Skills Development for the Clean Energy Transition in the MENA Region

Ongoing energy transitions and decarbonisation efforts are poised to bring profound shifts in the sector’s employment, including new opportunities for job creation in clean energy. The clean energy transition requires governments to anticipate the upcoming changes with detailed assessments of workforces and skill requirements to undertake the scale of new projects required for a transition towards low-carbon economies.

In the context of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, training, upskilling and reskilling programmes to support workers in the oil and gas industry for jobs in clean energy industries offer significant opportunities to manage the challenges induced by energy transitions and safeguard macroeconomic stability which is partly underpinned by employment. Producer economies have a significant energy related asset and skill base they can leverage to help develop these new industries (e.g. solar, hydrogen) for which they often benefit from abundant natural resources.

This public virtual workshop, organised as part of the IEA’s people centred clean energy transitions programme, will explore some of the key new job opportunities, labour market needs and skills training programmes associated with clean energy transitions in the context of the MENA region.

Drawing on recent experiences and regional best practice on training and skills training programmes from MENA countries, it will explore the following questions:

• What are they key positive opportunities to MENA countries brought by the new emerging energy economy? What are the expected new sectors, new mobilities and transferable skills?
• What are the labour market challenges to monitor in the short and long term?
• What are MENA producer economies’ key priorities to prepare and empower their communities and workers for clean energy transitions?
• Which key challenges do MENA countries face in implementing clean energy workforce strategies?
• How can governments and related stakeholders work together to design inclusive training programmes for jobs in clean energy industries? 

Agenda

Moderator: Dr Brian Motherway, Head of the Energy Efficiency Division, IEA 

Welcome and Introduction

• Opening remarks: Nadim Abillama, MENA Energy Analyst and Programme Officer, IEA
• IEA Presentation on Employment and Skills Analysis: Bruno Idini, Junior Analyst, IEA

MENA Stakeholders Presentations 

• Fayzah Assaf, Project Officer, EDAMA Association for Energy, Water & Environment (Jordan)
  
• Rind Alhage, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Lead, SDG7 Youth Constituency
• Sean Ratka, Economic Affairs Officer, Sustainable Energy Section, Climate Change and Natural Resources Sustainability (UNESCWA)
• Noam Raydan, Energy Consultant, Iraq
  
• Mohamed Sherwali, Renewable Energy and Environment Specialist, Regional Center for Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency (RCREEE)
• Khalid Salim Al Ghammari, Capability Building Stream Manager, National Employment Program, Tashgheel (Oman) 
• Ms Khadija El Barnouni, Specialist in Environment and Green Economy, Moroccan Agency for Energy Efficiency (AMEE)
  

Q&A and Moderated Discussion

Workshop conclusions and closing