Like all transitions, the energy transition is radically revolutionising many processes. Particularly in the automotive sector, the risk that electrification could threaten thousands of jobs has repeatedly been raised. "And yet the number of workers in the energy sector is continuously growing, both globally and in Italy," explains Emanuele Bompan, an environmental journalist and geographer who works on circular economy, climate change, innovation, energy, sustainable mobility and the green economy. Bompan is editor-in-chief of the magazine Materia Rinnovabile, writes for several national publications and collaborates with ministries, foundations and think tanks. "The demand for specific skills," he adds, "continues to grow – skills that are often in short supply, which makes training a central issue over the medium and long term."

Work will change with the ecological transition

In recent years, the ecological transition has certainly contributed to radically changing the demand for new professional profiles, making the themes of training and professional development increasingly central. For Bompan, "over the last ten years we have witnessed a paradigm shift across various sectors, starting with digitalisation, continuing with grids and the boom in renewable energy, and further driven by emerging new technologies – think of wave energy generation – not to mention the entire theme of energy efficiency."

All of this has had a twofold effect on the world of work. On one hand, there is a growing demand for entirely new roles such as "artificial intelligence experts for grid management and monitoring, or workers specialised in plant safety or offshore wind," and on the other, a significant effort of training for existing staff. In recent years, the electrification process has encouraged the placement – and in many cases the redeployment – of many professional figures typical of the energy sector: from spare parts to installers, through to grid managers, often contracted out to third-party companies. For example, the installation of new smart meters – the intelligent meters that measure electricity, gas and water consumption – "has driven significant employment among electricians who have been trained specifically to meet the surge in demand for replacing old meters with new ones." This is a trend set to grow in the near future, when "we will see an ever-increasing number of new professional figures such as energy managers, managers of energy communities, and consumption management experts: many new employment opportunities, though with one bottleneck – the quality of training."

Labour demand is growing but skills remain the sticking point

In February 2024, the ManpowerGroup report "Building competitive advantage with a people-first green business transformation" highlighted how, at a global level, the environmental transition will create 30 million jobs by 2030. But against this growing demand, the necessary skills are in short supply, to the point that 94 per cent of employers acknowledge they do not have the right professionals within their organisations, and 75 per cent admit they struggle to find talent with the skills they are looking for. For Bompan, "when we talk about the energy transition, we are not referring strictly to the energy sector alone, but also to transport, and to hard-to-abate industrial sectors" – cement plants, steelworks, paper mills, glassworks, and steel and chemical companies, where the production process requires large quantities of thermal energy that is difficult to generate while completely abandoning the combustion of fossil fuels. Therefore, "there will undoubtedly be professional figures who, slowly and progressively, will disappear from many sectors," from oil & gas to upstream – the set of operational processes from which the production of natural gas, fuel oil and petroleum originates. Between now and 2050, "the number of workers employed in these sectors will certainly fall considerably, and the same could happen in the automotive sector, but only for those companies that are unable to transition, over the medium to long term, from internal combustion engine expertise to electric powertrain expertise."

That said, "the ecological transition will inevitably have a positive impact on employment. In general, as always happens during periods of change, there will be those who are able to manage this process and those who are not: those who succeed in acquiring the right skills will not only be able to survive, but will certainly also be able to increase their earnings. The data show that companies are willing to pay more for higher-level skills – think of chemists or industrial engineers – because for businesses, the transition and energy efficiency, when done well, also become an economic advantage." Of course, one must then understand how all of this fits into global dynamics, whether one has the capacity to attract the right skills and to be competitive in the labour market. In short, "there are many variables at play, linked not only to the ecological transition in the strict sense and the technologies associated with it, but also to other ongoing dynamics. What is certain is that between now and 2050, many more jobs will be created and better remunerated, provided governments prove capable of introducing sound and modern labour policies."

How to carry out the ecological transition without leaving anyone behind

Indeed, what measures are needed to facilitate this process without leaving anyone behind, starting precisely from the employment issue? Bompan is convinced that "if until a few years ago the entire industrial world was talking about funds, legislation and regulation to manage the transition, today the central importance of skills training is plain to see: we need to invest enormously in research and universities to train the required professionals and to upskill existing ones – workers between 50 and 60 years old who find it harder than others to acquire new skills, also because they have well-established but now outdated knowledge." In short, individual states as well as Europe must "invest heavily in retraining, in well-supported and above all high-quality reskilling. It is also necessary to attract new professional profiles from abroad, and consequently international talent attraction policies are needed too."

What opportunities for the automotive sector

Focusing on the automotive sector, it is one of the areas most affected by these dynamics. In recent years the debate has grown heated between those who see the electrification of mobility as a major risk — especially for Italian component manufacturers — and those who are instead convinced it represents an enormous opportunity. For Bompan, "if we think about the motor valley, first of all we must say that Emilia-Romagna is a region with an extremely high rate of innovation. On one hand, it is understandable that small and medium-sized companies are trying to buy as much time as possible to navigate a transition that is far from simple, but the reality is that many businesses have already set out on this path with conviction. For several more years, internal combustion vehicles will continue to travel on our roads — in fact, in my view there will be a major boom in retrofit (a series of electromechanical modifications made to a conventional vehicle to transform it into an electric or hybrid one), certain supply chains in racing cars and motorcycles will remain alive even with new engines, not necessarily electric, or will in any case continue to supply components." That said, major changes will need to be made to keep pace with the transition, not least because there will be market forces, "such as the major European brands but also the same Chinese manufacturers that use Italian components for their electric cars, that will ask these companies to change."

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