Rapid digital transformation and skills obsolescence have led to a professional gap, which puts some professions in Europe at risk. Iberdrola, together with other companies such as AstraZeneca, Nestlé, SAP, Sonae, Telefónica and Volvo Group are co-leading the European program Reskilling for Employment (R4E), are launching a website to promote training and the search for structural solutions to unemployment on the European continent.
Ignacio Galán, chairman of Iberdrola, a member of ERT and one of the main promoters of the initiative, stresses that, “in less than 30 years we must move from a world still highly dependent on fossil fuels to zero net emissions. The next decade will be decisive to achieve this, and innovation and talent – two fundamental values in our company – will be necessary.”
“In the next two years alone, Iberdrola will train 15,000 people through our green jobs retraining programs, creating high quality jobs to achieve a cleaner and smarter energy system,” Galán continues. Iberdola is planning on training solar panel plants installers and electric vehicle recharging infrastructure installers. “We invite all organizations and companies to join this initiative, thus contributing to the transformation that will improve efficiency, create jobs and, ultimately, make this planet a better place to live.”
Promoted by the European Roundtable of Industry (ERT), the R4E program is already up and running in Portugal, Spain and Sweden; it is being prepared for launch in other EU countries with additional companies, recycling providers, innovative start-ups and recruitment agencies. This pan-European training initiative has been created to promote collaboration and partnership between training providers, companies and jobseekers with the aim of addressing skills shortages in emerging sectors, at a time when the employment landscape in Europe is undergoing significant change.
The R4E initiative ultimately aims to upgrade skills and secure new jobs for 5 million people by 2030. This initiative offers a training ecosystem for adults, where candidates are introduced to training and employment opportunities and subsequently receive training, guidance and access to a future-ready job. The process requires targeted training programs, candidate orientation and well-connected local employment ecosystems where training providers and companies can quickly connect candidates with vacancies.
The R4E initiative, which is tailored to the specific needs and contexts of individual countries, has a comprehensive model and operates through four mechanisms: technological training for retraining, including a common platform and recommendations driven by artificial intelligence; a network of selected high-quality training providers and job placement companies; creation of employment ecosystems in cities to match labor supply and demand; and funding systems design to align incentives for training providers, companies and candidates.