The chemical industry is currently undergoing a quadruple or double twin transition. It encompasses green and digital transformation alongside circularity and the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability (CSS). The initiative “ChemSkills: enabling the green and digital skills transformation of the chemical industry” is to respond to these challenges and to identify and develop green and digital skills, in addition to skills to produce “safe and sustainable chemicals by design” within the low-carbon energy intensive ecosystem. The project will cover several sub-sectors of the chemical industry:-plastics-consumer chemicals-fertilisers-rubber-pharmaceuticals-petrochemicals.It will map the already existing skills and develop emerging occupational profiles and related qualifications covering upper and post-secondary VET levels (EQF levels 3 to 5) and tertiary levels (EQF levels 6 to 8). The project will bring together stakeholders to jointly implement strategies to address skills gaps in the above mentioned sub-sectors. The key stakeholders include social partners, business representations, research institutes, education and training providers, universities and public authorities, amongst others.

Economic, digital and technological developments, as well as increasing energy efficiency and environmental demands, present the European (and global) Industry with many challenges, not least of which is to continuously update the qualification, knowledge and skill profile of the workforce. The aim of this project is to realise an industry driven and coordinated sustainable and cross-sectoral blueprint for the Sustainable Process Industry through Resource and Energy Efficiency (SPIRE) addressing its recent and future challenges in immediate and enduring ways. A Blueprint strategy for human capital development through a Cross-Sector Skills Alliance on Energy Intensive Industries (EII) will be developed by involving a broad range of key stakeholders from the eight sectors of the SPIRE public-private partnership: Steel, Chemicals, Minerals, Non-ferrous Metals, Water, Engineering, Ceramics, and Cement. The alliance of related sector associations or technology platforms, training providers, and research partners is characterised by a huge competence based on a long list of projects for energy efficiency, industrial symbiosis (IS) and related Vocational Education and Training (VET). It will develop concrete and practical strategies and programmes (modules and tools) in anticipation of skills demands in a proactive and future oriented way, securing policy support and continous monitoring. Build on the already existing SPIRE coordination, projects and activities, a cross-sectoral industrial symbiosis approach, covering all the eight SPIRE energy intensive industry sectors and integration European, national, regional industrial symbiosis perspectives will improve “intercultural” exchange between the different industry sectors and the different qualification levels (blue and white collar, generational exchange, and green skills as overarching issue).