Today, with the support of the Commission, industry partners, research organisations, social partners, and educational and training organisations have set up a large-scale skills partnership for energy intensive industries (EIIs).

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The aim of this partnership is to identify skill needs and develop appropriate curricula and training programmes to ensure that the EII workforce has the right skills for energy intensive industries to remain leaders in the green and digital transition.

It will also promote recruitment and upskilling of workers. EIIs currently make up more than 20% of European manufacturing and employ over 7 million people in Europe.

This partnership is the 18^th large-scale skills partnership under the Pact for Skills, a flagship initiative under the European Skills Agenda. With this, at least one large-scale skills partnership for each industrial ecosystem of the EU Industrial Strategy has been set up.

The Pact for Skills contributes to the European Year of Skills and the EU headline target that by 2030, at least 60% of all adults should participate in training every year. The Net-Zero Industry Act recently proposed actions to ensure a skilled workforce in the cleantech sector to support our transition to a net-zero economy.