An EU Grids Action Plan for a Just Energy Transition

Ensuring an adequate grid infrastructure at scale of the EU’s energy and climate targets is the essential prerequisite for Europe’s energy transition. While IndustriAll Europe and EPSU welcomed the EU Grids Action Plan, we also regretted the silence on the specific needs and actions to promote a qualified workforce and high-quality jobs in the sector. 

In the context of rising electrification needs of key sectors of the economy Europe’s grids need to be modernised and expanded while cross-border infrastructure and interconnectors will be a crucial element in providing for a more resilient energy system in Europe. This will not be possible without the workers that industriAll Europe and EPSU represent. 

Workers expect a coherent strategy that is backed by proactive industrial policy and an EU investment plan that aim at quality jobs in the energy value chain in Europe. We call on a greater role of the public sector in providing investments, but also in the coherent planning and development of grids.
In light of the high investment needs (according to Commission estimations €584 billion until 2030) we call for an EU wide, just energy transition financial plan and more own (budgetary) resource instruments from the EU. We also emphasise that austerity policies are contradicting the crucial needs of the energy transition. 

Emphasising the vital role of the workforce we call on the EU and Member States to anticipate employment and skills needs, invest in training as well as re- and upskilling systems and address the quality of employment in the energy sector and scale back on outsourcing of critical tasks in order to keep up the quality of work. This must be done by strengthening social dialogue, especially collective bargaining. Only through meaningful social dialogue can we ensure a safe and attractive work environment and quality jobs throughout the energy value chain.

Judith Kirton-Darling, General Secretary of industriAll Europe, stresses: “Our joint recommendations are part of industriAll Europe’s campaign on investing in good industrial jobs. We expect that the clean energy investment strategy for Europe and the wider legal framework on European grids puts quality jobs centre stage.”

Jan-Willem-Goudriaan, General Secretary of EPSU states: “Taking into account the necessary scale and urgency of investments in the EUs energy grids and a growing shortage of workers able to carry this work out, it is clear that a market-driven approach reliant on short-term profit and return on investment cannot deliver. These joint recommendations support EPSUs ongoing campaign for an alternative, public approach that can ensure coherent planning, long-term investments in infrastructure as well as the necessary training of workers”

An EU Grids Action Plan for a Just Energy Transition: Read EPSU and industriAll Europe’s joint recommendations  EN  FR  DE