineers—to shape the climate and transformation transition. "The path towards climate neutrality requires qualified personnel. Vocational education plays a crucial role here, as about two-thirds of the relevant skilled workers need vocational qualifications," emphasises Dercks. This important lever must be utilised intensively, as another study result shows: Across the 250 professions relevant to the transformation, around 560,000 employees will be needed by 2035 across industries. "The competition for bright minds will intensify further, posing an additional risk to a successful energy transition."

The study indicates that cross-sector skilled labour security is an often-underestimated critical factor for the required transformation processes. "If we fail to address the skilled labour shortage along the relevant value chains, the expansion targets for renewable energies are more of a utopia than a realistic future scenario," summarises Dercks. This could also jeopardise the medium-term innovation and competitiveness and the overall attractiveness of Germany as a business location. "The good news is: With the diverse and innovative offerings of vocational education, we have efficient tools to counteract the skilled labour shortage along the relevant value chains."

What needs to be done to win the necessary skilled workers for transformation

It is essential to set the right course early on in schools. Comprehensive and practical career guidance from an early stage is crucial. It should give children, adolescents, and their parents insights into the vast spectrum of jobs and fields of work relevant to transformation. Efforts to inspire young people for related training often focus on a few environmental engineering careers or the sanitary, heating, and climate sector. Showcasing that occupations like office management specialists or logistics personnel also make indispensable contributions to climate neutrality could attract a much broader audience, tapping into larger pools of skilled labour.

Additionally, focusing exclusively on supposedly green careers when securing skilled labour for transformation is too narrow. This applies also to dual vocational training: Sustainability and sustainable action should be incorporated into every training programme. Young people should learn how their professional actions contribute to transformation. This skill is increasingly becoming an integral part of vocational competence. Successfully inspiring more young people to pursue dual vocational training will provide businesses with urgently needed skilled workers with vocational qualifications.

Another way to gain qualifications for transformation and potentially also achieve step-by-step professional certification is through individual qualifications. These modularly structured programmes are based on recognised training occupations and provide a real opportunity, especially for low-skilled individuals. Individual qualifications can help unlock workforce potential from previously less-considered groups for transformation.

Interdisciplinary additional qualifications, which can be acquired as tailored supplements to dual vocational training, are also helpful. For specific professions in the value chains of wind, photovoltaics, and hydrogen that are central to transformation, a wide range is already available. The IHK organisation has recently developed a new hydrogen additional qualification in collaboration with businesses.

A pivotal aspect of achieving climate goals is the established certifications in higher vocational education, such as industrial foremen or specialist clerks. They represent a broad qualification approach. Competencies covering sustainability dimensions in logistics, goods transportation, and production management are imparted—enabling graduates to be widely deployed along key value chains. Strengthening higher vocational education with its valuable and practical certifications is therefore vital for achieving climate goals. It would also be beneficial if the improvements initiated under the educational assistance programme could be implemented soon.

Furthermore, vocational education offers even more: Nationwide IHK certification courses, for example, are tried-and-tested tools for meeting short-term and specific qualification needs in businesses. Courses like "Specialist for Hydrogen Applications (IHK)" or "Corporate Climate Manager (IHK)" support employees in competently managing business transformation processes.

Given demographic change, it is essential to utilise additional resources. Recruiting qualified professionals from abroad plays an important role here. Streamlined, quick, and bureaucracy-free administrative procedures are crucial for immigration from third countries. The new Skilled Worker Immigration Act offers promising approaches but now must prove itself in practice.

Moreover, it's vital to further tap into the potential for greater employment participation by women and older employees. Successfully reconciling family and career is key to boosting women's employment rates. Expanding flexible and high-quality childcare provision is particularly important in this regard. Regarding increased participation of older employees, incentives for early retirement—such as pension schemes for long-insured individuals—should be systematically repealed. Furthermore, bureaucratic continuation of employment for pensioners should be facilitated, e.g., regarding fixed-term employment possibilities. Linking the general retirement age to developments in life expectancy would also be a meaningful move.

About the study

Here is the link to the study: Defossilisation and Climate Neutrality (only available in German)