EU Climate Pact event: “Green Skills for a Sustainable and Environmentally-Conscious Economy and Society”

Last week, on Wednesday, 26th June 2024, AE4RIA team participated in the EU Climate Pact event, “Green Skills for a Sustainable and Environmentally-Conscious Economy and Society”. This online event was organized by INZEB, the Country Coordinator for Greece for the EU Climate Pact, in collaboration with the Sustainable Development Unit – ATHENA RC (EU Climate Pact member), RESEES Research Laboratory – AUEB, and AE4RIA. The event highlighted the importance of green skills in promoting sustainable and environmentally conscious economies and societies.

With a focus on a sustainable, climate-resilient future, the event emphasized the need for lifelong learning to enable individuals and companies to drive green and digital transitions, support innovation, and enhance competitiveness. It aimed to discuss the concept of green skills, showing how they can address climate challenges and contribute to a sustainable economy and society, while also facilitating the exchange of best practices among participants.

Prof. Phoebe Koundouri, Athens University of Economics and Business and the Technical University of Denmark, Chair of the UN SDSN Global Climate Hub, Director of the Sustainable Development Unit of Athena Research Center, Director of AE4RIA, and an EU Climate Pact Ambassador, presented on the Policy Framework for the transition to sustainability. She referenced the 2024 Sustainable Development Report, which includes the SDG Index and Dashboards, providing the latest data to track and rank the performance of all UN Member States on the SDGs. Read it here

Dr. Conrad Landis, Economist and Data Analyst, and Post-Doc Researcher at the Research Laboratory on Socio-Economic and Environmental Sustainability at the Athens University of Economics and Business, presented AE4RIA Metrix, an AUEB spin-off that enables companies to build their ESG quantification and reporting tools, integrating the SDGs. Learn more

Lydia Papadaki, PhD Candidate at the Athens University of Economics and Business, referred to the Maritech Talent project and the report “The Twin Transition for the Blue Economy” which identifies the top Green and Digital Skills required for the Blue Transition and features a data-driven ML model to identify the occupations with the highest demand in the Blue Economy (Shipping, Ports, Maritime Logistics, and Maritime Technology).

Eleni Toli, Project Manager at “Athena” Research and Innovation Center, shared insights from the white paper titled “Twin Skills for the Twin Transition: Defining Green Digital Skills and Jobs”, our collaborative report with Huawei. This report used AI-based methodologies to identify crucial skills and occupations necessary for implementing the Green and Digital Transformation outlined in the European Green Deal. Read the report

The event was moderated by Alice Corovessi, Managing Director of INZEB and Country Coordinator for the EU Climate Pact.