Portugal: Green Skills & Jobs programme

The Green Skills & Jobs programme, created under the umbrella of the Portuguese 2030 Energy and Climate Plan, offers short- and medium-term training courses in the environment and energy fields to prevent the risk of unemployment, promote job retention and encourage the creation of new jobs in the context of accelerating the country’s energy transition and efficiency. 

Energy transition poses global structural challenges with significant job transformation and job creation implications. It requires developing new skills through professional up-/reskilling processes to harness this potential, prevent associated risks and ensure a fair transition.

Portugal’s 2030 Energy and Climate Plan comprises measures for the professional training of technicians and specialists in related fields, and several awareness- and capacity-building actions for low carbon behaviours, more sustainable production and improved energy literacy of people and businesses.

Programme implementation and target groups

The public employment services (PES), in cooperation with the Agency for Energy and the Portuguese Renewable Energy Association, is implementing these courses nationwide during 2023, with a budget of EUR 20 million.

The Green skills & Jobs programme (Programa Trabalhos e Competências Verdes) is aimed at employees of enterprises directly or indirectly affected by increased energy costs and the unemployed, aged 18 or over, enrolled in PES. Priority is given to:

• workers in the energy transformation processes of enterprises; at risk of unemployment either due to the introduction of renewable energies in production processes, or due to the energy transition of companies in the fossil fuel industry, or in a situation of underemployment; underrepresented gender in the profession;
• unemployed people who have not completed compulsory school education or have to carry out processes of recognition, validation and certification of competences (RVCC) at secondary level.

The online or face-to-face training courses, ranging from 25 to 375 hours, are integrated into the national qualifications and can be developed as certified modular training, allowing the certification of individual modules.

Training areas

Training projects and requalification of people may address some of the following topics. 

• Energy efficiency: the diagnosis, development, prescription and/or implementation of solutions, more efficient processes and technologies that have an active impact on energy independence and decarbonisation of the economy with proper management and monitoring, aiming to reduce energy consumption of buildings and facilities, including energy optimisation.
• Renewable energy: energy production from renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and hydro, marine and geothermal, generation of green electricity and the production of gases of renewable origin.
• Water efficiency: the most efficient use of water, the reuse of water and the promotion of combined efficiencies within the Nexus water-energy, promoting water efficiency, reduction and elimination of losses and waste, monitoring and intelligent management of water, good practices in water management and use, reduction of volumes of water captured, promotion of alternative sources of water (rainwater, water for reuse and desalination) suitable for different purposes. 
• Sustainable mobility: decarbonisation and reduction of the environmental impact of mobility, including energy efficiency in heavy-duty vehicles, electric mobility, soft modes and other types of mobility, including the installation/construction and maintenance of the necessary infrastructure.
• Circular economy: material efficiency, reuse, reduction and disposal of waste, industrial symbiosis and life cycle extension, or other pathways for a more circular economy, taking advantage of the energy efficiency and energy production potential associated with resource management and use.

Read more

• Plano Nacional de Energia e Clima [Portugal’s 2030 Energy and Climate plan]
• Resolução do Conselho de Ministros n.º 53/2020 de 10 Julho [Resolution of Council of Ministries n.º 53/2020, of 10 July]
• Resolução do Conselho de Ministros n.º 87/2022 de 4 outubro [Resolution of Council of Ministries n.º 87/2022 of 4 October]
• Portaria n. º 21/2023 de 6 janeiro [Ordinance (Portaria) n. º 21/2023, of 6 January]