A Toolkit for a Just Transition to Net-Zero: The Just Skills Hub

The transition to a net-zero economy presents challenges for workers and communities, especially in carbon-intensive industries. The Just Skills Hub, led by SkillLab and convened by the UN High-Level Champions for Global Climate Action, offers a toolkit to navigate this transition while prioritizing the needs of local people and communities.

Identify Affected Workers:

Collaborate with employers, trade unions, and governments to identify at-risk workers in carbon-intensive industries.

Conduct a Skills Audit:

Utilize SkillLab technology for a detailed skills audit, employing widely adopted public skill and occupation taxonomies. Understand and recognize the existing skills of affected workers.

Build Partnerships for Effective Transitions:

Establish the Just Skills Hub as a co-creation and collaboration platform, engaging trade unions, employer organizations, community groups, and governments to build durable partnerships.

Identify Resilient and Adjacent Occupations:

Work with SkillLab technology and labor market information providers to identify resilient occupations that align with the skills of affected workers. Ensure these occupations have positive employment outlooks and are, or can be, locally available.

Identify Pathways:

Identify education and training pathways for workers to transition into resilient and adjacent occupations, based on workers’ skills. 

Design Curricula and Skilling Pathways:

Collaborate with governments, employers, and education providers to design targeted education and training programs aligned with the skills needed for successful transitions.

Inform Economic Diversification, Development and Job Creation:

Use data from the Just Skills Hub to inform labor market and industrial policies, attracting industries that complement the skills of affected workers.

Begin Provision of Early Job Search and Career Guidance Assistance:

Leverage the SkillLab mobile application to offer ongoing career guidance to affected workers and communities.

Provide Ongoing Active Labor Market Policy Support:

Implement continuous support mechanisms to monitor policy implementation progress and adapt to changing labor market dynamics for a sustainable and resilient workforce.

Clear pathways for skills and technology allow us to accelerate the race to zero emissions in energy and industry. The Just Skills Hub and its partners can leverage data tools to create these pathways and inform better policy and business planning, today. 
Nigel Topping, Business Champion for the UK Climate Change Committee, former UN Climate Change High-Level Champion

The Just Skills Hub toolkit offers actionable steps to ensure a just transition to a net-zero economy. The toolkit emphasizes skill development, collaboration, and data-driven decision-making to minimize the burden on workers and communities in the most affected regions.